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Looks like PC Magazine is converting to "Apple"..... or they just realized how bad they where living in the "PC" world.

Jul 15, 08 - 03:40 pm Comment from: Petey

I the the push on mobileme.

I had to update a contact on my iphone, as soon as it was edited it updated on my macs :D

Gotta love software like this when it works soooo sweet!

Jul 15, 08 - 03:45 pm Comment from: It's About Time

Birthing pains??? How about a launch strategy inspired by Microsoft and deceptive advertising regarding "push" and "exchange for the rest of us".

I've been an Apple and .Mac user for 8 years. While I thought Apple's Leopard launch was poorly handled, this launch coinciding with the problematic 3G phone and the App store launches raises the bar to a whole new level of incompetency.

The lack of communication from Apple is the icing on the cake.

Jul 15, 08 - 03:47 pm Comment from: Mo

MobileMe is pretty sweet. I did have few problems with when they switched from .mac, but it is much much better now.

Say does any one know where I can find those older iPhone commercials that were kind of testimonial-style done in front of a black backdrop?

Thanks,
Mo

At $99 a year?

No thanks.

And there will be just as many people saying no thanks to MobileMe as they did to the failed .Mac at that ridiculous price.

Jul 15, 08 - 03:52 pm Comment from: Mr. Peabody

I like the idea of .Mac/MobileMe, I just think it should cost - And if it has to cost it should be no more than half of what they charge. I've been a Mac user since the beginning, and I used .Mac for the first three years it was out.

Jul 15, 08 - 03:54 pm Comment from: Mr. Peabody

By the way, since Picasa was listed, does anybody know if Picasa actually works now?

Jul 15, 08 - 03:59 pm Comment from: James

$99/year is $8.25 per month, and that's not a lot compared to other available packaged services out there. The integration alone is worth it for me. I suppose Google or another alternative might suit others just fine, but MobileMe beats the pantaloons right off of anything Microsoft has ever offered, if nothing else.

Overall, I am generally pleased with the functionality of the new MobileMe services, including sync. Unlike dot-Mac, I think MobileMe is more likely to command a respectable share of Apple's attention since it is tied to the new baby, iPhone. I hope we see additional value added to this paid service.

I gotta say, perhaps gratuitously, that I am tired of reading the rants of a few not-very-well-informed people about the issue of "push" and MobileMe. Based on my usage the last few days, it appears to me that Apple has essentially delivered on all of its promises for the service (save the email link for large files, which Apple clearly states on its website is coming). Those who want to argue about whether an update on your Mac is really "pushed" or waits for an automatic/manual sync would also argue about how many angels can occupy the head of a pin. My suggestion -- get a life.

pity there are a huge number of use that still cant access our web mail everything else seems ok .. Oh slideshow doesnt work on the public pages either.

@ralph m

The problem is that apple was deceptive in it's advertising and marketing of mobilme being a push service. It may be push from the web apps and the iPhone, but the desktop apps are nothing more than they were before. They merly " sync" at a specified interval.

You can't blame people for expecting a push service when that is what apple advertised. None of the pre release documentation explained that desktop apps would not be push and that users would have to manually sync for instant updates. It was explained that if a change was made to any device, it would go up to the cloud and be pushed to the others within seconds. That is simply not the case with the desktop apps.

Well worth the price for what you get especially 20GB of online storage accessible from ANY computer.

Jul 15, 08 - 04:27 pm Comment from: dd

MboileMe needs a bit of a discount. I'm already paying $30 MORE a month through at&t;just to have the iPhone. I'll gladly pay it, but that just means another $8.25 a month isn't worth it.

Jul 15, 08 - 04:29 pm Comment from: Jubei

It has a little bit of growing pains right now.... but otherwise, its a great deal. Want to get family pack.

It would be great if my damn push e-mail worked on my iPhone. The service has been up 5 days and nothing yet on my account. Apple's MobileMe support is supposedly looking into it, but they haven't been able to fix it for my account yet.

