Apple delays iDisk File Sharing feature of new MobileMe service

Found this on the MoblieMe support site.

MobileMe iDisk Help: Sharing specific files on your iDisk

You can share any file on your iDisk with anyone connected to the Internet. When you share an individual file, only the people to whom you give the URL to the file have access to it.

To share all the files in your iDisk Public folder with anyone who has access to it, see Related Topics below.

To share a specific file on your iDisk:

Select the folder or file you want to share.

If you want to share a folder or large file, it’s a good idea to compress it first.

Compressing or decompressing files
Click the Share File (or Share) button.

Whether you see a Share File or Share button depends on whether you’re viewing your MobileMe iDisk in column or list view.

To send an email with the URL to your shared items, enter the email address(es) in the Email Recipients field, and then type a message.

Keeping track of your shared files
If you want to require recipients to enter a password before being able to view or download the items you’re sharing, select the “Require password” checkbox and enter a password.

Important: Don’t give your MobileMe password to anyone. Others need only the shared file password to see the shared file.

If you want the URL to the shared item to expire so that no one will have access to it after a period of time, select the “Link expires after” checkbox, enter a number, and then choose a length of time from the pop-up menu.

Click the Share button.

If the selected item is already being shared, you can click Stop Sharing to stop the item from being shared any longer.

Give the shared file URL to the people with whom you want to share the file.

Yes, you didn't say anything about the share button being removed, just that the feature has been removed. You suggested that you can't share files at all, which is clearly not the case

Sounds like they're still working on this feature and trying to get everything up and running as should be. Good news is that it sounds like they have not removed or changed their mind about including the feature because it is listed in the help & support

I have useful information... how bout anger management

I wonder why the removed it from the video tutorials? Not getting a good feeling from that so I emailed support asking why the feature will be back and why they removed it from the vids. I will report back when I hear something.

This is bullshit:


My name is Mike from the MobileMe Support team and thank you for your inquiry about iDisk File Sharing. This feature is not currently available with MobileMe.

When MobileMe was announced, iDisk File Sharing was mentioned as a feature; however, the MobileMe webpage noted that all features listed on that page were subject to change. When MobileMe was released on July 10, 2008, iDisk File Sharing was not included. I apologize for any inconvenience.

However, you can certainly use the Public folder of your iDisk to share files. You can access your Public folder through the new MobileMe interface. The new Internet address (URL) for iDisk Public folders is this:

http://idisk.mac.com/membername-Public

For more information about sharing your files using iDisk, please review this article:

Using your iDisk to share files
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1774

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to assist you. You may receive an AppleCare survey email; any feedback you provide would be greatly appreciated.

Have a wonderful day!

Sincerely,

Mike
MobileMe Support

Was he just trying to rub it in?

From: http://www.apple.com/mobileme/features/idisk.html

Probably!!

Apple has postponed one of the most highly anticipated features of MobileMe in effort to finally get the new suite of internet services up and running, the company has confirmed.

Responding to customer inquirers, "Mike" of Apple's MobileMe Support team affirmed that iDisk File Sharing, which would have allowed subscribers to easily share large files on their iDisk drives through automated email links, was pulled at the last moment.

"When MobileMe was announced, iDisk File Sharing was mentioned as a feature; however, the MobileMe webpage noted that all features listed on that page were subject to change," he wrote in an email. "When MobileMe was released on July 10, 2008, iDisk File Sharing was not included. I apologize for any inconvenience."

Apple's MobileMe website suggests that iDisk File Sharing is still in the cards, however, and may arrive in the coming days or weeks.

"Soon, a new feature in iDisk will make it simple to share files too big for email by automatically sending a message with a simple link that always gets delivered," the website says. "The recipient will just click on the link to download the file."

In the meantime, Apple's MobileMe support team is suggesting that subscribers review this support document, which describes other ways in which MobileMe users can share the contents of their remote iDisks.

