TidBITS#639/22-Jul-02
=====================
At Macworld Expo in New York, Steve Jobs excited Mac users with
things they can't yet have and services for which they now need
to pay. Adam has the scoop on the new 17-inch flat-screen iMac,
iTunes 3, new iPods, plus a preview of iCal, iSync, and the rest
of Mac OS X 10.2 - but the biggest buzz is .Mac's $100 annual
fee. We also note Entourage X's disappearing Palm conduit,
Apple's financials, Adam's Mac influence ranking, and last
week's spam poll results.
Topics:
MailBITS/22-Jul-02
iMac Expands to 17 Inches
Jaguar, iCal, and iSync Appear
iTunes 3 Gets Smarter
New iPods Debut
iTools Morphs into .Mac; Users Squawk
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MailBITS/22-Jul-02
------------------
**Apple Posts $32 Million Q3 Profit** -- Apple last week announced
a $32 million profit for its third fiscal quarter of the year.
Revenues for the quarter were $1.43 billion (down 3 percent from
the same quarter last year) and gross margins were a still-healthy
27.4 percent (although that too is down from 29.4 percent a year
ago). Apple says it shipped just over 800,000 Macs in the quarter,
and international sales accounted for 42 percent of revenue.
Despite the current economic conditions, Apple remains in good
shape compared to most other computer makers, with some $4.3
billion in cash on hand. The company expects a small profit for
its next quarter, barring any large non-recurring expenditures.
[GD]
<http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2002/jul/16results.html>
**TidBITS Publisher Adam Engst #3 in MDJ Power 25** -- As much as
we generally avoid blowing our own horn here at TidBITS, we should
note that TidBITS publisher Adam C. Engst was once again rated #3
in the MDJ Power 25, an annual survey which attempts to assess who
wields power and influence in the Macintosh community. This year,
Adam is the _only_ person in the top five of the MDJ Power 25 who
is not an Apple employee: first place again went to Apple CEO
Steve Jobs, with Apple's Senior VP of Software Engineering Avie
Tevanian taking second place. Jonathan Ive (Apple's VP of Design)
took fourth place, and Tim Holmes, Apple's Mac OS Technology
Manager, took fifth. Congratulations to Adam and all the worthy
folks in the MDJ Power 25! [GD]
<http://www.macjournals.com/pages/gcsf/mdj_power_25_2002.html>
**Collateral Spammage 2002 Poll Results** - Last week, we asked
readers how many spam email messages they receive per week at
all their email addresses. Although we never claim TidBITS polls
are scientific, the results are unfortunately not surprising.
Approximately 31 percent of respondents said they received more
than 100 spam messages per week, and about 27 percent reported
receiving 20 or fewer spam messages per week - that means about
42 percent of respondents reported getting between 21 and 100
spam messages per week.
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbpoll=76>
Needless to say, the results indicate people are getting more spam
than ever. When we conducted a similar poll in May of 2000, only
seven percent reported receiving more than 71 spam messages per
week, while a whopping 40 percent reported receiving 10 or fewer
spam messages a week. Claims that the spam problem on the Internet
has increased tenfold in the last couple of years may not be far
off base. [GD]
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbpoll=39>
**Palm Conduit for Entourage X Released, Yanked** -- The wait
appeared to be over last week for people who wanting to
synchronize the personal information on their Palm handhelds
with Entourage X. Microsoft released a Palm conduit that
synchronizes addresses, tasks, memos, and calendar items (but
not email, unfortunately) to any handheld running Palm OS 3 or
later. Shortly after the release, however, Microsoft pulled the
software to address problems raised by users who installed it.
As of 22-Jul-02, Microsoft has not detailed the problems
encountered or offered an estimated date of arrival for a
corrected version, so we recommend not installing the conduit
if you happened to grab it last week. [JLC]
<http://www.microsoft.com/Mac/DOWNLOAD/officex/palmsync.asp>
iMac Expands to 17 Inches
-------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Despite rampant rumors that Apple would release new desktop Macs
(a move possibly held up due to new systems requiring Mac OS X
10.2), the only new Mac that appeared at last week's Macworld Expo
was a 17-inch (43.2 cm) iMac selling for $2,000. Other than the
new wide-screen display, the addition of an Nvidia GeForce4 MX
graphics controller, and an 80 GB hard disk, the 17-inch iMacs
will be identical to the existing high-end iMacs. That means
they'll have 800 MHz PowerPC G4 processors, 256 MB of RAM,
SuperDrives, 10/100Base-T Ethernet, a 56K internal modem, Apple
Pro speakers, and the usual complement of FireWire and USB ports.
