The new “Mobile Me” from Mac sucks so bad that I am considering giving up my dotmac email address and throwing in the towel. Because you know what? It kind of sucked ANYway, but I cut it some slack because I paid for it and blah blah blah – but this is bullshit. And their response has been bullshit. Or I should say non-response. If you don’t have an iPhone, you’re screwed, basically, and I have no plans on getting an iPhone. So if I want to stop in at an Internet cafe to check my email, they had BETTER have Firefox or Safari as Internet options (and there are reports that Firefox has been frozen by Mobile Me) – otherwise I will not be able to check my email. I have a blackberry – so that’s good – at least I am “mobile” and can receive emails wherever I am … but honest to God. What a crap release. 2 days outage. No explanation. “Everything you love about Mac and more …” they said. Uhm, no. Not EVERYTHING. Talk to the people who miss the iCards that you took away with no warning. If it were “EVERYTHING” then the iCards wouldn’t have disappeared. I have spent HOURS on the forums at Macrumors, etc., and am trying to come to a decision, based on the complaints of others, and my own. And to be honest, dotmac was never great shakes, anyway. It’s such a pain to change email addresses, but seriously, Mac: this new application is pathetic. Not to mention I hate the cutesiness of the “look” of it. I hate the cloud. I hate the “me”, in general. It sounds infantile. It would be much more Apple-ish to call it “iMobile”. But then, of course, nobody asked me and there are all these Apple bulldogs on the forums saying stuff like, “Well, I’m sure if YOU were in charge, everything would be perfect.” hahahaha In a way, I am enjoying the drama – the forums are awesome reading (and actually there is a lot of great information handed out, too – thank God, because Apple’s support for this has SUCKED.) Anyway. I hate “Mobile Me” which sounds like it is made for tweens, and just basically was released way too early. There are way more problems with it than I can even list – because I don’t use a lot of the applications – but the whole “Push” thing has been a disaster for some people, and blah blah blah. An issue too is that there are some out there who think that complaining is somehow “unfair” to Apple. Guys. Grow up. They are a company. They are a business. They must be held accountable like any other business for things that go epically wrong. That’s all. I love my Mac too. I’m not ever going back to a PC. But to call a spade a spade is not being “unfair”. Your loyalty is clouding your judgment. I guess I’m not that much of a fanatic that I will protect<\/i> a company – even when it goes wrong. The main problem for me is the web application, and not being able to get mail from certain locations with IE. I get that IE is strolling into the tarpit. I hate IE. I prefer Firefox. But to deliberately develop Mobile Me (gag) to not be compatible at ALL with the existing browser on the majority of PCs – that’s just bad business<\/i>. I know it’s also cutting edge, I get that. I know they are pushing the envelope. They are looking ahead<\/i>. Fine, look ahead. But making sure your stuff is compatible with things a year, 2 years, 3 years ago – is part of developing new technology. Eventually things will be phased out – but we’re not there yet. So I’m in a public library doing research, say. And I don’t have my blackberry. And I need to check my email, to send something out, or whatever. I do a lot of my personal business through email. We all do. Unless that public library has Safari and Firefox (and, well, my local library does NOT, I’m just saying) – then I am screwed. That is bad, Apple. You should at least have kept the .Mac going alongside of Mobile Me (I can’t even say that without gagging) – so that 1. you could work out the MULTIPLE bugs in Mobile Me and we could all still get emails while you worked it out and 2. just for good will between you and your customers. I read some poor dude who works in Africa in the Peace Corps and relies on his dotmac to keep in contact. He has no iPhone. Of course there is not going to be deluxe Safari or Firefox browsers in the Peace Corps office. The guy is screwed. He’s going to gmail. Which also has the benefit of being FREE. Why should I pay for this bogus Mobile Me crap when it doesn’t work? I ain’t buyin’ an iPhone, Apple. If you’re trying to force my hand here, you will fail. And lemme tell you something, Apple: it really doesn’t help your cause to be snotty in response to complaints.<\/p>\n
Basically I am just resisting changing my email again because it’s such a pain. I already have 4 or 5 email addresses, which I realize is excessive – but I am OCD and I have to compartmentalize. Blog emails go one place, acting\/writing\/business emails go another place, personal emails are dotmac … But I am now rethinking my strategy. To be honest, my Mac email was ALWAYS buggy. Maybe I just drank the Koolaid too. If my Yahoo account – a FREE account – was that buggy, I would get rid of it. Here I am paying for Mac email, and it’s buggy and unreliable … and I put up with it. That’s my psychological issue.<\/p>\n
To have email (that I am paying for) be down for 2, 3, almost 4 days is insane. Thank God I have multiple emails and can get done what I need to get done, although it is not ideal. My brother and I would try to pick up our emails at the local library and Nope. No go. Next day. Nope. No go. It was obviously a major debacle had occurred – but it wasn’t until the new Mobile Me (BAH. I HATE SAYING IT) launched for real that I realized how much I hated it and how much I yearned for my .Mac mail to be back. I’m not against new technology. But you had best make sure your new technology freakin’ WORKS before launching it on loyal customers and taking away what DOES work without replacing it with something better. Bush league!<\/p>\n
That is all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The new “Mobile Me” from Mac sucks so bad that I am considering giving up my dotmac email address and throwing in the towel. Because you know what? It kind of sucked ANYway, but I cut it some slack because … Continue reading