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>>it was painfully clear that the Walt Mossberg/David Pogues of the world had never even tested these products together, not even once.<<

Pogue said this:

"Last Thursday, in my weekly e-column, I blasted Apple for the way it’s been handling the disastrous opening of its MobileMe service. Two weeks after launch, at least 20,000 customers still had no way to send or receive e-mail.

The worst part, though, was Apple’s smug silence on the issue."

Paul, please stop inventing straw men to fight.  And do some research before saying foolish, untrue things.

pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/.../what-are-the-iphone-apps-2

And Mossbergs headline says it all:

>>Apple’s MobileMe Is Far Too Flawed To Be Reliable<<

I'm starting to wonder about Paul's reliability. Seriously.

>>after a week of intense testing of the service, I can’t recommend it, at least not in its current state. It’s a great idea, but, as of now, MobileMe has too many flaws to keep its promises.

I am not referring to the launch glitches that plagued MobileMe earlier this month...

...in my tests, using two Macs, two Dell (DELL) computers and two iPhones, I ran into problem after problem....it’s way too ragged now.<<

ptech.allthingsd.com/.../apples-mobileme-is-far-too-flawed-to-be-reliable

Pogue today:

"Who was it who wrote, in March 2008, just after Apple announced its intention to create an online app store for the iPhone, "You're witnessing the birth of a third major computer platform: Windows, Mac OS X, iPhone"?

Oh, right--that was me."

Was he right?  

@Ocean - You do realize that Paul was specifically saying that Mossberg and Pogue had never tested iPhone/MobileMe/Exchange/Windows/Outlook together...right? Didn't think so. None of your comments take that into account...so it is you that is creating the Strawman in this case.

--tayme

Apple Sucks!!!!!!!

"You do realize that Paul was specifically saying that Mossberg and Pogue had never tested iPhone/MobileMe/Exchange/Windows/Outlook together...right?"

No he didn't.

Tayme:

And yet Pogues review mentions Outlook.  Ditto Mossberg, who says (criticizing Apple):

"My MobileMe calendar, which originated on a Mac, didn’t flow into the main Outlook calendar, but appeared as a separate calendar in Outlook, which was visible only by changing settings. My address-book groups on the Mac, which are simply distribution lists, didn’t show up as distribution lists in Outlook, but as separate address books, and they also weren’t immediately visible. Apple blames Outlook quirks for these issues, but in my view, it should have overcome them."

Paul was just flat out wrong on this one.

@tayme:

You are such a ***.

"And yet Pogues review mentions Outlook.  Ditto Mossberg, who says (criticizing Apple):"

Wow! They mention Apple, so they must have tested this totally different issue that was fixed today. When did "Mac fanatic" become synonymous with "dimwit"?

blogs.zdnet.com/gadgetreviews

Just thought you'd be interested in that little tidbit.

"Of course, Apple products — particularly their Macbooks — are based on Intel chips, too. But none of them advertise that fact the way that Windows machines do. I imagine the shiny little stickers don’t ***jive*** very well with the Apple design aesthetic."

....there's that word again.

Nothing like competition :) Apple realized the big bad MS was about to launch something that <i>would</i> work.

Waethorn said:

"....there's that word again."

O dear God, just give it up.  "Jive" for Jibe" is just flat out incorrect.  A common mistake, but incorrect nonetheless.  Citing another writer who doesn't know the difference does not make it correct usage.

I'll bet you also say "begs the question..."   ;-)

it's a good thing I take the exact opposite direction from any advice Paul gives, on pretty much anything.  I think he gets more deranged by the day.  The best latest case is this op-ed he does about google and activesync.  Basically he goes on lamenting how this hurts Microsoft instead of how it benefits EVERY PERSON USING A SMARTPHONE.  Way to look out for users, Paul.  Instead he does what he always does, shills for Microsoft.  And of course he finished that piece with a shiv to Apple, saying it's time for Microsoft to pull out of any business with them altogether.  I mean, how does that benefit users??  And what was the use of mentioning apple at all in an article about Google?  I mean really, what a jerk.