<http://www.apple.com/imac/>
The screen is the most unusual aspect of the iMac - its native
resolution is 1440 by 900 pixels, a 16:10 aspect ratio. It can
also run at three other resolutions in the 16:10 aspect ratio,
plus three resolutions in a standard 4:3 aspect ratio. Perhaps
because of its location, cantilevered out on the iMac's chrome
arm, the display looks more awkward than the screen on the
Titanium PowerBook G4 or the two large Apple Cinema Displays,
all of which have roughly similar aspect ratios. In contrast,
the 17-inch Apple Studio Display provides a resolution of
1280 by 1024, offering a few more total pixels and more vertical
height than the wide-screen iMac display.
<http://www.apple.com/imac/specs.html>
The 17-inch iMac should be available in a week or two - the fact
that it's nearly identical to the existing iMacs probably helped
Apple push it out quickly. Although there will no doubt be those
for whom the higher cost of the 17-inch iMac is difficult to
justify, Apple's data show that cost isn't the deciding factor
with iMac buyers. During the keynote, Steve Jobs said that half
of all the new iMacs sold were the high-end models with the
SuperDrive; this new model adds a mere $200 to the price of the
previous high end model for the larger display, better graphics
controller, and larger hard disk. Given the known (and viscerally
obvious) benefits of a larger screen, I expect the 17-inch iMac
to be a hit - I know I'd pay the premium for it if I were in the
market for an iMac.
Jaguar, iCal, and iSync Appear
------------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Steve Jobs devoted a large portion of his Macworld Expo keynote
last week to building excitement for the next major release of
Mac OS X. Codenamed "Jaguar" and known officially as Mac OS X
10.2, the release will reportedly offer significantly improved
performance and 150 new features when it appears for sale for
$130 on 24-Aug-02. For people buying Macs between 17-Jul-02 and
24-Aug-02, the Mac OS Up to Date program will provide a copy of
Jaguar for $20, but unfortunately, there is currently _no_ other
upgrade discount for current Mac OS X users.
<http://www.apple.com/macosx/jaguar/>
Many people have complained about Jaguar's cost, and as much as
Apple needs to find sources of revenue in this harsh economy, the
company will have to be careful. It's clear that Apple wants to
keep people upgrading versions of Mac OS X, and if the price is
too high, that could slow further adoption just when Mac OS X is
gaining ground. Apple estimates that there are 2.5 million copies
of Mac OS X in active use, and they believe that number will
double to 5 million by the end of 2002, thanks to 77 percent of
Mac buyers keeping Mac OS X as the primary operating system.
(For reference, Jobs implied that 5 million Mac OS X users would
account for 20 percent of the installed base of Macs, many of
which can't even run Mac OS X.)
Our take: Apple should offer a discount for existing users.
Times are tough all over, and as much as Apple needs to bring
in revenue, Mac users don't have unlimited funds either. Apple
is already pushing the limits with the $100 annual .Mac
subscription fee (see "iTools Morphs into .Mac; Users Squawk,"
later in this issue), but that's more optional than a major
upgrade to an operating system that still has significant
problems and gaps. Plus, losing too many people in the upgrade
process could complicate Apple's work in pushing out security
fixes going forward and providing a single target for future
application development. Until this point, it was safe to assume
that everyone was running the latest version of Mac OS X; a
too-high upgrade price could further divide the Mac community
by operating system version. I strongly encourage people to send
Apple feedback on this issue - it's unreasonable to ask Apple
to give Jaguar away for free, but the cost could be lowered
for existing users.
<http://www.apple.com/macosx/feedback/>
**A Few More Jaguar Details** -- We covered the main features of
Jaguar when Steve Jobs first announced it at Apple's Worldwide
Developers Conference (WWDC) several months ago, so we won't
recap that coverage - see "Jaguar: Mac OS X Prepares to Pounce"
in TidBITS-629_ for information about iChat, Mail, Sherlock 3,
QuickTime 6 (now shipping via Software Update, along with a minor
Mac OS X security update), Rendezvous, and more.
