Bye MobileMe…
Buying a hosted domain: $100
Buying a pro membership on smugmug: $60
Installing WordPress: $0
Able to manage my familiy’s websites with freedom and without major pain: Priceless!
I recently started a journey on removing my dependancy on Apple’s MobileMe services. When .Mac ruled the land with web-based wonders, life was good. Then Apple decided to trash what worked with MobileMe, and everything went to hell. Load speeds, reliability, service limitations, email address changes, ical incompatibilities, groups disabled; all this appeared with the shiny new MobileMe. But I can sort of sync with my iPhone. Are you kidding? Did Apple really have to choose between having great user experience with .Mac and basic iPhone sync with MobileMe?
Overall MobileMe is no longer worth the money and time I invested in it.
So now I’m sporting a spiffy new web site using WordPress which is very easy to use and I have completely stopped using Apple’s iWeb as a result. I have a regular IMAP email server with my web isp provider for email, and even Google Sync Mobile services for my iPhone calendar and contacts.
I also use a paid picture site called smugmug for all of our photos. Why a paid site? I have complete control of the site and the themes, no Adware, backups, Share with family sections, and I was even able to point my own domain to the smugmug directly – http://pics.gridleak.com. They also handle raw picture formats which is a real plus. I learned the hard way that many of the “free” sites will tamper with your image resolutions when you upload them to save server disk space. If you’re interested in trying smugmug you can test it out with a free 14-day trail, and you can use the coupon code OHpYezYHRef9s for a discounted join rate. My Bro Stuart was the one that turned me on to the site. Yes… Stuart. The kid that didn’t have a computer until last year and started life right with a Macbook Pro. Werd!
So I’m now ready to cut the cord on MobileMe. It’s sad really; Apple broke something that really worked. Even today it’s getting better again, but I’m tired of waiting. I’m also done with being at the mercy of a support FAQ web page when I have real problems. While Apple’s computer support is the best in the business, you can’t get a live person to talk to you about MobileMe issues.
If you’re interested in making the plunge, or you want MobileMe like functionality, below is a list of technologies that take care of what MobileMe does for a Apple system:
| MobileMe | Replacement |
| Website | ISP like FatCow or BlueHost |
| ISP like FatCow or Google Mail | |
| iWeb | WordPress |
| Mobile Sync Services | Spanning Sync, GooSync and Google Sync Mobile |
| iDisk | ISP or something like Amazon S3 or Nirvanix |
| Back to My Mac | Screen Sharing or LogMeIn.com |
| Pages and Numbers sharing | Google Apps |
My hope is that Apple learns from this experience and doesn’t become another company too big to care about it’s core users; like what happened with “the other” company we all know and love.
Let us now pray…