So until the service actually works as advertised, I sure can't give it a 4 out of 5 anything.

Can someone please explain. What is *not* being 'pushed'?

Do emails get pushed like Phil Shiller showed at WWDC or is that not the case?

Obviously, they'll have teething troubles for something this big, but why are people so upset? How were we misled by Apple, or is this the classic case of 'it doesn't work for me therefore it's a worldwide catastrophic failure'?

Yes, the "push" only happens between the iPhone and the cloud (both ways). Between the cloud and the Mac, it's a frequent sync operation, not push. But I don't see that as a catastrophically huge deal. The point is that I can muck around with my contacts and calendars on my Mac, and by the time I go grab some coffee a few minutes later, my phone is all set without any hassle. Saves me having to connect with a stinkin' cable all the time which I never did.

The Me.com apps are great, although a little simplistic -- plus there's an occasional connection error. But I think it'll settle down. I'm only on the trial version (never was interested in .Mac), but I'm pretty sure I'll go for the purchase.

Jul 15, 08 - 04:47 pm Comment from: MacBill

I wouldn't give it 4 out of 5 stars yet. We're having tons of problems with it. We have not been able to successfully synchronize our iCal calendars nor our Address Book to the MobileMe website all day today. The MobileMe website contains OUTDATED information from our Address Book and iCal calendars. We are running Mac OS X 10.5.4 on a MacBook Pro, with the MobileMe 1.1 updater applied. We have tried all the troubleshooting steps on Apple's website, including unregistering our computer & then re-registering it again using the MobileMe System Preference, resetting sync data from the MobileMe System Preference, resetting our SyncServices folder using the Terminal command in this tech info article <http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1627>, repairing permissions, and running Keychain First Aid. All to no avail. Our 1 desktop Mac has all the current & up-to-date information, but the MobileMe website does NOT have the current & up-to-date information. The MobileMe website has information that is current as of yesterday, but not today. HOWEVER, WE ARE NOT GETTING ANY ERROR MESSAGES WHEN WE SYNC! The MobileMe system preference says that our last successful sync was just a few minutes ago! But yet, the MobileMe website is NOT up-to-date. We have tried clearing our Safari cache and quitting/relaunching Safari as well.

@toxeth

Entries on desktop apps like address book, iCal, and mail are NOT being pushed, they are being synced just like .mac was.. Which means you will have to wait for15 minutes for an entry made on your desktop to be synced to your other devices.

Entries made on the web apps or the iPhone are pushed within seconds. This was not explained by apple. It was advertised as a complete push service, it is not. It is half push and half sync.

@ jared

The point is not whether it is catastrophic for you. The point is that it was advertised as a complete push service, "exchange for the rest of us," yet it isn't. Exchange is 100% push, mobile me isn't.

A fifteen minute delaymay be fine for some, but that should have been explained. The marketing was very misleading.

Jul 15, 08 - 05:10 pm Comment from: treestman

@Jared White (and others),

"Yes, the "push" only happens between the iPhone and the cloud (both ways). Between the cloud and the Mac, it's a frequent sync operation, not push."

That's not correct. Between the cloud and the Mac it's also a push. By that I mean if you make a change on the iPhone or a Web app, you will see it IN ALL THRE PLACES (iPhone, Web app, and Mac) within a matter of seconds.

Where the Sync issue comes into play is only between the Mac and the cloud, not the other way around. By that I mean if you make a change on the Mac in iCal or Address Book, then you will not see it in the other two places for up to 15 minutes (or more or less immediately if you choose the Sync Now menu item).

Keep in mind that the Mac (unlike the iPhone and Web apps) is syncing a lot more data (widgets, preferences, mail accounts, dock items, etc.). I suspect that Apple does not WANT all those items syncing continuously. I know that I don't.

The solution here I think would be for Apple to somehow separate Calendars and Contacts from the normal Mac Sync cycle in such a manner that they can have an option to Push just like the iPhone does.

Jul 15, 08 - 05:11 pm Comment from: HMCIV

MobileMe still needs a little bit of a speed bump to be as elegant as they showed on stage.

