Dissecting .Mac
Pages: 1, 2
Backup Not Bad for First Version
One of the coolest things Apple has added is Backup. Backup is installed in your Applications folder, although it should be installed under Applications/Utilities.
It lets you backup files on your computer to your iDisk, CD writer, or DVD writer. Unfortunately, you cannot back up to disk yet. I think Apple dropped the ball on this one. It makes perfect sense to be able to back up your Home folder to your iPod--I hope this makes it into Backup 1.1.
Backup comes with ten back-up jobs (called QuickPicks) already configured. There are a few among them that I consider useful (Address Book contacts, Keychain, Files on desktop), but most of them aren't what I need. Unfortunately, Backup doesn't let you remove any of the QuickPicks from the list, but you are able to deselect them. There's currently only one preference in Backup: whether or not you wish to mirror backups on your iDisk. Mirroring will delete files from your iDisk during a backup when they've been deleted from your source disk.
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Antivirus
McAfee Virex 7.1 provides .Mac's antivirus software. Virex installs to Applications/Virex 7. In the Virex 7 folder you'll find ReadMe, Virex 7.1, and Virex 7.1 Product Guide. In the future, I hope Apple will install Virex to Applications/Utilities and will not install a readme and product documentation along with it. I had to type sudo mv .VirexLogin.app /Applications/Utilities/ and sudo rm -R "Virex 7" to move the VirexLogin application and delete the Virex 7 folder after I had copied Virex to Applications/Utilities. If you're not familiar with the sudo and rm commands, I would recommend typing man sudo and man rm first. I then had to re-add .VirexLogin.app to my Login Items.
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.Mac also includes a command-line version of Virex; type man vscanx to learn more about it. Virex has preferences for scanning inside compressed and archived files, scanning automatically at login, as well as showing detailed results of the scan. You can set it to automatically clean infected files or to delete them. There is also a preference for inspecting applications and macros for virus-like characteristics. It would be nice if Virex had an animated Dock icon to represent the scan status.
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One glaring problem with Virex is that virus-definition updates are not automated. The user must go to the Virex Web site and download monthly virus definitions. They are provided as an installer package that the user must run as an administrator. Virex should have its own update mechanism and should be able to update more frequently than once a month through its GUI. (If you're familiar with the command line Virex's documentation tells you how to download its weekly definitions and update them.) The lack of a built-in update and the fact that the easy updates are only once a month strikes a couple of big blows to .Mac's antivirus capabilities. I hope these issues are resolved in future releases.
iCal
iCal is actually what helped turn me around from a .Mac hater to a .Mac subscriber (yes, I've already ponied up the annual fee). With iCal you'll be able to publish your calendar to the Web to allow friends, family, and co-workers to view it. You can publish your calendar to your iDisk (or possibly another WebDAV resource) and allow other iCal users to subscribe to it and vice versa. You'll be able to invite people to events through standards-based email. And iCal will be able to notify you of upcoming events through your computer or via a variety of mobile devices that it can synchronize with using iSync.
Speaking of iSync, it's a great new plumbing technology that Apple will pioneer in the personal computing industry. It uses the open standard SyncML, which is itself an XML application, to talk to a wide range of mobile devices from cell phones to Palms--iSync will even control synchronization of data between your Mac and iPod.
Sadly, iCal isn't available yet; it will debut with Jaguar. I expect that it will usher in a lot of other great Internet services from Apple.
Final Thoughts
As the iApps evolve, so will their interaction with .Mac. In a sense Apple seems to realize the vision that Sun Microsystems figured out years ago: the network is better for data management than the local client. If you look closely at the early stages of .Mac, you can see a trend taking shape where you exchange and store data via the network instead of local transactions.
How will users react to this? Hard to say right now. Most of them are still in sticker shock over the annual fee. But as .Mac's functionality and feature set improves and becomes truly valuable to everyday tasks, consumers will probably take a second look and decide if they want to pay for those services.
Michael Brewer is a developer based near Charlotte, North Carolina. His interests include web development of various flavors, databases, and Java. One of the off-shoots of these activities is his website Brewed Thoughts.