While the majority of MobileMe's other features are now finally online after what has been described as a rather confusing and chaotic launch, some of those features appear incomplete or troublesome. In particular, several users are having problems properly syncing their contacts (1, 2, 3) and calendars (1, 2, 3) with the services' new suite of Web apps. Meanwhile, others are having issues uploading files to MobileMe galleries.



Apple's support team appears to be aware of the majority of the problems, and is acknowledging that MobileMe is "still experiencing some slowdowns" in the early going. The company maintains active support and discussion forums dedicated to the new service.

Aw.. Well not to worry, the bugs will be ironed out like they always are, I think soon mobile me will be a really cool tool for ... well mobility.. I logged in this morning and had a play and I gotta say it's very impressive! Well done Apple, let's get that iDisk sharing up!

(P.S.. I also noted that you can host your own site on MM now, using one of your already registered domains. Spiffy!)

Jimzip

Hey, everyone. Try Yellow Cup Software's FILE CHUTE. IT IS FAB and easy to use. Its been there for a couple of years and you won't care when Apple gets the feature working.

one can do it manually!

idisk.mac.com/mobilemelogin-Public/

just send that link! ;-)

Yes, just like the ability to target Time Machine to an AirDisk connected to the USB port of an Airport Extreme was "ironed out".

Oh wait, never mind...

What you're referring to is not a bug but rather a design choice Apple has consciously made

Apple should have put the "beta" tag to this rollout to alleviate the "postal worker like" lashing from the mob. Did anyone really expect this rollout to go without a hitch? If you guys expect a perfect world, ask God to rollback creation and start over.

Yep, I can do it manually for another 32 hours. Then my family dot Mac / MobileMe account will attempt to auto renew only to find my credit card number has changed and close down. After 5 days of trying to update my number and calling Apple it is still incorrect due to a .. "Server Error".

What totally amazes me is they will not take the information over the phone. I called sales and said 'I want to pay for my renewal now, here is my credit card information' only to be told they cannot do that.

The representative told me Apple is aware of this problem and not to worry they will get back to me in 48 hours.

Once the service is working will it be possible to make a App that can stream mp3s stored on the iDisk?

and perhaps as importantly; will it be possible to get your music onto iDisk from iTunes?

I imagine it is just a matter of time until an App is released that lets you play music from your Desktop iTunes archive on your iPhone.

Yes, I'm not upgrading to MOBILEME until a program is created on the app store or by apple that allows me to use my 20 GB of free space on a "cloud" as a virtual hard drive I can access on the go via 3G connection or WiFi.

I'm sure AT&T won't allow it though because that would me people could be downloading unlimited data from there 20 GB IDISK all day long.

I want to store movies and documents and whatever on my 20GB IDISK as supplemental space to my 8GB iphone. With all the new apps, it's filling up fast.

If this is allowed eventually.. it's well worth $99 a year... otherwise MOBILEME is way over-priced.

I wasted a lot of time trying to figure out why Sharing wasn't working because Apple has disabled the Search feature in their Support Discussions as of Friday. That was until I read about the support e-mail about it being removed.

Discussion Search still isn't up yet. Makes it really difficult to troubleshoot these MobileMe problems (or any others).

Good golly, Miss Molly. WTH is Jobs doing during all this?

Hope he's ripping some new orifices.

via the webinterface you can do that already... as long as it's media the iphone can play back, like quicktime, photos or documents, it will show all right in safari!

No, what I'm referring to is a much anticipated feature that was prominently marketed by Apple as being included in the product which they then pulled at the last minute or otherwise failed to make clear wasn't going to be included after all despite what they said previously. So whether TM on AirDisk or the MobileMe file sharing, short of making daily printouts of Apple's marketing web pages and comparing them, you'd be hard pressed to have known ahead of time they had pulled the feature.

Should people have purchased an Airport Extreme ahead of the Leopard release based on Apple's marketing that they'd be able to use Time Machine with AirDisk? Perhaps not. But Apple seems to be making a habbit lately of pointing after the fact to the "features are subject to change" fine print of their marketing pages. And then there are the things that they dropped that were part of .Mac that they filed to mention. They said the only things going away were iCards and online bookmarks. What about the groups and homepage features? Or the "push from all devices" that appears to not be true?