For what it's worth, the word Wae is referring to has been "jive" for as long as I can remember round here. It's a colloquialism, that as far as I know is realted to music.

For something to jive, meant it was in sync, and harmony with the other related parts.

If it didn't "jive" it was wrong, or did not fit in.

Jibe, in this part of the world is to insult.

"Robertsjoe had to constantly put up with the jibes of his would-be peers" for example.

"If it didn't "jive" it was wrong, or did not fit in."

In earlier times, it meant the opposite of what it does now.  It is was a "jazz" lingo term, at least in the original usage.  Now it is just a general "musical" term meaning "in sync with", exactly as gorath depicts.  The term stems from jazz music having rhythmic origins.  "Jibe" on the other hand, is a sailing term, so how the other meaning comes out of that just doesn't make any sense.

It's like how you can be "up on current events", but be "down with OPP".  In common language the terms "up" and "down" mean the same, even though a dictionary would claim otherwise.  In any case, it's slang.  "Jive" was never a "real" word, so to say that a specific dictionary definition is accurate is a poor man's argument that you just can't win.  It's just another case where printed definitions haven't been updated with modern usage.  I could pull a number of other dated terms out of the dictionary too.

That's all fine and dandy Paul, but my friend bought a MacBook for his son to. It was the entry level model [he has a Dell 410 Vista Tower that's 11 months old]. It was for his 12th birthday. the Apple store genius convinced him that he should get Mobileme for his son, so he can manage his pictures. I'm quite certain that a free program would work just fine for a 12 yr old, so I'm a little disappointed in that store [which has served me well the past year].

MobileMe was never intended to be used on Windows as the main way to access it.  Windows access was meant for Mac users when they had to use a PC/Windows.  

MobileMe is just .Mac renamed.  Yes it suffered badly during the 3G iPhone launch.  Apple blew it with the roll out.  They introduced the 3G iphone, update for the older iPhone, and iTouch and moved .Mac from their Data Center to a third party hosting company all at one time.  Bad move.

MobileMe for a Mac user is a great product, even more so if you have an iPhone.  Its imap email, calender, contacts, cloud based disk space, web hosting, and online photo shareing all accessed from your Mac, iTouch, iPhone and a web browser on a PC.  All of the iLife applications hook into it.  There is nothing on the consumer side for PC's that cant match it.  Sure you can put a bunch of free stuff together to get close, with different logins and full of adds.

"I'll bet you also say "begs the question..."   ;-)"

That begs the question, what exactly is wrong with it?

Here's another way to look at it:

I found another tidbit online which describes the modern usage of "jive" to have come not necessarily from jazz music.  The usage of the former jazz music-age lingo term was brought into the realm of more modern rhythmic jazz ballet, meaning "in step with".

Word origins are fun.

Next, let's look up the word "testimony"....  ;)

Apple will absolutely have to change their policy of charging for MobileMe. Android has free email and OTA syncing through Google. WinMo will soon get free OTA syncing as well. Even my non-smartphones from T-mobile have a basic OTA contacts back-up.

At least for iPhone owners, Apple should be offering free syncing of data. They don't need to include the other stuff such as web hosting or photo storage, but at least sync the important stuff for free.

Since most of MobileMe's features are practically useless to Windows users anyway, Apple charging $100 a year to them is just like if AT&T charged $8 a month just for OTA syncing. People would be outraged at the nerve of AT&T.

"That begs the question, what exactly is wrong with it?"

Funny,  It's just a pet peeve of mine, but then I'm a known curmudgeon. Interestingly, our friend Mr. Thurrott uses that phrase incorrectly all the time.

"it's a good thing I take the exact opposite direction from any advice Paul gives, on pretty much anything.  I think he gets more deranged by the day.  The best latest case is this op-ed he does about google and activesync.  Basically he goes on lamenting how this hurts Microsoft instead of how it benefits EVERY PERSON USING A SMARTPHONE.  Way to look out for users, Paul.  Instead he does what he always does, shills for Microsoft.  And of course he finished that piece with a shiv to Apple, saying it's time for Microsoft to pull out of any business with them altogether.  I mean, how does that benefit users??  And what was the use of mentioning apple at all in an article about Google?  I mean really, what a jerk."

