Apple hints at .Mac updates next Tuesday
A posting to Apple's .Mac account page this weekend warned members of expected downtime next Tuesday morning, the same time company chief executive Steve Jobs is scheduled to deliver the opening keynote presentation at this year's highly anticipated Macworld Expo.
"Mac will be undergoing scheduled maintenance from 7:00 AM to 12:00 PM PST on 1/10/06," Apple said in the posting "All .Mac services will be affected. We apologize for the inconvenience."
Recent reports have suggested that .Mac would see updates next Tuesday in support of a new iLife application, amongst other possibilities.
Apple last updated .Mac in September when it increased user storage, add a Groups feature and updated the Backup to version 3.0.
"Mac will be undergoing scheduled maintenance from 7:00 AM to 12:00 PM PST on 1/10/06," Apple said in the posting "All .Mac services will be affected. We apologize for the inconvenience."
Recent reports have suggested that .Mac would see updates next Tuesday in support of a new iLife application, amongst other possibilities.
Apple last updated .Mac in September when it increased user storage, add a Groups feature and updated the Backup to version 3.0.
Comments
Originally posted by wpholmes
Maybe I should renew after all....
Wait till Tuesday!
- virex is now dead-ware (and will actually hurt your computer if you still use it... though they still offer the virex DAT updates. wtf?!?) so we really have no reliable virus scanning solutions out there. admittedly, mac os x doesn't have as many gaping, wide-open doors as windows, but still...
- backup3 has been cited as being not only useless, but quite harmful with even the most innocent of mistakes (i direct your attention to john gruber's archive at daringfireball, where he links to several expert opinions that backup3 should be a hell of a lot better than it currently is).
- idisk is still god awful slow. i mean, yes, it's nice to have idisk almost behave like a normal mac os x folder, but i'd rather have the speed of a normal ftp client. heck, panic's transmit does a pretty bangup job. and please don't tell me to use the "local idisk and then syncing" thing. if that isn't the textbook definition of "workaround," i don't know what is.
- homepage used to be nice... for 1999/2000..., but now it just looks like terrible template-driven designs. and of course, apple can never kill off those designs, since many users used the "springtime" theme for their wedding or something and would be upset to find it gone... i guess.
at least my email is mostly spam-free (except when they got nailed by the worm late last year... but hey, so did everybody, and apple had it killed in about 24-48 hours... by comparison, bellsouth still can't figure out how to prevent email with subject lines like "COME ON LITTLE-D1CK, SPEND 60 BUCKS TO INCREASE 3" disappoint" from reaching my in-box. my wife happens to LIKE that 3", thankyouverymuch.
what happened to the freebie software? i actually LIKED seeing what new piece of free shareware i would get, and felt good knowing some smaller developers were getting some fat check from apple to provide them. yes, we get the garageband sample jam packs, but if you don't ever use garageband, well, you get, um, tiger quicktime tutorials??? gee, thanks.
apple, just announce on tuesday that you are providing the latest versions of transmit, virusbarrier and superduper! (or carboncopycloner, or retrospect... though the interface is permanently stuck in 1998 ) to all .mac members, and i'd be happy as all get out.
However, I don't see myself renewing my subscription - for £70 it would need to be more than some video download thing which, let's be quite honest, probably wont work in this country anyway!
Originally posted by rok
- virex is now dead-ware (and will actually hurt your computer if you still use it... though they still offer the virex DAT updates. wtf?!?) so we really have no reliable virus scanning solutions out there. admittedly, mac os x doesn't have as many gaping, wide-open doors as windows, but still...
While I agree overall that .mac is a just a ploy of not so great services for Apple to take a litle more cash, I just want to mention virus protection. From what you say you we have NO scanning solutions out there for virus protection. This is just untrue. Norton is an obvious example of one and there are others if you just search versiontracker.com
It is disappointing that there is no virex. I know that even the Apple store employees are angry that they took it out. According to friends most Apple employees view .MAC as a joke as well. Its probably one of the worst products Apple has ever produced. It just seems that nobody has told Steve this.
1. E-mail -> I don't want to have to tell the hundreds of people that have gotten accustomed to my e-mail address (which I've been using since the very beginning of mac.com (i.e., when iTools first kicked off). Especially since I don't know exactly who they all are!!
2. Syncing -> I can't live without automatic Bookmark and data syncing. That's the only reason why I won't commit to Firefox, cuz there just isn't a way to seamlessly sync its bookmarks like I can with Safari and .Mac. Same goes with iDisk. I don't see anything out there that would make it as easy as iDisk.
With that said... $100 for this service is too expensive. I don't give a crap about any of the software, including Virus protection, because by golly we don't need virus protection on OSX. At least, not yet. Since I can't see them lowering the price, I hope they'll improve it by adding some useful functionalities.
