I've had .Mac since it was a free service. A couple of times I've thought about canceling but never quite decided before the auto-renew dinged my credit card. I'm happier with it since I went to work for Adobe, mainly because the iSync feature allows me to merge my work and personal calendars and sync them to my Treo phone. I can also sync my browser bookmarks from home and work and keep a copy of my address book where it's web accessible.

I also use the iPhoto one-button export feature to publish slide shows - mostly vacation pictures and family events - where friends can get to them. There's also a web page, blog space if I want it, web mail, a free Virex subscription (rumored to be going away) and occasional software deals. All good things.

The problem is that I can get all or most of these things for free, and with 10 times the disk space, at Google and Yahoo. My $100 gets 250 MB on .Mac, where Google and Yahoo offer 2 GB in mail, and Yahoo offers 'unlimited' photo space.

iSync is really the only distinguishing feature from my standpoint: it probably is worth 8 bucks and change a month (3 double cappuccinos in Starbucks universal currency) to keep my home, work and mobile computers sync'd up. So, in the next chapter, we speculate about what .Mac could be if Apple applied the legendary innovation...
Comments 8:27:00 AM    

Chris Gulker's view from Silicon Valley - in words and pictures