Yes, Apple should have put a beta tag on MobileMe (and left .Mac up and running during a transition period). No, I don't expect perfection. But yes, for a paid service I expect a minimal level of service and reliability. I still love Apple and think they are one of the best companies out there. This is the first time in over 2 decades of being a user and customer that they've severely disappointed me. And I hope after they get this mess straightened out it's at least another 2 decades before they do it to me again!

There is a web interface for iDisk even though iDisk has been held back? Assuming your really seeing what we think you're seeing, are you saying that you can view a list of your stored files in Safari on the iPhone and you can click on an mp3 you have stored and Safari will launch that file in the iPhone music player?

Is this right?

Hey, you don't know, it could just be us humans who have so many issues... Civilizations on other planets could have residents that are millions of years more evolved than us, no?
Have to wonder what THEIR iPhone-equivalents look like. Well they probably use telepathy at point...

MobileMe has more problems than just the loss of the iDisk feature. The Javascript returns numerous errors, on one of my sessions using Mail I got 162 errors (good code should've given zero errors). You can view such errors using the Firefox's plugin FireBug. However, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that they're using Prototype AJAX, which I think is more efficient than dojo.

MobileMe was not ready for release, it is still in early Beta. I don't know why Apple has strayed away from a stricter quality-assurance protocol.

I'm not going to bitch and moan about the service still being spotty. I knew it was spotty when I bit on it. I love the push email, and I suspect that it will allow my wife and I to cut back on our IM plan which will save like $40 a month with our iPhones.

The right thing for apple to do is to credit everybody a few days of service for these spotty times. All they have to do is extend everybody's contract a week or so.

Sheldon

Whoa! That must be an upgrade I don't have yet!

Anyone figured out how to install backup for backing up Documents, Pictures, etc.. to MobileMe servers? I know there's a link somewhere on MobileMe but it just takes me to the maintenance page.

I hate to say it but when they announced MM I thought to my self, there's no way it's going to work as they say. There's some things Apple does better than anyone and some things they just never get, this may be one of them. I hope I'm wrong.

I'm surprised that there is relatively little protest about the missing "push from all devices" feature! I feel let down by Apple's misleading advertisement... though there is still hope that things will be functional soon?

MobileMe is just another horrible incarnation of .mac. I was hoping they would toss out .mac and start from the ground up but NO! Shame on you Apple!

Why? He didn't give a damn when thousands of people complained about it for years! They only changed the name from the much better .mac because it became a sullied brand.

Guys, most people now have MobileMe sync and push up and running quite well. I've been testing it on Mac desktop, iPod Touch with 2.0, and Windows XP with Outlook2003.

It's pretty impressive.

I've done a republish of my websites and photogallery onto Mobile Me, it seems to be working well.

Uploading to iDisk on PC through Mobile Me is quite good now, it used to use the crappy normal Windows explorer WebDAV or something...

Mobile Me IMAP seems alright now.

Overall, Steve has cleaned up .Mac to quite some degree, IMHO.

I'm sure password protected iDisk online sharing etc. will come into play by the end of the month. They're very unlikely to just ditch the whole feature.

I think what Jobs has done in the past 2 years is really push humankind to the limit of what we can really do and deal with. Therefore I fear he is not long on this Earth, his visionary nature is now growing beyond our capabilities in our current timestream.

Layperson translation:
Most of humanity is to dumb to keep up with Stevie J. He's going to have to start delegating more and letting things take its course, it isn't going to follow *his* plan as much nowadays, not without him being a 300% a**hole.

Thanks for clearing that up. I thought I was losing my mind when I couldn't find the Search box in the Discussions area.

On the other hand, it would be nice if I could even GET INTO the Discussion area today.

What's up with all of this degradation of connection speeds and/or lack of connectivity?