So here's a question:

Why are you so deranged that you are reading this blog and commenting on it if you dont like it?

And Paul, seriously, do yourself a favor and cut these people off. Off-topic links, daily troll-a-thons, and personal attacks aren't contributions, it is basically vandalism at this point.

Or could you explain how giving them a sandbox to crap in is somehow beneficial to this site.

There are a lot of us that read this site that are frankly getting tired of these kids. Is anyone actually engaging in moderation? Do these people need to feel embolden to the point where they really start to become nuts before someone pushes the button?

"Funny,  It's just a pet peeve of mine, but then I'm a known curmudgeon. Interestingly, our friend Mr. Thurrott uses that phrase incorrectly all the time."

I don't claim to be an expert on grammar. I was just curious to know what was wrong with it. :-)

I did find a link, though: grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/begs-the-question.aspx

Hi.  I'm Ocean, and I approved the following message:

"The best latest case is this op-ed he does about google and activesync.  Basically he goes on lamenting how this hurts Microsoft instead of how it benefits EVERY PERSON USING A SMARTPHONE.  Way to look out for users, Paul.  Instead he does what he always does, shills for Microsoft.  And of course he finished that piece with a shiv to Apple, saying it's time for Microsoft to pull out of any business with them altogether.  I mean, how does that benefit users??  And what was the use of mentioning apple at all in an article about Google?"

"There are a lot of us that read this site that are frankly getting tired of these kids."

Take your own advice then and ask yourself  "Self:

" why are you so deranged that you are...commenting on it if you dont like it?"

"The best latest case is this op-ed he does about google and activesync.  Basically he goes on lamenting how this hurts Microsoft instead of how it benefits EVERY PERSON USING A SMARTPHONE."

I think you all misunderstood the intent of the article. It was all about how one group at MS was hurting the other. And Paul's right about that. For example, releasing iLife for Windows might actually benefit the consumer (if it isn't as buggy as most Apple software on Windows is, of course), but it might hurt Mac sales and Apple would be stupid to do something of that sort.  

Again, there's nothing wrong with what Paul said, but I guess you guys are looking for any evidence to back up your argument that Paul's a Microsoft shill, so it's not your fault either.

"MS was about to launch something that <i>would</i> work"

That would be a first !!

@daveinla - Nice drive by trolling....you should get on with your life and leave.

--tayme

>>It was all about how one group at MS was hurting the other.<<

He didn't say that.  And I guarantee you that MS didn't make this decision without the senior company officers input.

"I'm not sure what Microsoft is receiving for the ActiveSync license that enables this functionality. But I doubt it's better than the lost revenues that come over the next few years as Exchange and Windows Mobile users dwindle."

"Take your own advice then and ask yourself  "Self:

' why are you so deranged that you are...commenting on it if you dont like it?'"

Because, you have an option of not reading this blog or commenting on the articles, but folks who like to read the blog and discuss this stuff have to sift through loads of garbage from people like you, robertsjoe, and others to find any meaningful stuff.

Unlike you, I want to hear Paul's opinion about this stuff and read about Microsoft and other companies. Your only intent here seems to be to troll or to complain about Paul being a Microsoft shill.

Is Microsoft evil? I don't know, but there are definitely no saints there. Microsoft is just about as good or as bad as Apple or Google are. But there are some people here who get offended when someone criticizes Apple or Google, as if they can do no wrong.

>Is Microsoft evil? I don't know, but there are definitely no saints there.

www.groklaw.net/.../Comes-3096.pdf

After reading this you can see where Mike G was coming from and it will make you wonder what are the motives of some others.  

Yawn!

With a truely dependable 3G network, a much better phone, and a phone company creating applications to cover any missing features. I clearly have no use Mobile Me.

My Samsung Instinct along with downloadable syncing tools from Sprint and phone updates can replicate Mobile Me. Using Microsoft Office Outlook just like Mobile Me, I can grab email, sync files to the MicroSD card, & manage using the onboard calender.

