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I started using Apple's online service, originally known as iTools,
when it was free. It was nice to have an email address that promoted
the Mac with every message I sent from my_name@mac.com. In addition to
free email, Apple also provided HomePage to host a small personal
website and iDisk, where you could store files on Apple's servers.
iTools had been launched in early 2000. But when Apple announced in
mid-2002 that it would no longer be free, I looked at my use of the
service, weighed the benefits, and concluded that since I only used it
for email at that time, it wasn't worth
$99 a year. But Apple offered a $50 discount, and in the end I
decided to renew - as I've done every year since.
Apple renamed the service .mac (dot-mac) when it went from free to
fee, and as I became an OS X user, I found more reasons to keep
using it. iSync let my synchronize my Address Book, iCal calendars,
Safari bookmarks, and passwords among two or more Macs. Combined with
email, I figured it was worth $99 a year.
In July 2008, .mac became MobileMe, putting more emphasis on the
iPhone and iPod touch - and less on the Mac. Over time, HomePage has
disappeared, a real disappointment to many who had used it to promote
their freeware and shareware apps. (That said, iWeb users can still
have a personal online presence on the me.com domain.)
When I had two or three production Macs, including a PowerBook, it
made a lot of sense to use .mac. I could make sure that both eMacs and
the PowerBook had the same iCal and Address Book data. I could make
sure that site passwords used on one Mac would be in the keychain of
the other Macs.
However, I no longer work that way. My two production Macs sit
side-by-side on my desk, and while I'm still using iSync to synchronize
things between them, the day has already come when that is no longer
necessary. I really don't need Address Book and iCal on my Tiger
machine, since I do all of my email and scheduling on the Leopard
machine right next to it. I don't use Safari enough to bother with
synchronizing its bookmarks, and since I do 90% of my browsing on the
Leopard Power Mac, I don't really need to synchronize the password
keychains either.
I renewed MobileMe last year before finances got tight, and thanks
to some extended outages, Apple extended every user's account by a few
months. However, finances are very tight (in addition to working full
time on Low End Mac, I've been working a third-shift job at Kohl's
since October), and I can no longer justify spending $99 for something
that is a convenience but not a necessity.
I'm not going to be replacing MobileMe. I already have several free
email addresses thanks to Gmail and Yahoo Mail. I can use Google
Calendar if I want an online calendar. I have lowendmac.com to hosting
my website and a few software downloads (all freeware or shareware). I
backup regularly. I can get by without MobileMe.
My MobileMe subscription ends on December 28, 2009, and after nearly
ten years, I will no longer have an email address @mac.com. I can live
without it.
Dan Knight has been using Macs since 1986,
sold Macs for several years, supported them for many more years, and
has been publishing Low End Mac since April 1997. If you find Dan's articles helpful, please consider making a donation to his tip jar.
Links for the Day
Mac of the Day: Power Mac 6100, introduced 1994.03.14. The entry-level first generation Power Mac had a 60 MHz PowerPC.
