[rab777hp]

I use a completely different system based on the philosophy of FREE. I use a G1, instead of an iPhone, as it is superior, open-source, and with a superior app market, and Google serves as my mobile me, any of the non-phone uses of mobile me, I use free services, such as picasa for pictures, and FREE online web services for iDisk, every part of mobile me can be replicated for FREE.

[runningman]

It can be had for $50 on ebay. That's pretty reasonable.

[bmgumbiner]

I am very unhappy with the fact that Apple doesn't provide its own simple yet powerful alternative - iCal server in OSX leopard server. This uses the calDav std and works great to maintain and use a common calendar with multiple computers (a work group with oneself and/or others). Unfortunately, however, Apple has not bothered to make it possible for iCal on the iPhone to access its own iCal server EVEN THOUGH IT SUPPORTS MICROSOFT"S EXCHANGE SERVER!!!! Given how simple it is for iCal client on a Mac to connect to iCal server, and how well it works, it could not be at all difficult for Apple to implement this on the iPhone. In fact, I was anticipating this when I bought the iPhone when it first came out. Here I am, almost 2 years later, still waiting. This is an appalling case of Apple ignoring the needs of its best customers (ie those who use APPLE"S server software instead of microsofts)

[hayesk]

rab777hp said:

I use a completely different system based on the philosophy of FREE. I use a G1, instead of an iPhone, as it is superior, open-source, and with a superior app market,

I'm glad you find it to be "superior". That's not exactly a universal truth though.

As for "free" services? Nothing is free. It's either ad-supported or they're using your data for something. Companies aren't providing free services out of the goodness of their hearts.

[timcrawf]

No mention of Addres Book Server? This product has let you share addresses for quite awhile. It now has calendar sharing.
http://www.addressbookserver.com/
"Address Book and Calendar Server supports the full Address Book and iCal Schema."
There is also a web interface and and iPhone client.

[hillstones]

chuckbo said:

There's another terrific alternative for sharing calendars that my family's been using for years.

If you get a free account at box.net, you can publish your calendar, you can put a password on it, and then others can subscribe to it. It works real well.

If for some reason you don't have internet access, you have no calendar, or if box.net goes under, you have no calendar at all.

[chuckbo]

Hillstones,
I'm sorry for being unclear.
Box.net ties in directly with iCal. So I have iCal on my laptop with a Work and a Home calendar and my son's calendar. My wife has her calendar on her laptop. We both publish these calendars to box.net, and we've subscribed to each other's calendars, so they show up in iCal, too. Then I use iSync to put a copy of these calendars on my non-iPhone.
Chuck

[rab777hp]

Gmail is FREE- True or False?
Google Calendar is FREE- True or False?
Windows Live Sky Drive offers 25 GB FREE- True or False?
Youtube, Google Video, and Vimeo offer FREE video hosting- True or False?
Memeo Share offers a GB FREE for photos and videos- True or False?


The list goes on for ages.
I rest my case.

[hmurchison]

Some of us ascribe to a bit more than lowest bidder lifestyle.

To each his own but I make a decent salary and I don't waste my money so the whole "it's Free" mantra

doesn't hold much sway unless the product is free and best of breed. You're an open source fan I couldn't

care less about open source if the product doesn't work or look right. To each his own.

[rab777hp]

Ah, and therein lies my point, all this free, stuff is much better, for example, Gmail is the most advanced and overall best email available, and (and I would like to also point out that you said you couldn't care less if the product doesn't work, MobileMe's launch, need I say more?). As for online storage, online storage is online storage, it doesn't really change much, but FREE windows live Sky Drive offers equal storage to mobile me, with all the same 'storage features' that Me touts.

[jackbauer24]

OK, i'm a happy mobileme person.....question is how can i take advantage of the lower amazon price when i'm in the middle of my first year subscription?

[john_macworld]

I like / signed up for MobileMe since it makes it easy to share photo's from iPhoto and movies from iMovie.

[tonyp]

I think this article was intended for low-power users like myself. I actually learned a lot from this article. It's nice to use things you need without having to pay anything all.

[Tofino]

i've been using MobileMe since it was called 'iTools'. if you use more than one mac (i have almost a dozen that sync) or an iPhone or iPod touch (i sync 3 through it) - it's a no-brainer and the cost are neglible for what it does.
I would personally love it if it were a bit more group aware, for example - if a family pack would allow you to have a 'family calendar' that's shared, but there's still hoping that functionality will be updated. in the meantime i use busysync ($30) to have one of my computers sync my calendars with google and have family members subscribed via ical's webcal functionality.
i've tried all other sync options (and yes - spent hours, even days researching them, but not for cost cutting measures, just out of personal obsession i guess :-) and in the end it comes down to usability, convenience and mobile support.
originally the most important features of .mac for me was the calendar and address book syncing. as soon as i got my first ipod touch, having an editable up-to-date calendar in my pocket was worth the money alone...
i've been a longtime user of entourage for my email (switching from claris emailer when its developers moved to microsoft) and just recently converted all my email accounts (five of which i use every day) to imap. it was mobileme's mail account syncing that finally made me ditch entourage and move to apple's mail program. now my mail is up to date on all of my machines quickly after launch and on my phone and ipod as well.
i understand the argument for alternatives, but for my situation MM delivers a superior user experience at a very reasonable price.