Bob Cringely is off his gourd

Absurd » Bob Cringely is off his gourd

Absurd » Bob Cringely is off his gourd — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:24:34 GMT

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Absurd » re: Bob Cringely is off his gourd — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 02:16:17 GMT

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re: Bob Cringely is off his gourd

johnpapola — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 03:41:24 GMT

"So why would anyone pay that much money for a service that does so little compared to what else is out there? For the email address, of course."

Of course? Hmm... Gee. I continue to pay for .mac first and foremost for the broad sync features it enables between my home tower and work laptop. you know, the kinds of features you're saying you "LOVE LIVE MESH" for? Features that .mac has had for years. I could care less that the email has "mac" in it.

The iDisk is super easy online storage. The iLife integration features are really nice. The backup application that comes with it is solid. Having the application preferences sync between the two machines is worth the money alone in productivity.

"To further beat this topic to death, I'd also note that 9 out of every 10 crazy Apple supporter email I get comes from a mac.com email address. This says a lot about these people."

Ah yes, because personal anecdote is the best way to prove your universal generalization. This is pretty shoddy discussion, paul, even if you try to shrug off the remarks by calling out the lunacy of the generalization after you've made it.

"* Inevitably, I will get an email or comment here that says something like, but Paul, with .Mac I can use nipperific features like Backup and Mac-to-Mac syncing. ZZzzzrrtt----snork!---sorry, I nodded off there. Please, just spare me. That stuff is a justification, not a reason to get .Mac."

Ah, you dozed off... but you are SUPER DUPER CRAZY EXCITED for online storage syncing from live mesh? SAME FEATURE... but from Microsoft in a BETA it's worth "LOVING". This is pretty stupid and blatantly hypocritical. I'll grant you that it's overpriced for geeks willing to hobble together a collection of free ad-laden alternatives.

But the double speak here is just so bald-faced and absurd, it's hard to stomach. Again as a reader that generally respects you, this discussion a mess. A condescending, arrogant, hypocritical farce. Obviously.

re: Bob Cringely is off his gourd

Mum — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:10:50 GMT

Since there were no replies I went ahead and did five minutes of research. I guess I'll have to conclude that this kind "sync everything" feature is indeed not only Mac-only but .Mac-only. I mean... Is this 2008 or not?

re: Bob Cringely is off his gourd

lotsamystuff — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 17:14:22 GMT

Sorry, Paul, but iSync is worth the less-than-ten-bucks-a-month I pay for it. dot-Mac may be "overpriced" in your book, but I can do with a couple less overpriced coffee products from Starbucks because, as "mum" points out, this functionality is something I don't want to live without.

re: Bob Cringely is off his gourd

Mum — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 12:41:09 GMT

Paul,

You've just been raving about being able to save a document on your home laptop, then open the same document at the office desktop. This is something .Mac enables me to do. So, what are the options if, besides my documents, I want to sync my web & ftp bookmarks, calendars, addresses, keychains, mailboxes, to dos, notes and settings between all my computers and (where applicable) my mobile phone, either in Mac or Windows? This would preferably happen automatically and not using ten different services.

I'm asking because I don't know, I'm not trying to justify anything. This functionality earns itself back tenfold in saved time each year, but I'm certainly interested if there is a cheaper or a free alternative.

The .mac mail address I only use for registering to possibly spamming services. If one address gets too dirty I get another alias and start off a clean table. I do use iWeb for creating galleries etc. but none of these other features matter so much.

re: Bob Cringely is off his gourd

cesjr — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 21:05:43 GMT

" features like Backup and Mac-to-Mac syncing. . . . That stuff is a justification, not a reason to get .Mac."

Actually not - you can get email anywhere but the mac to mac syncing hasn't been available from anyone but apple as far as I know

re: Bob Cringely is off his gourd

cesjr — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 21:03:58 GMT

"To further beat this topic to death, I'd also note that 9 out of every 10 crazy Apple supporter email I get comes from a mac.com email address. "

of course for Paul "crazy Apple supporter " means anyone that disagrees with him

re: Bob Cringely is off his gourd

DRWAM — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 17:03:16 GMT

Yep, I agree. It's the shock of losing my email identity that chains me to Comcast. Our Comcast accounts are paid by my group [which ultimately is out of my own pocket as we partners own the group, but at least it's pre-tax dollars], and if I go with Verizon, my group will reimburse me the $40/month. We have a corporate server with exchange which is simply the best, IMO, but I do not want it cluttered with personal and junk email. So, which free one would you recommend for my personal stuff? I would not want to chain myself to Verizon like I am with Comcast. This fear or impulsiveness seems quite neurotic [of me in my own medical opinion], but that's must be why I can't shake it off.