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06816>
In fact, the Macworld Expo demo of Jaguar appears to have been
extremely similar to the WWDC demo - the only new feature I hadn't
seen mentioned before was a Desktop Pictures preference pane that
can automatically switch between different pictures every so
often, a feature previously found in the realm of shareware
utilities. That's not to say there weren't new details, and I'd
highly recommend browsing through Jaguar's extensive list of
features, including such things as AirPort Software Base Station,
AppleScript folder actions, mounting of FTP servers in the Finder,
and a clean install option. Especially fascinating was the keynote
demonstration of Rendezvous, which lets Macs running Jaguar
discover network services over TCP/IP. Jobs first showed iTunes
automatically discovering and sharing music between a pair of
Macs connected only via AirPort; a subsequent demo showed a Mac
automatically finding and configuring a network printer, something
that's currently a tedious manual process.
<http://www.apple.com/macosx/jaguar/morefeatures.html>
An important improvement barely mentioned in the keynote for lack
of time is Jaguar's improved accessibility, which includes a Zoom
feature for magnifying anything on the Mac OS X screen, a black-
and-white option for improving contrast for reading text, mouse
support using the numeric keypad, and system-wide keyboard access.
<http://www.apple.com/macosx/jaguar/universalaccess.html>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbser=1189>
One interesting note: the Macworld Expo keynote was the first
large-scale webcast to use the new MPEG-4 open standard. About
50,000 people watched, half of them with QuickTime 6, which had
garnered more than one million downloads in the 36 hours from
its initial release to the keynote.
<http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2002/jul/22quicktime.html>
**iCal** -- Although Apple is building an ever-increasing level
of functionality into Mac OS X itself - witness the system-wide
Address Book and Sherlock 3 - Apple also announced two new
applications: iCal and iSync. iCal is a simple single-window
calendar that should fill the needs of many consumers. It supports
multiple calendars (such as one for each member of a family), and
can publish calendars and subscribe to them via .Mac or any other
WebDAV server. iCal will be a free download from Apple when it
ships in September, and it will require Mac OS X 10.2.
<http://www.apple.com/ical/>
The product most likely to suffer from iCal's release is
Microsoft's Entourage. Although my impression is that Entourage
is a more capable calendar, it lacks extensive sharing
capabilities and is aimed at the individual user, leaving
it vulnerable to iCal. Sharing is key - as Jobs noted in the
keynote, we all have calendars, and there's almost no point in
having a calendar if you can't share it with the other people
affected by your schedule. For many years, Tonya and I have relied
on Now Up-to-Date (once again sold by Now Software, just revived
as a division of Power On Software) for its sharing capabilities,
and we've been flabbergasted that more busy families didn't use
something similar. It's unlikely iCal will hurt Now Up-to-Date
much, since Now Up-to-Date is more appropriate for businesses.
Plus, Now Software announced a Windows version of Now Up-to-Date
at Macworld Expo that should make the program significantly more
attractive to offices with Macs and PCs.
<http://www.nowsoftware.com/>
Our take is that iCal will be as much of a hit as the rest of
Apple's iApps. It's hard to beat a free program that offers much-
needed functionality, especially when it comes from Apple.
**iSync** -- iCal is cute and will be useful for many people, but
iSync is far more important. Based on the SyncML open standard,
iSync is a general-purpose application for synchronizing data
between multiple devices. Jobs described it synchronizing calendar
events from iCal and contacts from the Mac OS X Address Book to an
iPod via FireWire, to a Palm handheld (it still requires the Palm
conduits) via USB, and to a Sony Ericsson cell phone via Bluetooth
(a wireless communication technology that is to USB what AirPort
is to Ethernet). As with iCal, iSync will be a free download for
Mac OS X 10.2 users when it ships in September.
<http://www.apple.com/isync/>
<http://www.syncml.org/>
The utility of such a program is obvious - Macs are getting
smaller all the time, but they can't hope to compete with the
tiny consumer electronics that continue to gain in popularity.
For people who are often away from their Macs, iSync will make
it possible to carry a minimum number of these devices and choose
between them based on the primary feature you want - an MP3
player, a PDA, or a cell phone.
