[MW Forums]

Apple updated its personal backup software, bringing the current version to 3.0. The update adds preset backup plans for iLife content and other essential files; automatic scheduling to CDs and DVDs; incremental backups; advanced file restoration; and the ability to back up more than one Mac to your iDisk. Backup 3.0 requires Mac OS X v10.3.9 or Mac OS X v10.4.2 or later. According to Apple, non-standard (symlinked) Home folder configurations are not supported. Backup requires a .Mac account -- Full .Mac members can use all Backup features. Trial accounts are limited to 100 MB per backup. Backup 3.0 can be downloaded once you login to your .Mac account. more

[uchuugaka]

100 dollars a year is still not worth it.
the best feature is the syncing feature which is crippled if you don't have .mac
the missing feature of sync is simply to be able to sync two macs' stuff (configurably) via firewire or ethernet. without that, it's pointless.
ical and address book are not powerful enough to justify the extra cost to sync them with other devices.

[yangzone]

Apple should get rid of .Mac. It looks like they are ripping off their customers. It's not a very innovative package and with storage running at less than $1- per GB these days their ass is showing with that 250MB offering. To quote Fielding Mellish, Woody Allen's hapless revolutionary in "Bananas": "It's a travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham."

[uchuugaka]

if read the previous news article, they did up the storage to 1 gig, but the only super compelling feature of .mac is the syncing feature. the web hosting is nice at 1 gig, but read the fine print (if you can find it) regarding bandwith for traffic to your .mac web site... paltry.
I'm surprised no 3rd party has released a service to take advantage of the protocols of sync and ical and address book, but doing so at a cheaper rate w/hosting.

[SimDude]

I completely disagree with the previous posters regarding .Mac which is why I'm a member and will continue to be one. The simplicity of synchronization, web publishing and overall integration are easily worth the $100/year. To these posters I would ask what solution do you offer that will give me synchronized bookmarks across multiple computers and the web, synchronized address books between computers and my Treo 650 (plus web access), synced email across multiple computers, one-click web publishing from iPhoto, integrated email and address support from the web etc.
I have no technical issues with coming up with individual solutions to these problems (I'm a software engineer by profession). The reason I use .Mac is when I come home from work, I don't want to be screwing around with a computer. I want a one-click solution that integrates everything. My professional time is worth well over $100/hour. Spending $8/month to save some time is well worth it. The fact that .Mac is not worth $100 to you simply means you are not the target audience.

[Felix001]

>> The fact that .Mac is not worth $100 to you simply means you are not the target audience.
Exactly...I couldn't agree more! The time I'd spend screwing around with an alternative syncing solution for my PowerMac, Mac mini, iBook and PowerBook is easily worth $100/year to me.

[iron_chef]

I hope backup 3 works better version 2 because version 2 REALLY blew. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif

[pcharles]

In reply to:

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100 dollars a year is still not worth it.

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Ah! Spoken like someone who thinks they know everything, yet strangely . . . . . . . .
The services provided by .Mac are more than just backup. Most people, me included, get a lot of use out of the .Mac account and will continue to do so. The problem is that Mac users always seem to want something for nothing, but you need to recoginize that is not how the real world works. You have to pay for services, if you want them.
You also need to recognize that $100 is not that expensive when you consider how much money people waste on their SUV every week, and that is only going to get worse. When gas hits $6 per gallon next summer, .Mac will seem like a real bargain. Don't think it will happen? It already has across Europe, so it is only a matter of time before those prices filter over here.

[RudolphRed]

Agree with you 100%

[Outdo13]

I am not in the category of disliking .Mac, nor am I a member. I have seen a lot of posts , in this thread and others, "defending" .mac
I would appreciate some of the .mac supporters to be more explicit on what OTHER benefits they find in .mac other than the syncing. I am serioiusly considering .mac for the first time right now and I am a mac user continuously since 1985. So, what are the benefits for $8.33/month for someone who isn't going to use the web hosting, has 5 macs on an airport net for my family, does use Quicken and could use this as back-up, and likely will collaborate with friends on Keynote and Pages for work?

[fribhey]

In reply to:

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100 dollars a year is still not worth it.

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maybe not to you but to have both my home and work macs completely in sync with each other is AWESOME! all my safari bookmarks are synced, my contacts are synced, my calendar is synced, my Mail settings and rules are synced, my 40+ Transmit favorites are synced, my password keychains are synced, ETC ETC ETC.
on top of that the boosted storage space to 1gb is great for backing up system prefs, user prefs, fonts, email, etc. god forbid my mac crashes, like it has in the past due to a HD failure, i have nothing to worry about. all i have to do is reinstall tiger and restore my backup and everything is the same as it was.
not only does it sync all my info and backup all everything, it does this all AUTOMATICALLY without me having to do a damn thing!
if you honestly don't think that any of that is worth $100 then you don't use your mac on a daily basis to earn a living. if you did then you would know that time lost due to HD failures and not having the right info when you need it costs way more then a $100 a year.

[fribhey]

In reply to:

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likely will collaborate with friends on Keynote and Pages work?

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yes you can do that easily. you can set up your public folder so anyone (on a PC or Mac) can access it. you can also set the public folder to be read only or read and write which means you can limit your friends to only download what's in the public folder or allow them to also add to it.... so if you are collaborating on keynote or pages docs this is an easy way to transfer the files back and forth. it's your own little FTP site.

[d00d]

Benefits that justify the cost for me:
1. Easy iPhoto, iCal, etc. publishing.
2. Easy web page creation.
3. Syncing (I know you said other than, but I feel this is generally underplayed).
4. .Mac mail (which includes IMAP, POP, and web interfaces, can use Address Book data from your desktop through iSync, a decent, not great, web interface, a short domain name for the address, etc.).
5. Bonus giveaways during the year including a Versiontracker Plus account.
6. Backup 3 now looks pretty usable.
7. iDisk to store working documents so that they are available everywhere.
8. Groups looks interesting, but I haven't played with it enough to express its value.

[bastion]

In reply to:

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Apple should get rid of .Mac. It looks like they are ripping off their customers. It's not a very innovative package

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Completely nonsensical. You're apparently arguing that a product shouldn't exist because it doesn't match everyones' needs perfectly and some people for whom it's not a good choice might buy it.

In reply to:

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and with storage running at less than $1- per GB these days their ass is showing with that 250MB offering.

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There's more utility to .Mac than implied by simply comparing it to the cost of a hard drive purchased at buy.com.