Mobile Me an absolute joke

[chancee]

The web app is such a buggy, antiquated joke that I think I'd rather use Outlook Express 2 to get my mail.

And I really love getting an email from one of my other email addresses that's been forwarded to me.com and then have to go crank up outlook just so I can respond from the appropriate email address. Really state of the art stuff, Apple, way to go.

 

[tweaks]

The web app is such a buggy, antiquated joke that I think I'd rather use Outlook Express 2 to get my mail.

And I really love getting an email from one of my other email addresses that's been forwarded to me.com and then have to go crank up outlook just so I can respond from the appropriate email address. Really state of the art stuff, Apple, way to go.

learn how to use it you'll be ok........

 

[anti-microsoft]

learn how to use it you'll be ok........

Even that doesn't take long!

 

[hexonxonx]

I think it works very well. Since June, I think I only experienced one mail outage and that was the one a few weeks ago. Not sure what you are talking about. You may wish to be more descriptive in your posts. Simply saying it is buggy is not helping you.

 

[Macsterguy]

This thread is as helpful to others as a cup of cold pee...

 

[Digital Skunk]

The web app is such a buggy, antiquated joke that I think I'd rather use Outlook Express 2 to get my mail.

And I really love getting an email from one of my other email addresses that's been forwarded to me.com and then have to go crank up outlook just so I can respond from the appropriate email address. Really state of the art stuff, Apple, way to go.

We can help you solve your problem, we just need to know why you are making it so hard on yourself first, then we can tell you what you are doing wrong, and how to correct all of your mistakes.

 

[TLewis]

We can help you solve your problem, we just need to know why you are making it so hard on yourself first, then we can tell you what you are doing wrong, and how to correct all of your mistakes.

He's probably beyond help, as he appears to be complaining about a feature that other email services have, but MM doesn't.

 

[mlemonds]

what apple should do in my opinion to fix MobileMe:

slap the word beta at the end of it, and start counting the subscription once they get the bugs worked out.

 

[Saladinos]

Seems fine to me. I actually quite like the Web App.

 

[tallyho]

Bizarre thread. Gmail doesn't let me upload web-galleries from iPhoto, give me a 20GB iDisk accessible right from the Finder, sync my contacts from Address Book and my calendars from iCal. It also doesn't sync all my keychains and Safari bookmarks across all 4 of my Macs and my iPhone. That's what I'm paying for with MobileMe, so all in all I'm just a little puzzled by the original post. Yes there are some extra features I'd like to see Apple add to MobileMe but it's working pretty well for me now, for all the reasons I've just listed.

I think the clue is in the OPs use of the term "Outlook"... I don't have that programme on my Mac...

 

[TLewis]

Bizarre thread. Gmail doesn't let me upload web-galleries from iPhoto, give me a 20GB iDisk accessible right from the Finder, sync my contacts from Address Book and my calendars from iCal. It also doesn't sync all my keychains and Safari bookmarks across all 4 of my Macs and my iPhone. That's what I'm paying for with MobileMe, so all in all I'm just a little puzzled by the original post.

You've got to realize that, for many people, they only have an iPhone and windows (no macs). (Please, no comments about the superiority of the mac -- they serve no useful purpose, here.)

For these people, they probably care mainly about the iPhone services. You may care about iPhoto and iDisk, but many people don't. And the currently sad fact is that MobileMe is severely lacking in iPhone-related features. For example:

• The ability to send email as another account. Both the free Google and free Yahoo services have this feature. This is one of the features that the thread starter seems to have complained about. (In all fairness to MobileMe, Google's feature tries to "play nice", but Microsoft's outlook notices this and neuters the feature.)
• No server-side filtering. Both the free Google and free Yahoo services have this feature. This feature is incredibly useful for automatic sorting of incoming mail, without resorting to the klunky workaround of leaving a mac/pc turned on, 24x7. Of course, if you don't get much email, this feature is less useful.
• No secure web email access. Both the free Google and free Yahoo services have this feature.

 

[IgnatiusTheKing]

You've got to realize that, for many people, they only have an iPhone and windows (no macs). (Please, no comments about the superiority of the mac -- they serve no useful purpose, here.)