In the future, Jobs said that iSync will be able to synchronize
files between multiple Macs via .Mac (presumably via local
networks as well, with some help from Rendezvous). My impression
is that iSync is meant to be open, so other applications can take
advantage of it as well to synchronize data instead of entire
files. The first one I'd like to see is iPhoto, which currently
has no good way to synchronize photos between a laptop you would
take on vacation and a desktop Mac that you'd use for most of your
photo work.
Jobs called iSync a landmark, groundbreaking application, and I
think he's right. When coupled with the next generation of small
digital devices, it brings significantly more power to Apple's
concept of the Mac as a digital hub.
iTunes 3 Gets Smarter
---------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Among the bevy of announcements during Steve Jobs's Macworld Expo
keynote last week was the release of iTunes 3, a new version of
Apple's free MP3-playing software that's available now, though
only for Mac OS X.
<http://www.apple.com/itunes/>
New in iTunes 3 is Sound Check, a feature that normalizes playback
volumes to avoid the situation where some tracks are shockingly
louder or significantly softer than others. Although I hadn't
noticed that much when I first started getting into MP3s, it's
become increasingly annoying as my music collection grows. iTunes
3 also offers new categorization options that track the number of
times each track has been played and let you rate each song from
one to five stars. iTunes also records the last time each song
was played.
The main new feature, though, is Smart Playlists, best thought of
as filters for your music. For instance, you can create a rule
that matches all songs in the Rock genre that were released during
the 1960s, and iTunes automatically gathers together the
appropriate songs. Even better, Smart Playlists update
automatically, so if you add a new CD of early Beatles music,
for instance, it will instantly appear in your 1960s Rock
playlist. Smart Playlists become even more useful when combined
with the play count and rating information, so you can, for
instance, create a playlist that gives you 50 randomly selected
electronic dance tracks you've rated more than four stars, 600 MB
of blues songs recorded before 1970, or the 10 tracks you listen
to most often. If you delete a song from a Smart Playlist that's
limited to a specific number of songs or a specific size, iTunes
automatically picks another appropriate song to fill the space.
iTunes 3 also now supports Audible.com, an Internet service from
which you can purchase spoken word content for over 18,000 books,
a variety of newspapers, and archived radio shows. With iTunes 3,
you can set bookmarks to save your place in long audio books.
<http://www.apple.com/itunes/audiobooks.html>
Finally, iTunes 3 tries to help you regularize your MP3 collection
by renaming the individual MP3 files in a regular fashion, a
one-time action that wasn't entirely successful for me. Plus, a
Consolidate Library command in the Advanced menu offers to move
all the MP3 files that iTunes knows about into your Music folder.
New iPods Debut
---------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Among the announcements at Steve Jobs's Macworld Expo keynote in
New York was the release of new versions of Apple's popular iPod
MP3 player. The existing 5 GB iPod remains available, though its
price drops $100 to $300. Although Jobs said nothing of this, I
anticipate that the 5 GB model may not last too much longer, given
that it doesn't share the slightly redesigned case now used by the
$400 10 GB model and a newly introduced $500 20 GB model. The new
case is about 10 percent thinner, sports a solid-state scroll
wheel (much like a trackpad surface), and adds a FireWire port
cover. Plus, the iPods now come with an accessory kit that
includes a case with a belt clip (though there are numerous
other iPod cases that might suit you better), a wired remote,
and new headphones. Existing owners can purchase the accessories
separately: the case alone sells for rather steep $40, and the
remote/headphones bundle also costs $40.
<http://www.apple.com/ipod/>
The iPod's internal software has changed as well, so you can now
browse by genre and composer (a feature for classical music fans
for whom the artist and the composer are different), support for
smart playlists and play counts that synchronize with the
equivalent features in iTunes 3, support for the iTunes 3 Sound
Check feature for regularizing volume, and support for Audible.com
with round-trip bookmarking for spoken word content. (For existing
iPod owners, these features require iPod 1.2 software, which Apple
says will be available in August.) iTunes 2 is still supported for
Mac OS 9 users, though presumably without support for the new
features appearing in iTunes 3, which works only in Mac OS X.
Additional changes that start to move the iPod beyond being an
MP3 player include an Extras menu that lets you browse through
calendar events and contacts synchronized via iSync from iCal
and Address Book under the forthcoming Mac OS X 10.2. The Breakout
game is also available from the Extras menu, instead of as an
Easter egg, as is an option that displays a clock.