re: Bob Cringely is off his gourd

pthurrott — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 15:40:41 GMT

DRWAM: I hate to say it like this, but if fear of losing an email address is a concern, one might have been more careful about attaching themselves to an account that costs $100 a year when a huge selection of free and vastly superior email services are out there for the taking.

re: Bob Cringely is off his gourd

pthurrott — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 15:38:59 GMT

.Mac isn't worth the $100 that Apple charges. Anyone can see that if they're thinking objectively. So why would anyone pay that much money for a service that does so little compared to what else is out there? For the email address, of course. Stating the obvious doesn't "undermine my credibility," but yeah it does show some bias on my part: Bias against people who pay too much for nothing in order to have an Apple-oriented email address. So there it is. I'm anti-idiocy.

And if you want to add to the flip-flopping nature of this conversation, chew on this one: I've had a .Mac account since the very first day it was offered, and I've renewed it each year since. Now why would I do such a thing? Am I demented? Perhaps, but with regards to .Mac I do it because I need to test what Apple's doing, and a few OS X features don't get turned on unless you have .Mac. So it's a lock-in type thing, typical for Apple, but necessary for a reviewer. I don't recommend .Mac to anyone because it's almost completely useless in my opinion*. You know, unless that email address is really, really important to you. Which, as noted, it is for some people. You know who you are.

To further beat this topic to death, I'd also note that 9 out of every 10 crazy Apple supporter email I get comes from a mac.com email address. This says a lot about these people. But let's not take a gross generalization, which is used to make a point, and turn it into a rule: Obviously, there are .Mac users out there who aren't jerks, just as there are New York Yankees fans who aren't ... well, OK bad example. :)

* Inevitably, I will get an email or comment here that says something like, but Paul, with .Mac I can use nipperific features like Backup and Mac-to-Mac syncing. ZZzzzrrtt----snork!---sorry, I nodded off there. Please, just spare me. That stuff is a justification, not a reason to get .Mac.

re: Bob Cringely is off his gourd

Waethorn — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 15:07:20 GMT

"IPhone enterprise customers will do the same [buy....MobileMe accounts]"

riiiiiiight. they'll buy a MobileMe account instead of creating Windows Live ID's for free....

sure thing there pal.... ;)

re: Bob Cringely is off his gourd

DRWAM — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 14:13:50 GMT

John, Paul does have a true point about the account names. I can't bear to change /lose my Comcast email as I dread notifying all the services I use. It would save me between $60 and $70 each month if I dumped Comcast [TV and internest] and got Verizon Triple Play which has faster UL and DL speeds. I would save 10 or 20 bucks just dumping the Comcast TV and switching to Triple Play, and have both FiOS and Cable internet at my home, but I am a little timid. Some friends have switched without problems, but I am hesitating. I know I should do it, but I just can't give up my Comcast email addresses. I can understand why some would not want to give up their .mac address. What hurts is that my business email address would not change, and it's the more important. Therapy please?

re: Bob Cringely is off his gourd

lotsamystuff — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 13:36:57 GMT

The Good:

Paul: "Apple’s MobileMe isn’t just a warmed over PC- and iPhone-compatible version of .Mac. Apple’s MobileMe isn’t just a warmed over PC- and iPhone-compatible version of .Mac. It’s important for two reasons..."

Paul: "MobileMe is really an evolution of the .Mac service... I think Apple will see some big success with this."

The Bad:

Paul: "The stuff Schiller showed off isn't sophisticated or even particularly interesting"

The Redundant:

Paul: "This stuff isn't new, and it isn't particularly compelling."

Wow. More flip-flops than a dying fish. Which is about all this WinJihadist "analysis" is good for--wrapping a dead fish.

re: Bob Cringely is off his gourd

Avro — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 11:20:23 GMT

Apple come back from the brink? MS 'They will never do it.' (Windows ME, Vista)

Apple dominate the MP3 market with the iPod? MS 'They will never do it' (Zune)

Apple dominate Downloads with iTunes? MS 'They will never do it' (Zune.net)

Apple dominate the Smartphone market with iPhone? MS 'They will never do it' (Windows Mobile)

Apple dominate the cloud? MS 'They will never do it'

Computing 101 "Never say Never"