The absolute best of all these tools? ITS FREE!!!!!

Looks like Sprint and Microsoft have effectively found a way to neuter Mobile Me. Why pay $99 bucks a year for this service, to effectively do the same features for nothing? RIM, Samsung, Palm, Treo, HTC, and all the others are probably laughing their butts off. This is another classic case of Apple price gouging or as Microsoft calls it....

The Apple Tax.

This is bad when I'm losing count as to the ways Apple is gouging folks for this stuff. This can be done cheaper in so many different ways. Live Mesh is just one of many ways. There's really no defense for Mobile Me's launch, the 6 months long wait of fixes, and still charging 99 bucks when free syncing tools are available.

Oh well, thats $99 bucks for me, but Mobile Me won't get one...

I found this on Macworld.com. Should be a good read for Mobile Me Customers.

www.macworld.com/.../mobileme_phishing.html

Apparently, not fixed enough yet.

I found this here too.

www.pcworld.com/.../mobileme_users_targeted_in_phishing_scam_again.html

Enjoy.

@Yawn.

While I do find the linked PDF a bit creepy, and can't exactly commend such actions, I also realise that they are not the only company using such tactics.

Every organisation want to run as long as possible, and be as succesful as possible. The wording used in that document may be strong, and a bit demented, but the intended end result appears no different to that of any other large scale company.

"Apple finally fixed the service so that it actually works on Windows"

When is MS planning to fix its services so they work on OS X? (Office, MSN etc.)

I don't understand why Mobileme is overpriced.  You can buy a one-year family pack renewal at Amazon for $100.  That's about $8 per month.  Sure, there are free email services, but many if not most of them have ads.  Or Google's doesn't work very well unless you use a web browser (IMAP is dodgy with them).  hotmail doesn't support IMAP at all.  Plus, you get the great online versions of Address book, mail and ical.  It's really a nice system and frankly, there's nothing as nice out there right now.  Sure, others are coming up with stuff, but will it be so well integrated with a phone as the iPHone is with mobileme?  Maybe but we haven't seen that yet.  Most of the MS stuff is beta, or for tech oriented users right now.  That will change, but hasn't yet.

@webguy:

My pet peeve is when people interject an existing conversation with a statement beginning with the words "To be honest with you,...." as if the rest of the statement begs the question.  ;)

"While I do find the linked PDF a bit creepy, and can't exactly commend such actions, I also realise that they are not the only company using such tactics."

It is scary. I hate to say this, but it does make them sound like "WinJihadists". I'm sure this goes on at other places too, though. Only an idiot would believe otherwise.

That makes me wonder (but doesn't beg the question) whether Apple has an after-school program where they pay kids like robertsjoe to troll sites. I think it's a great idea to get them young. At that age, I think they're easier to brainwash.

"That makes me wonder (but doesn't beg the question) whether Apple has an after-school program where they pay kids like robertsjoe to troll sites. I think it's a great idea to get them young. At that age, I think they're easier to brainwash."

Well you know that Apple brainwashing has been tuned to a fine art.  And you know what they say about what an artist can do with a lump of clay.

I think cesjr is saying that Amazon has MobileMe for $64 which is $5.3 monthly.  I'm sure all of you that derisively talking up the $99 figure probably already know this, but it doesn't support your argument that it's overpriced.  Same goes for Paul, of course.  He would bend over backwards to illustrate favorable pricing to Windows software and hardware platforms... no matter what the far reaches of the net it's to be found.  I never hear him knocking the list price for Office.  Talk about a Microsoft Tax, most people use Office97 level of features in their suite but we're perpetually upgrading at exorbitant and frankly extortionary rates.  Same goes for Windows.  Is $300 for Vista a fair price?  The answer is yes.  If you'd rather exchange your $300 for a copy, then it is worth that much.  But you lose credibility if you're lamenting the cost of MobileMe.  

