Quirks of the new .Mac Groups feature

i open my idisk and there is nothing on it i fon't get the relation between .mac, idisk, sync,ibroadgast,ichat

where can you find a list of available .Mac groups to look at

because the .mac IDs don't expire when the trial account does, it really chews up decent usernames. i think the username should expire when the account does, or say 60 days after the 60 day trial is over.

yes, let's talk about how far .mac has come. um, nowhere in 4 years?! i think we've been waiting for an easy way to blog from our desktop to .mac for what? at least 3 years now. iDisk? great for backups but flaky as hell. does anyone actually use it for hard drive space? hmmm. I think the people running .mac need a coffee enema. they need to start looking at the 2.0 web services like Flickr, TypePad, Basecamp, etc.. and instead of trying to be "most things to most people", try to enhance the mac experience by allowing us to tie up our online lives with .mac. sure uploading my pics straight from iPhoto is a great thing, but once you've uploaded them, the web interface is so clunky it's not even worth it. why not redesign the interface for people that actually use photos. and while they're at it, use the Flickr API to bring my Flickr images into my .mac template pages. instead of locking my iLife content up in .mac's interface ghetto, give me tools to get it out there and let it interact with other 2.0 services. I don't know, we'll see how .mac groups goes, I'll go over and make myself a group for a project i'm working on, but as far as I'm concerned, dot mac needs a dot overhaul and you can see that by it's adoption rate. if nothing else, make it easier to use.

I created a trial account, on my pc and when I click groups all I get is a link to upgrade the account out of trial. :-/

As for me, I think the new group-feature on .Mac is awesome! So what if people have to register for a .Mac account? It is free, and they can keep their username for iChat and the groups. And if a few of them go on to buy a .Mac account, or even better--buy a Mac--woohoo! The more people who buy Macs, the better the world will be. :-) I think many of those who commented with disappointment were expecting a full fledged blog service or group-server, but that is not what Groups is about. I think it is about having a common, easy to use, bulletin board for smaller groups. For instance - my family is spread out on two continents and several countries. We're already enjoying our group immensely. And while those of us who are more technologically savvy, may see limits, those in my family who are not--simply love how they are able to participate and enjoy the service. The threshold for getting going is minimal. So I say kudos to Apple for greatly improving the .Mac service! And don't forget - this is a 1.0 release of the Groups function. Just think about how far .Mac has come.

The ID is just to log into the page; it's not like you have to pay Apple $100 to partake in them. Is it really all that different than Yahoo Groups? You have to join Yahoo! to use those too. I think groups are pretty nifty. The space thing is a bummer as I'd love to make use of the upgraded space to devote just to the group pages. Hopefully once .Mac gets all the kinks worked out of groups, they'll let us adjust the iDisk allotment for groups.

There's been a lot of controversy at Apple Discussions since Groups were announced. The need for .Mac membership has been much discussed. Personally I don't see a problem, and neither do friends of mine (no Mac users among them) who have happily joined a group I set up. Any .Mac promotional mail is sent to an invitee's new mac.com address anyway, and there's absolutely no need ever to check it. Just let it accumulate in .Mac web mail and die when the 60-day trial expires. As to features, admittedly it's basic, but it's also perfectly workable at least my group members are happy and think I'm brilliant to have set it all up!

I think the ID thing is another way to get itunes more mainstream. One can use this id to get songs at the music store as well. As far as groups is concerned this is a pretty lame first attempt. They should make it like a backpackit.com with to-do lists, notes, RSS feeds and posting files right to the main page. I do like that the group gets its own email and that you can email to the page. Hopefully these features will be added down the road. I agree that you should be able to allocate as much space as you want to the group as long as your idisk can afford it. It certainly is secure though.

Yup, having to join .mac is a tad irritating but I guess its one barrier against spam. Id like php, mysql and yes some sort of blogging tool on .mac, it doesnt seem unreasonable imo.