Perhaps most notable is that, starting in late August, Apple will
sell the same iPod models to Windows users for the same prices.
The iPod hardware requires no changes, but the package sold to
Windows users includes a six-to-four FireWire cable (for
connecting to the four-pin FireWire ports common on PCs) and can
synchronize songs with Musicmatch Jukebox Plus, a leading PC MP3
player. I suspect that the PC user experience won't be quite as
good as on the Mac, since four-pin FireWire cables don't carry
power, so PC user will have to use an AC adapter instead of
charging the iPod while it's plugged into the FireWire port.
Plus, I'd be surprised if Musicmatch Jukebox Plus offered all
the features of iTunes in terms of play counts and smart
playlists. And finally, Apple said nothing about there being
any synchronization of calendars and contacts for PC users.
<http://www.musicmatch.com/>
iTools Morphs into .Mac; Users Squawk
-------------------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
By far the most controversial announcement during Steve Jobs's
Macworld Expo keynote was Apple's move to turn its free iTools
service into the fee-based .Mac (pronounced "dot-Mac"). Although
iTools has amassed 2.2 million users since its launch at the
start of 2000 (see "iSay, Apple's iStrategy Is iMpressive" in
TidBITS-512_), Apple has struggled slightly to find the right mix
of features, dropping the iReview Web site reviews and the KidSafe
service that selected sites appropriate for children, and most
recently, surreptitiously implementing bandwidth limits on
HomePage-based Web sites (see "iTools HomePage Bandwidth
Limitations" in TidBITS-634_). Nonetheless, the free Mac.com
email addresses, 20 MB of iDisk space, and HomePage Web page
hosting have proven extremely popular.
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=05763>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06851>
If you visit Apple's Web site now, though, you'll see no trace of
iTools. It has been replaced with .Mac, a new service from Apple
that offers some of the same features as iTools for a $100 annual
fee; a one-year discount of $50 is available for current users who
sign up before 30-Sep-02. (Apple also offers a 60-day free .Mac
trial, which includes the same features of iTools plus Apple's
Backup software, mentioned below.) The name change was undoubtedly
done partly to help Apple distinguish the fee-based .Mac from the
free iTools; it's also a play on Microsoft's .Net Web services
initiative because .Mac is delivering a set of consumer-oriented
Web services today.
<http://www.mac.com/>
<http://www.microsoft.com/net/>
If you do nothing, your iTools account will be deactivated on
30-Sep-02, and any data you have stored in your iDisk or on your
Mac.com email account will be deleted (so make sure to download
anything you don't want to lose to your hard disk).
**What's New in .Mac** -- Apple realized that just charging for
the features available in iTools wouldn't be popular, so they
attempted to sweeten the deal by extending what .Mac can do.
Changes include the following; make sure to read the .Mac
FAQ as well.
<http://www.mac.com/1/mac_faq.html>
* Mac.com email now offers 15 MB of storage space (up from 5 MB)
and provides access via the Web as well as POP and IMAP. It also
includes photo signatures. You can purchase additional storage,
and if you want more than one email address you can buy up to 10
more Mac.com addresses for $10 per year each (though these
addresses can't use photo signatures).
* iDisks now come with 100 MB of disk space (up from 20 MB), and
you can purchase additional storage. Apple also has a new iDisk
Utility application (Mac OS X only) that helps you access and
manage multiple iDisks and Public Folders.
<http://www.mac.com/1/idiskutility_download.html>
* HomePage now lets you send iCards with your own pictures to
announce new Web pages, adds a "Send me a message" button that
lets visitors send you iCards with feedback, offers more layouts
for photos, runs slide shows full screen, makes instant site
menus, and offers improved performance.
<http://www.mac.com/1/hpnewfeatures.html>
* iCards remains available to everyone, but only .Mac members can
send iCards using their own photos now.
* .Mac members can download a new Backup program that works only
with Mac OS X. It's a simple backup application that can save
files to CD-R/CD-RW, DVD-R, and to your iDisk (though if you have
a slow Internet connection you won't be able to back up much data
to your iDisk). I strongly recommend that you adhere to a solid
backup strategy as much as is possible with Backup - see "Have You
Backed Up Today? Part 1" in TidBITS-432_ for full details.