That said, I love that Google has taken their ActiveSync license to the people.  That helps so many people, including Paul himself!  He currently uses NuevaSync to perform exactly what Google will now allow him to do natively.  And I fondly remember when he was first cursing mobileme on the iphone, he hoped fondly for the day when Google would offer push contacts/calendars to the iphone.  And now they have, and guess what?  It's a problem for him, and why??  Because it may end up offending his handlers at Microsoft for the deal they've cut.  It also hurts Apple, but I think that's great, that'll force them to innovate better features in mobileme.  Obviously Paul is thinking less is more.  'Windows not Walls', apparently is not the way forward as far as Paul is concerned.  

Re: Corporate Evangelism...To be honest with you, it goes on everywhere...the difference being that those guys worked at Microsoft at the time. The odd ones are the folks like robertsjoe and mikegales that have been brainwashed so well, that they evangelize for the companies without having a stake in them. JamesP said as much when he said he was leaving Microsoft to sit on the beach and laugh at the world. That begs the question, "Why?"

--tayme

I would echo the earlier comment that Mobileme doesn't offer much value for the Windows user.  There are better and cheaper alternatives if you're just looking to sync your iPhone, especially now that Google offers sync.

If you have a Mac, or more particularly, several of them, it's actually a really good service.  It lets you sync bookmarks, calendars, contacts, keychains, and mail accounts (including rules and signatures) between as many macs as you want. It gives you web hosting, multiple email addresses, photo and movie galleries and 20G of disk space in the cloud.  And it's tightly integrated with the OS and all the iApps so it's dead easy to use all that stuff right out of the box.

Plus, you can get it for a lot less than $99/year if you buy the retail package from amazon.

So.  I don't mean to sound like an ad, and I'm not trying to start something.  It's just that I understand why the average reader of this blog would find little use for Mobileme.  For the Windows user, the various Live services offer mostly the same stuff, and if all you need is sync there are other ways to do it.  But if you have a bunch of Macs, it's not a bad deal.

(BTW, I don't have an iPhone, so I can't speak to that side of it at all.)

@tayme:

'That begs the question, "Why?"'

Okay, now you're just messing with me, right?   :-)

The documents presented are basic corporate evangelism.  MS is in the business to make money, and expanding your business to as many reaches of the world and getting your people on board and others is vital to the success of the company.  *ANY* company.

And while I didn't read the entire thing, I did find one of the pages where it says very boldly and plainly, DON'T LIE.  It also mentions that they are under the microscope and need to be careful.

@WebGuy - Would I do that???  ;-)

--tayme

"@WebGuy - Would I do that???  ;-) "

To be honest with you, sorry, but that doesn't  gibe/jibe/jive (pick your favorite). That begs the question, why would you do it?

I don't think your doing it. I think its you're computer!

OK. Any more pet peeves?

"OK. Any more pet peeves?"

Oh god yes.  People who say nucular for nuclear.  People who say less when they mean fewer.  People who say irregardless.  You're for your.  It's for its.  From whence it came.  People who use quotation marks for emphasis.

I could go on.  But I won't.

"People who use quotation marks for emphasis."

When I first came to the US, I had absolutely no idea why some people made those weird hand gestures.

"The Elements of Style" by Strunk and White is a great resource for international graduate students in the US.  

"OK. Any more pet peeves?"

Mine is people who use "loose" when they mean "lose". I think I find it particularly annoying because there are sentences where both words could work and make sense so it's not just a typo, it's a loss of potential meaning.

At the end of the day, for what it's worth I can't think of any pet peeves ;-).

Actually, "almost exactly" grates at me sometimes ...

"Actually, "almost exactly" grates at me sometimes ..."

I hate when people say "Big, huge....".

"I hate when people say "Big, huge...."."

When everyone knows the correct usage is "Big ol' honkin'..."

Pet peeves:

High unique, nearly unique, etc. Unique is an abolute; it doesn't take modifiers.

Al-verbs* of all sorts: prioritize, productize, moneytize.Gawd, the debauchment of the language.

*For the youngsters, Al-verbs are from Alexander Hague, general and politician in Nixon's cabinet. The best one, "I'll have to caveat my response on that one, Senator."

Sadly, what was once Al's strange fetish has now become routinized.

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