I also wish they'd do something about spams. I get a good 50 spams a day to my .Mac account and Mail's spam filter just doesn't cut it. No matter how much I 'train' it, it doesn't get any smarter. I feel like forwarding all my .Mac mail to one of my Gmail accounts, just to get rid of the spam. I do that with my university E-mail account (which receives about as much spam as my .Mac e-mail) and Gmail does a wonder of a job... cutting out a good 99% of spam, with VERY few false identifications (it's happened maybe twice in the past... that is, out of thousands of e-mail I've received).
Originally posted by rok
- virex is now dead-ware (and will actually hurt your computer if you still use it... though they still offer the virex DAT updates. wtf?!?) so we really have no reliable virus scanning solutions out there. admittedly, mac os x doesn't have as many gaping, wide-open doors as windows, but still...
I know that your writing style, and probably life, involves not making any commitmets or definate statements. Would you like to elaborate on which "gaping, wide-open doors" Mac OS X has? Or are you really just writing stuff down that sounds good?
I like the email service fastmail.fm, which I also started using, the free version.
It will be good if Apple adds to the value of this subscription this week.
And I agree with Rawhead about the various spams that get in, too. I don't get nearly so many, but the various African ruses are there, and others.
http://www.clamxav.com/
I totally agree in regard to the dearth of free programs - it has really died out. Even a new game now and then wouldn't be bad. How about a Quicktime-streaming version of CNN Pipeline, just for .Mac users? That'd be a neat bonus.
I find iDisk speed passable - not as fast as FTP but it gets the job done. I don't keep large files on my iDisk anyway - it's just a convenient backup for small files so I don't have to carry a USB thumbdrive.
Originally posted by lngtones
I know that your writing style, and probably life, involves not making any commitmets or definate statements. Would you like to elaborate on which "gaping, wide-open doors" Mac OS X has? Or are you really just writing stuff down that sounds good?
um, criticize my writing style? try criticizing your READING style, my friend. i said mac os x DOESN'T have those gaping wide holes... as in, DOES NOT.
and i'd like it if you shied away from the personal attacks about how i live my life, pal. you do not know me. at all. i've made comments, good, bad, informed and not, almost 3200 since the great AI blackout, and at least a thousand or two BEFORE that. i've had some very defiNITE things to say during that time, and i'm sure i have made some hard and fast commitmeNts as well. how many of your four posts have done the same?
Originally posted by drakethegreat
While I agree overall that .mac is a just a ploy of not so great services for Apple to take a litle more cash, I just want to mention virus protection. From what you say you we have NO scanning solutions out there for virus protection. This is just untrue. Norton is an obvious example of one and there are others if you just search versiontracker.com
It is disappointing that there is no virex. I know that even the Apple store employees are angry that they took it out. According to friends most Apple employees view .MAC as a joke as well. Its probably one of the worst products Apple has ever produced. It just seems that nobody has told Steve this.
my big problem with symantec's is a.) it involves kernel extensions, and, if i recall correctly, that shouldn't be necessay in order to scan for viruses. someone can correct me if i'm wrong, there (or am i being too non-committal by saying that, ingtones?) and b.) they recently had to issue a statement that their ONW virus-scanner had a security hole that could compromise the security of mac os x. oops. i just threw virusbarrier out there because, for a while, people really liked it. but a selling point for a while for .mac, whether it really drew people in, was the anti-virus app you got thrown in. but since it's useless (and apple actually recommends NOT using it if you're using tiger), then, well, it's not a selling point anymore.
i do hear a lot of good things about clamxAV, though.
Why?
Why do you need, or even want, anti-virus software on a platform that hasn't had a virus outbreak in 8 years? (And that was a different OS). What are you protecting against? What's in those virus definition files?
Actually, I think I know the answer to the last question ... bunch of virus definitions for Windows. Again, why do you want it?
The only thing I can think of that might do any benefit, however little, is that by detecting Windows viruses (e.g., e-mail attachments, etc.), you lower the risk of transferring them to a compromise-able machine (i.e., Windows). Is that why? I just can't understand why people would want to waste resources (both monetary and CPU/HDD space) on anti-virus software for OSX at this point in time, especially when anti-virus software can potentially cause a lot of trouble itself, if not directly comprise a security threat (as in the case of NAV), by nature being a perpetually running application/service.
Originally posted by rawhead
I don't want to be confrontational, but I just gotta ask.
Why?
Why do you need, or even want, anti-virus software on a platform that hasn't had a virus outbreak in 8 years? (And that was a different OS). What are you protecting against? What's in those virus definition files?
Actually, I think I know the answer to the last question ... bunch of virus definitions for Windows. Again, why do you want it?
