Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Internet Tools
Viral .Mac feedback - copy and paste this, let's make Apple listen
We've all seen the complaints about .Mac from every corner of the internets. Our own Dave Caolo posted a fantastic editorial covering .Mac's slow death, but he isn't the only one tossing a vote into the hat. One only needs to browse the digg archives to find plenty of posts from dissatisfied mom and pop bloggers, but even bigger names in the Mac community like Steven Frank of Panic (Transmit, CandyBar) have voiced their .Mac gripes, with plenty of others developing their own .Mac alternatives.While blogging about these topics can be a good thing, I had the idea this weekend that maybe we can do something a little more in the form of mass feedback and a petition. Our fearless leader Scott noted that online petitions don't often seem to have much impact, but I've always been a fan of at least trying to stand up and be heard.
With that said, TUAW would like to introduce what we call a piece of 'viral feedback' for .Mac. The idea here is that you can copy and paste the statement below (after the jump) into the .Mac feedback form. Feel free to edit and tweak it to your desires. Credit TUAW or not. Whatever you do, just be sure to click send and tell a friend. Also, don't forget to play fair - don't click send 300 times, and keep the criticism clean.
Online viral feedback petitions may not get very far, but darnit - it's fun to try. Click on to get your copy of the petition and submit it to .Mac.
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With competing all-in-one services taking on .Mac, and plenty of individual services offering far superior performance in contrast to their .Mac equivalents (often for free), you are quickly losing any appeal or value. Your fall from the throne isn't merely a result of your apparent disinterest in pushing the boundaries of web services, for it is also caused by your blatant and persistent lack of the basic fundamentals in much of what you offer.
Easily dwarfed storage space, an insulting lack of server-side spam filtering, and competing syncing services that outpace yours in terms of both platform compatibility and innovative features - all top an extensive list of snowballing frustration and complaints from a decreasing community of .Mac users from far and wide. We encourage you to seek out the mounting and disenchanting feedback across the internet from your users, only because it seems that you have recently forgotten this crucial practice.
Please, if you insist on charging for these aging services, start placing a refreshed effort into them so users have something to show for paying your chart-topping yearly fee. Apple is a company known for thinking different and innovating - it's time .Mac begins living up to that ideal again.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Dustin said 5:38PM on 9-10-2006
Submitted.
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BLACKOUT said 6:07PM on 9-10-2006
same
i hope this works.
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Query said 6:16PM on 9-10-2006
I would do this, but my trial expired long ago and I'm not willing to pay excessive amounts of money for services available for free elsewhere, therefore, no blog, no suggestion box.
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Andrew Childress said 6:27PM on 9-10-2006
It has been Dugg- give it some loving!
http://www.tuaw.com/2006/09/10/viral-mac-feedback-copy-and-paste-this-lets-make-apple-list/
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David Chartier said 6:35PM on 9-10-2006
#4: Andrew, did you mean to include the digg link? Here it is:
http://digg.com/apple/Viral_Mac_feedback_copy_paste_this_and_make_Apple_listen
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Jay Robinson said 6:35PM on 9-10-2006
Submitted. I hope some Google insight can breathe new life into .Mac and make it competitive with other free services.
As a college student, I still find many uses for .Mac. Check out my site.
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Thayne Miller said 6:40PM on 9-10-2006
I love .mac. I got a family pack on ebay for $60 and it's been fantastic. The backup software is second to none, iWeb one-click publishing is amazing, and the syncing has worked fine for me since the first day. I don't see what all the fuss is about. I'm sure they are going to make it even better once leopard comes around.
I won't submit this because I don't agree with the claims made.
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Geoff Airey said 6:45PM on 9-10-2006
The only way that Apple ill get the message is if people stop buying the subscriptions. Yes I know that people would lose their email addresses, but Appe would lose their $100,000,000 annual revenue or at lease a part of it, and they might suddenly realise that they need to step up and provide $100 worth of service, not forgetting of course that a lot of the newer .mac service require iLife 06.
You can get so much for free on on the web, why should people pay this premium?
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Erik J. Barzeski said 6:45PM on 9-10-2006
Top an extensive list of snowballing frustration and complaints from a decreasing community of .Mac users big and small.
I'm 5'10" and 180 lbs. Does that make me a "big" or a "small" .Mac user? What about us average-sized .Mac users? :-P
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Norman Lee said 7:05PM on 9-10-2006
Done. Hope this works
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LD said 7:05PM on 9-10-2006
In general I discount most online petitions because they are silly or grandious in their expectations. But look at the recent Facebook fiasco. If enough users complain it really does make a difference.
Apple can do what they want with .Mac. I, however, will never pay for it until it becomes at least as good as the free stuff.
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Stephen said 7:16PM on 9-10-2006
Sent.
I opted out of renewing my .Mac. I now use Godaddy for hosting my web site, which had the bonus of getting rid of the nasty, long .Mac URL. I use a PC to file serve, so I didn't need the really lame iDisk. Boo .Mac...hooray other services!
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Daniel D said 7:23PM on 9-10-2006
I recently bought a .mac subscription I hope they do improve it :3
I bought it to go hand in hand with my iweb site easiest hosting solution for me. (and convenient)
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Steve said 7:23PM on 9-10-2006
Already on digg boys
http://digg.com/apple/Viral_Mac_feedback_copy_paste_this_and_make_Apple_listen
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Ilya Smirnov said 7:44PM on 9-10-2006
Submitted! Finally a major site starts an effort to improve .Mac!
Well done!
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Rom said 7:52PM on 9-10-2006
Nice move! Feedback sent!
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William Jackson said 8:12PM on 9-10-2006
Done
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Gorn said 8:16PM on 9-10-2006
Didn't your mommy teach you you get more with honey than vinegar? A screed like that might fire up the troops, but all it will do at Apple is dismiss you as an entitled whiner.
If you want .mac improved (which it certainly needs to be), a better approach is a concise, reasoned explanation of the problems and suggested improvements, not a vitriol-laden blog rant.
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Elbert Cuenca said 8:42PM on 9-10-2006
done! Thanks for initiating. I'm now crossing my fingers and toes.
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Ken said 9:09PM on 9-10-2006
Although I'm not happy with .Mac offers for its price (and even at half price it's still too expensive), I'm equally not happy with an online petition like this one.
It's ok to discuss what's right and what's wrong, what can be improved and how much it should cost, but attempting to start a .Mac negative campaign looks to me as a way to gain more publicity.
Apple seems to be happy until now with what it offers for a .Mac subscription. Customers who are willing to pay are happy enough, too.
Apple knows very well what can be changed or improved in order to keep its customers happy. But nothing will be changed as long as there are enough people refreshing their subscriptions every year.
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