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=04917>
* Along with Backup, .Mac members can download a copy of McAfee's
Virex for either Mac OS 9 or Mac OS X, and your .Mac membership
includes free virus definition updates. On the plus side, Virex
can identify and eliminate Windows and Unix viruses as well as Mac
viruses; on the downside, you must download and install new virus
definitions manually, which runs counter to the entire .Mac
concept.
* You can now sign up for and use the iDisk and Mac.com email
aspects of .Mac from a Windows machine, though Backup and Virex
don't work on Windows, nor does the HomePage Web application.
* Apple claims that .Mac members will receive technical support,
saying, "Members have access to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs),
instant system/network status, the AppleCare Knowledge Base, and
private discussion boards moderated by Apple technical support
representatives to ensure that questions are answered within one
business day." Frankly, it sounds lame - how are you going to use
these tools if, for instance, your problem is that .Mac won't let
you log in? Worse, support for Backup and Virex is limited to
installation, launch, and removal of the software - too bad if
you need help _using_ the programs.
**What's Coming in .Mac** -- Although some people will likely find
the selection of features in .Mac compelling right now, Apple has
also announced additional features that should make the deal even
better once Mac OS X 10.2 comes out on 24-Aug-02. With the new
iCal, you'll be able to publish your calendars to .Mac and
subscribe to other people's calendars, which will be helpful;
you'll also be able to publish calendars to any WebDAV server.
<http://www.mac.com/1/mac_newfeatures.html>
More interesting will be shared screen saver slide shows -
publish your photos to your iDisk and your friends and family
can subscribe to your photos within their Mac OS X Screen Saver.
This feature will go a long way toward providing the basic
functionality of the Ceiva stand-alone picture frame - a neat
device that requires a regular subscription fee and has one of
the least usable Web interfaces I've ever had the misfortune
to use.
<http://www.ceiva.com/>
**Consternation and Controversy** -- Many Mac users are furious
about the switch from the free iTools to the fee-based .Mac.
Many people simply didn't use iTools heavily enough to justify
the added expense - the Mac.com email address was nice, but not
worth $100 per year. Others are bothered by the fact that much
of the value of .Mac seems to be in Backup and Virex, but people
who are at all serious about backup and anti-virus software
probably already own equivalent software that may be significantly
more capable, as certainly is the case with Dantz's Retrospect
backup applications. Plus, .Mac doesn't come with any Internet
access, whereas most Internet connections from standard ISPs like
EarthLink already include multiple email addresses and Web space,
making the decision to pay yet again for these features more
difficult. And finally, people feel let down because Apple
initially made a big deal about how iTools was free and was
intended to be a part of the overall Macintosh experience.
Discussions on this topic have been raging on TidBITS Talk.
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=1687>
As with Apple's recent bandwidth limitations on HomePage-based Web
sites, most people appear to agree that it's reasonable for Apple
to want to recoup the costs of running the iTools service and even
turn a profit. Steve Jobs even did well at introducing the
unpopular news - he basically just pointed out that many of the
other free Internet services are now either charging or have gone
out of business because they didn't have viable business models.
But Apple may have picked the wrong inducements to the 2.2 million
existing customers. A 60-day grace period and a half-price
discount for the first year are better than nothing, but a better
move would have been to keep the Mac.com forwarding addresses
available for free for current users. That would ensure that
Mac.com email addresses would continue to help promote the
advantages of the Macintosh out on the Internet at large while
significantly reducing the bandwidth and disk space requirements
of the service.
Another concern is that .Mac features are built into Mac OS X
itself and into applications like iPhoto. It doesn't look good if
high-profile functionality like having the iDisk be available from
a Finder menu or HomePage publishing of Web photo albums simply
doesn't work if you're not a .Mac member. It's poor user
interface, and a poor user experience.
But what's your opinion? We're running a poll on our home page
that asks about your plans regarding .Mac usage - let us know what
you think. Also, since Apple has 60 days to reconsider these
policies, I strongly encourage everyone who has an opinion on this
topic to send Apple feedback. Keep it reasonable and acknowledge
that Apple must run a viable business in your feedback (whining
about how everything should always be free won't do any good at
all). If we're lucky, Apple will moderate their position and at
least keep free email forwarding for existing users.
<http://www.tidbits.com/>
<http://www.apple.com/feedback/mac/pm.html>
$$
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