The only thing I can think of that might do any benefit, however little, is that by detecting Windows viruses (e.g., e-mail attachments, etc.), you lower the risk of transferring them to a compromise-able machine (i.e., Windows). Is that why? I just can't understand why people would want to waste resources (both monetary and CPU/HDD space) on anti-virus software for OSX at this point in time, especially when anti-virus software can potentially cause a lot of trouble itself, if not directly comprise a security threat (as in the case of NAV), by nature being a perpetually running application/service.
the best answer i can give, and i'm not sure it's a good answer... just the best one i can give... is that it's like carrying insurance. you spend most of your life paying for it, and never use it, and you hope you never have to rely upon it. but the one time you NEED it, you're glad you have it.
kinda like applecare extended warranties.
Originally posted by rok
kinda like applecare extended warranties.
Well, I gotta object. For example, last year, I got malaria ;-) Although I pay crap-loads for medical insurance, and constantly bitch about it, I was happy then that I had it. The bill would have been in the mid-thousands, easily 4-5 times the amount I pay per year, as a student, on medical insurance.
AppleCare. I've had more than one repairs done on my Macs and iPods over the past 5 years or so, the most recent one being a relatively major ($5-600 worth) repair on my 1st Gen iMac G5. I've definitely "saved" more money paying for AppleCare than if I hadn't bought them (although admittedly, that has a lot to do with the fact that I get great student discounts on AC).
The whole point being... these things definitely happen. They may not have happened to you (and you should consider yourself lucky if they haven't), but they have happened to people you know (right?). You hear about those things happening to other people (like me!).
Now, viruses on Macs? That just has not happened to ANYBODY in the past 8 years, and never since OSX debuted. You don't hear about it at all, cuz it just doesn't happen.
Of course, you could argue that that's still anecdotal. The 8-year winning streak doesn't mean that it won't happen in the future.
And you'd be right.
But the point is, no-one even knows what an OSX virus is going to be like. Well, some people might, but you don't (and I don't). Similarly, neither you nor I know if the anti-virus software from Company X is going to be any good when the outbreak occurs. Or, whether that product/company will still be in existence then.
That's why I won't waste any resources on an anti-virus software now.
If and when (and I do believe it's a question of when) an outbreak, or, even the first inklings of an outbreak occur, I will, at that point, decide which software/vendor is worthy of my trust and money (by observing who reacts to the threat quickest), and then and only then, buy me an anti-virus software.
Just my 2-cents.
a.) Unfortunately, not everyone's a Mac user. If I send some poor Windows user a poisoned file, they aren't going to be happy.
b.) There's no infection where there's no flesh, and right now, there's little flesh. But. Macs will become more popular. Mac viruses don't spread well because there are so few Macs, but the machines will gain popularity. They're doing it right now.
Originally posted by MacCrazy
I switched to Gmail recently and didn't renew my .Mac subscription. iDisk is too little capacity, the e-mail is too slow - Gmail is so much faster. Virex was stopped - Apple should at least sell a virus protection for mac. Backup was useless.
Sell? Why? ClamAV is free and there's a really nice GUI front end too. I use it on my servers alongside Spam Assassin (also free). If Apple wanted to be nice they should just pay the ClamXAV guy and donate some resources to keeping ClamAV up to date.
It amazes me people PAY for anti-virus, especially on the Mac.
http://clamxav.com/
Originally posted by jdbartlett
b.) There's no infection where there's no flesh, and right now, there's little flesh. But. Macs will become more popular. Mac viruses don't spread well because there are so few Macs, but the machines will gain popularity. They're doing it right now.
Mac viruses don't spread well because there are no Mac viruses.
Originally posted by rawhead
Well, I gotta object. ...
If and when (and I do believe it's a question of when) an outbreak, or, even the first inklings of an outbreak occur, I will, at that point, decide which software/vendor is worthy of my trust and money (by observing who reacts to the threat quickest), and then and only then, buy me an anti-virus software.
Just my 2-cents.
well, okay, my applecare comment was a kinda-joke (saved my wife's ass when our pismo's motherboard died 2 years and 11 months into the 3 year extended warranty). but it IS insurance, and you just cannot go after such protecion thinking you'll be safe when you notice "inklings." for example, you can't get storm insurance when there are "inklings" of a hurricane coming your way (trust me on this one), and the first indication of a mac virus will likely be a story on macminute saying something like "hey, damn near all mac users got caught off guard this morning by virus insert-name-here, and if you checked your email this mroning, you probably have it to" kind of notification. by then, you kinda are already screwed.
but, hey, if that's the way you wanna operate, good luck to ya. i'm just waiting for an anti-virus app that gets high-praise from a lot of different sources. i just hope such a thing comes out and i can afford to get it before something beomes a problem. and it WAS a selling point to a .mac membership at one time.