Thanks.
I think I see the problem.
Phil Shiller was using the web app to do his demo of the MM push stuff.
When used that way, push works as advertised. When you use Address Book or iCal it's a standard .Mac style sync that is used.
Ok.
So if you absolutely need the instant push features you use the web app.
This guy didn't seem to have any problems with the concept.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2325470,00.asp

@treetsman

A true push system would actually lighten the load because it would only require a push when a change is made. As it is now, it syncs every 15 minutes whether a change is made or not.

ok, you sit at your mac, you make a change to whatever...hit synch now and walk to your car....by the time you going out the door it is on your iphone....wtf is the problem?

don't hit synch now at your mac, by the time you hit the first traffic light, it is on your iphone...wtf is the problem - you don't have the attention span of 15 minutes and forgot where you were going?

do you folks actually work by staring at your mac and iphone simultaneously? that is the only time this "push-synch" thing becomes an issue....I don't get how this is an issue in real life

Jul 15, 08 - 06:36 pm Comment from: MikeK

Caddisfly,

The problem is THAT IT WAS NOT ADVERTISED THAT WAY... It was advertised as a Push service, "Exchange for the rest of us."

In the past few days, Apple has taken a lot of flak, they've re-written all of the marketing materials.. Everything is explained much more clearly now... It's not called a push service anymore, The video tutorial which showed all of your devices syncing within seconds is gone, the slogan "exchange for the rest of us" is gone.. It now clearly says that desktop applications will require a sync.. None of that was mentioned before.. It was deceptive marketing...

That is WTF the problem was..

Jul 15, 08 - 06:44 pm Comment from: jocknerd

Wow, I'm testing the beta of Spanning Sync which syncs iCal and AddressBook with Google's Contacts and Calendar. That works very quickly.

Can they review this thing.

I haven't been able to sign in with my browser since I signed up for the service on Saturday. Apple has been non-responsive for my request for assistance.

"I don't get how this is an issue in real life"


Microsoft Exchange has been using Push for years, it is an indispensable tool in the corporate world. And yes, there are very real world uses for consumers as well. The joke is that you seem to think it's okay for a product to advertise certain features that truly don't exist or work as promised. There is a big difference between a several second "push" and a fifteen minute "sync."

---A small business with a secretary using a desktop entering an appointment for someone in the field using an iPhone.. A fifteen minute delay could easily cause scheduling conflicts..

--- Even personal use entering a contact or an appointment in iCal before putting the desktop to sleep and running out of the house thinking the appointment is with you on your iPhone...

Sure, there are workarounds... You can do a manual sync, you can use web apps instead of desktop apps, but you shouldn't have to if you purchase a product that claims it will "Push" for you..

As the above poster mentioned, Apple has changed all of its literature regarding Mobile Me and what it can/can't do.. But there is no reason to defend Apple for promising something in a service and not delivering it just because YOU don't think it's useful or needed... There are very real benefits to Push technology.

That's because Apple hates you.

Jul 15, 08 - 10:30 pm Comment from: iDon't

Confused. Did .Mac go away? I was considering for $69.

Well, what I don't understand is that the posters here cannot see Apple ever doing something wrong. Let's face it, all you have to do is read the Apple Support site discussions to see that MobileMe just plain is plagued with problems, especially in syncing. Not the "push" thing... but just plain isyncing with ical. Works sometimes, doesn't work others. And Apple is mum.

I am the ultimate Apple fan; but Apple really messed up this software/service release.

Let the flaming begin.

...J

WHERE ARE MY TASKS ???

I DON'T GET TO SEE MY TASKS , it's not syncing in .me !!!

what a joke APPLE !!!!

Jul 16, 08 - 03:12 am Comment from: jarrettdailynews

wow , the whiners are still here. Don't like the service? Don't buy, already bought? Get a refund. Pretty simple really.

Jul 16, 08 - 09:32 am Comment from: Steve Jobs

Welcome to the new Apple.