For these people, they probably care mainly about the iPhone services. You may care about iPhoto and iDisk, but many people don't. And the currently sad fact is that MobileMe is severely lacking in iPhone-related features. For example:

• The ability to send email as another account. Both the free Google and free Yahoo services have this feature. This is one of the features that the thread starter seems to have complained about. (In all fairness to MobileMe, Google's feature tries to "play nice", but Microsoft's outlook notices this and neuters the feature.)
• No server-side filtering. Both the free Google and free Yahoo services have this feature. This feature is incredibly useful for automatic sorting of incoming mail, without resorting to the klunky workaround of leaving a mac/pc turned on, 24x7. Of course, if you don't get much email, this feature is less useful.
• No secure web email access. Both the free Google and free Yahoo services have this feature.

If you are paying $99/year just to have MobileMe email, you're probably wasting your money.

 

[TLewis]

If you are paying $99/year just to have MobileMe email, you're probably wasting your money.

Maybe. Unfortunately, if you want "push" services for email, contacts, and calendar, MM is still the cheapest (reliability issues aside). While there are free services that provide some of these, none currently provide all of them. Nuevasync is probably the closest, though (and Apple should look at their service status blog to see how service status should be communicated).

 

[gazfocus]

I think MobileMe is actually quite good...I think there are some aspects that were better in .Mac but others are just as good if not better.

The only gripe I have is sending email to contacts in the Address Book is a bit hit and miss, and sometimes when I click reply to one message, it replies to another

 

[littlewaywelt]

learn how to use it you'll be ok........

Learning how to use it is not the issue.
Mobile me offers little email functionality when compared with gmail or yahoo.
And when you add in the bugs, and constant outages, dial up-slow response, etc, it is perfectly reasonable for the op to call it an absolute joke. It is. That this level of service, and seeming incompetence is from Apple is what's really hard to believe. We're almost two months past launch and there are still outages, and no comment from Apple.

 

[IgnatiusTheKing]

Learning how to use it is not the issue.
Mobile me offers little email functionality when compared with gmail or yahoo.
And when you add in the bugs, and constant outages, dial up-slow response, etc, it is perfectly reasonable for the op to call it an absolute joke. It is. That this level of service, and seeming incompetence is from Apple is what's really hard to believe. We're almost two months past launch and there are still outages, and no comment from Apple.

Gmail and Yahoo's email functions have been released slowly over a period of YEARS, yet you want Apple to have all of it included at the initial release? I would guess that the webmail is far down the list in terms of importance for Apple and most users, and rightly so. Sure, it's nice to have, but MobileMe is so much more than a Gmail clone. I would like to see a little more advanced functionality, as well, but the mail works as advertised, even if you're only using it with a PC and an iPhone.

I don't know what you would call "constant" but I haven't had an email outage since shortly after the release. Push has worked for me, too. And even though I didn't have any of the big problems others had, Apple still felt compelled to give me three free months of service.

Still, if you hate the service so much, don't use it. Call Apple and ask for a refund. Use Gmail or Yahoo instead, since that service is so obviously superior.

 

[Digital Skunk]

Mobile Me is a joke!

There aren't mass outages anymore... maybe if you are still in that 1% then sure. And even that 1% isn't bad in my opinion. Tuff luck I say, 99% of the MM population is doing just fine.

As far as services go, it can't be beat. It's a far better deal than most of Apple's products, second only to Apple Care (sans the iPhone) and maybe One to One. I had four services totaling $400 a year and now I just pay $99. I may have to deal with crappy HTML sites made in iWeb, but I have a big enough brain and creative muscle to make it work.

Saves me cash and time. And as far as email services go, sure, don't pay $99 if all you want is email. iDisk works with PC users as well, thankfully and about time, so PC users get about 35% of what MM offers without owning a Mac. You still get galleries and the ability to upload images to them from your phone.

It's really better than any other service you can find, and the outages copout is starting to sound like the marketshare one Windows users use.

 

[jc1350]

There was a 45-minute outage today (8:45am-9:30am PDT)for at least some:

http://www.apple.com/support/mobileme/system_status_history.html

I didn't notice it myself, but I also strive to not live in email.

 

[paulsalter]

Gmail and Yahoo's email functions have been released slowly over a period of YEARS, yet you want Apple to have all of it included at the initial release?

How long have Apple had an online mail service ?, I am sure it is more than just a couple of months

Could they not have learnt from other mail providers over this time and got similar/better features ?