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Showing messages 1 through 10 of 10.
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Apple Laptop Keyboards Unsuitable for Unix Users
2002-09-18 02:37:19 anonymous2 [Reply | View]
Apple laptops are effectively unusable for unix users.
I am a long-time Unix user. That means I need to have the Ctrl key to the left of the A key. This is a genuine need, not merely a want; it is based upon ergonomics. The Ctrl key is heavily used in unix, and it must be easily accessable. It cannot be off in the lower left corner of the keyboard where it is difficult to get at, and where it distorts the position of your left hand such that you can't easily type other keys while holding the Ctrl key down.
Apple desktop keyboards are now all USB. They are all OK. The CapsLock key can be re-mapped into a Ctrl key.
Unfortunately, even in this modern age, all Apple laptops have built-in ADB keyboards. The ADB keyboard is broken-by-design. It is, in general, not possible to remap the CapsLock key into a Ctrl key.
There are some exceptions, but they are horrible kludges. They are
horrible kludges because the original design of the ADB keyboard was a horrible kludge. The correct solution would be for Apple to re-design their laptop motherboards to use built-in USB keyboards. This hasn't happened yet. If you run Linux, use Debian's solution. For Mac OS X users, uControl works. There are no solutions (that I know of) for either NetBSD or OpenBSD. Please note once again that the "solutions" above are in fact kludges, because of the original bad design of the ADB keyboard.
Apple is (currently) ignoring Unix users! This is not merely speculation on my part. In an on-going email exchange I am having with an Apple employee (whom I won't name) in their marketing department, the Apple marketing person directly stated to me that Apple was catering to their historic Mac customers, and is purposely ignoring the Unix market. He also claimed that Apple would soon start paying more attention to the Unix market. I won't hold my breath. Apple has been ignoring Unix users for more than 10 years. I expect that trend to continue. (Also note that my Apple contact indicated that Macs would never ship with a 3-button mouse, even though Apple intended to port almost all X-window software and deliver it either on a CD/DVD or installed directly on each Mac's hard drive. How Unix friendly is a 1-button mouse with X programs that often require 3 buttons?)
Apple has now lost two opportunities to sell me hardware. I really wanted an Apple laptop for their superior battery life, and for the PowerPC with Altivec CPU. (The Altivec is vastly superior to the x86 line for DSP.) Because I can't live with the broken-by-design built-in ADB keyboard in all Apple laptops, Sony and IBM sold me laptops instead. If Apple fixes this problem, they will sell me a PowerBook next year; if they don't, I'll still be running OpenBSD on x86 hardware, and wishing I could use a Mac.
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Errata
2002-08-02 17:19:59 Michael Brewer | [Reply | View]
I would appreciate it if no one would reply to this thread (Errata) other than myself. I intend to use it to correct any errors that may be found in this article. Thank you. -
iCal's availability
2002-08-02 17:24:15 Michael Brewer | [Reply | View]
I incorrectly stated that iCal will debut with Jaguar. While Jaguar's official release date is August 24, Apple says that iCal will not be available until September. It will require Jaguar, however.
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A .MAC feature suggestion - iPhone
2002-08-02 11:38:37 javester [Reply | View]
With iSync now synching to the Sony-Ericsson Bluetooth phone, wouldn't it be a grand idea if .Mac allowed you to collect voice mail as well?
Maybe they can come up with iPhone - a cell phone/land-line hybrid that has a dock connected to your iMac.
Maybe, they can even put in a camera/disk drive in there so it can work with iPhoto and iTunes.
And once its docked, it can allow you to sync voicemails and collect them using your .Mac account remotely - a kind of unified messaging.
I still have my MS Phone, it was a good idea but too flaky to use. Maybe Apple can do it better this time by creating a Bluetooth cellphone/landlinephone/PDA/Camera/Disk Drive/Music Player thingamagig - geeesshhh... won't em Windows users start salivating and switching in droves!
Just dreaming...