 

[IgnatiusTheKing]

How long have Apple had an online mail service ?, I am sure it is more than just a couple of months

No idea, but I'm sure you're right.

Could they not have learnt from other mail providers over this time and got similar/better features ?

If you use Apple Mail, you have pretty much all the functionality of Gmail. The webmail interface is there to help you in case you are away from your computer or iPhone.

What if they had decided not to put any resources toward creating functional webmail? They would likely have far more people upset and demanding some kind--any kind--of web-based email.

Basically, it all boils down to the notion that if you don't like it, you shouldn't use it. You certainly shouldn't pay for something you don't like.

 

[tallyho]

You've got to realize that, for many people, they only have an iPhone and windows (no macs). (Please, no comments about the superiority of the mac -- they serve no useful purpose, here.)

Well, I'm not making any comments about the relative merits of Windows or OSX (I mean, after all, it's not like "here" is a website called MacRumors or anything ). However, what you have to realise is that MobileMe is tightly integrated with OSX and with the iLife suite. If you don't use either of those, then why would you buy a MobileMe subscription?

For these people, they probably care mainly about the iPhone services. You may care about iPhoto and iDisk, but many people don't. And the currently sad fact is that MobileMe is severely lacking in iPhone-related features. For example:

• The ability to send email as another account. Both the free Google and free Yahoo services have this feature. This is one of the features that the thread starter seems to have complained about. (In all fairness to MobileMe, Google's feature tries to "play nice", but Microsoft's outlook notices this and neuters the feature.)
• No server-side filtering. Both the free Google and free Yahoo services have this feature. This feature is incredibly useful for automatic sorting of incoming mail, without resorting to the klunky workaround of leaving a mac/pc turned on, 24x7. Of course, if you don't get much email, this feature is less useful.
• No secure web email access. Both the free Google and free Yahoo services have this feature.

Those points were raised repeatedly back in July, and I was one of those complaining loudly. Now, having actually used the MobileMe mail service, I'm finding it's working fine for me. I actually don't miss the Gmail implementation of "send from" which results in strange messages for those who read my emails in Outlook. I would imagine more features will make it into the email service eventually, but email is a small part of the MobileMe package - I'm not trying to provoke anyone, just pointing out a simple fact.

 

[paulsalter]

If you use Apple Mail, you have pretty much all the functionality of Gmail. The webmail interface is there to help you in case you are away from your computer or iPhone.

And this is my biggest problem with MobileMe, Email is a basic web service, provided by many, unfortunately I cannot use MM email unless I am at my computer due to incompatibilities (discussed to death in other places), so I do use the apps intsead

Basically, it all boils down to the notion that if you don't like it, you shouldn't use it. You certainly shouldn't pay for something you don't like.

If there was another way to sync my contacts/calendar then I would, as far as I know MobileMe is the only way

I am glad some people are having very little issues and like the service, but some of us do have problems and would like things changed

 

[aristobrat]

I am glad some people are having very little issues and like the service, but some of us do have problems and would like things changed

As much as I hope things change for people who are trying to use the iPhone+MobileMe combo as an alternative to RIM's BlackBerry Internet Service (which pushes email from any POP3/IMAP email service and allows you to reply back from the email address of any account you've setup to push), I don't think MobileMe was designed for that purpose, and as such, I don't think making those changes is probably high on Apple's MobileMe "must fix" list.

 

[Digital Skunk]

As much as I hope things change for people who are trying to use the iPhone+MobileMe combo as an alternative to RIM's BlackBerry Internet Service (which pushes email from any POP3/IMAP email service and allows you to reply back from the email address of any account you've setup to push), I don't think MobileMe was designed for that purpose, and as such, I don't think making those changes is probably high on Apple's MobileMe "must fix" list.

Agreed, and along with that I don't think a lot of people realize where Mobile Me and the features it has have come from. DotMac was borderline terrible, and was about a month or so from becoming a rip-off. iDisk was worthless no matter how much storage space it had.

Mobile Me was a much needed update, and by far the best update to come out of the Apple factory since the Mac Pro.

 

[TLewis]

If you don't use either of those, then why would you buy a MobileMe subscription?

To get push email, contacts, and calendar -- that's all. That's why I'm (currently) using MM. AFAIK, there's nothing that provides all three for less than the $100/year.