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All or Nothing .Mac
2002-08-01 17:30:36 chanmun [Reply | View]
Apple is certainly entitled to charge for .Mac and I am convinced of its value for those who need the services offered.
The issue really is about taking care of existing iTools users who only wanted email service.
Just charge $10 for a 15mb mailbox and retention of the @mac address and much of the unhappiness will disappear. -
All or Nothing .Mac
2002-08-01 21:28:56 Michael Brewer | [Reply | View]
Come on now! Shouldn't it at least be a $! per megabyte?
Seriously, I think you're right. I think it would be nice for Apple to have different packages. 15MB of email for $15 a year wouldn't be bad. Maybe 20MB of unified email and iDisk for $25 would be a decent deal as well. But, when you really look at it, $100 a year isn't much to ask for what Apple is offering--especially when you consider the expense involved in owning a computer anyway. Some mouses cost $60!
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Comparing ISP vs. .Mac vs. 3 webhosts
2002-07-31 17:54:56 sol_shack [Reply | View]
Good article, I like how you've emphasised the services aspect of .mac. Because the interlinking of OS X and iApps is their only real value proposition.
I did some research comparing .mac to my ISP and three random webhosting services (aplus.net, eryxma.com, affordablehost.com). http://home.attbi.com/~solshack/
As you can see .mac is not in the same league as actuall hosting services. It hardly offers any advantages over my ISP, which I have to pay for.
I think Apple has a lot to deliver in the next year if they want a decent renewal rate.
Greg
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It's a Hosting Service
2002-07-30 18:53:46 charliebrown [Reply | View]
What I would like to see is a pricing comparison chart. I've never looked into pricing with other vendors, but I believe there's nothing here that isn't offered elsewhere. I can only assume that for all you get - web, email, 100MB storage, calendar - $99/year is competitive and fair. (As far as I know, a comparable service is not free anywhere. Feel free to show me where I'm wrong!) Apple's added value is the smooth integration with OSX.
Here's what would concern me. How high is the switching cost if I decide to switch vendors? Mail.app works with any ISP. Will iCal and iDisk Utility also be workable with any other vendor? That might be too much to ask for, so I would be cautious when making .Mac my "home away from home" and conscious of not developing too tight a dependence on it.
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Re: It's a Hosting Service
2002-07-30 19:19:10 Michael Brewer | [Reply | View]
You raise some valid points. I may look into doing a comparison chart--although the brief, completely unscientific research I did on this (before deciding whether or not to plunk down $50) showed Apple doing rather well.
From everything I have heard, iCal should be able to retain (at least) most of its functionality on any WebDAV resource. We'll have to wait until Jaguar is available to know for sure. Apple has really impressed me with its adherence to open standards as of late, and I think it would be in their best interest to keep them in mind when developing .Mac services and applications.
I don't see iDisk Utility working with other providers' WebDAV resources any time soon. It simply isn't configurable enough at this point in time to do that, and it wouldn't make sense for Apple to spend time making it so. If you're going with a third party they would probably have a Web interface for the same sort of functionality. And if you're providing WebDAV, you'll have your own configuration methods depending on the daemon used.
In fact, I have always believed Sun modeled their keyboard after the original Apple keyboards, down to the existence and placement of "open <symbol>" and "closed <symbol>" keys. (These were the Open-apple and Closed-apple keys from the Apple II days, now replaced by (open) apple/command keys.)
Later, Apple replaced their keyboard layout with the 101-key layout that the PC had made an industry standard.
Complain to the PC crowd. Specifically, complain to the U.S. government which mandated that companies like IBM standardize on a single keyboard layout (rather than one for each platform: VM, OS/400, AIX, etc.). That standardization gave you your 'control'-key in the lower left.
Also, don't equate "something I am unfamiliar with" to "UNIX-antagonistic". Many UNIX vendors other than SUN get along just fine with the 'control'-key in the lower left. Also, many non-U.S. keyboards have layouts requiring greater dexterity than your simple gripe. (The '/'-key on German keyboards comes to mind.)
Now, stretch your pinky and feel free to adapt.