notMac Challenge winner declared

@VanillaSpice: Free software is not necessarily free as in beer. Take Red Hat Linux, for example. People are can indeed charge for free software.

I'll be interested in this software when I can run it on the Debian box I already use a server, but not until then.

in contrast to what some people here do assume, it is *not* neccessary to have a separate server running for notMac.
In fact, you can use your main machine as the server and for each user account on that machine as a client at the same time.
Other computers at your home LAN (your MacBooks etc.) can sync as long as the main machine is running. (I.e. no one has to be logged in.)

@Mo - no, the word 'freeware' does not apply to only one type of freely-available software. 'Freeware' means ONLY that the software is available at zero cost, whether or not it is also open-source, or redistributable, and irrespective of any other licence conditions.

The confusion arises because 'free software' (i.e. open-source) and 'freeware' are not the same thing, but they are also not mutually exclusive. Freeware is an umbrella term, and free software is a type of freeware.

Importantly, that means that while not all freeware is free software, all free software (open-source software) IS freeware, so again, the article's use of the terms was completely correct.

Wikipedia introduces the term by incorrectly stating that freeware has to be copyrighted, but later makes the actual definition of the word absolutely clear -

'The only criterion for being classified as freeware is that the software must be made available for use for an unlimited time at no cost.'

It also says, 'The term freeware may include public domain software and proprietary software.'

(like I said, the opening line is incorrect because public domain software is by definition out of copyright)

To be quite clear, the word 'freeware' is a term that applies to cost only, it is not a synonym for "zero cost, but proprietary".

I agree that it has been used as such a synonym in the past, but never correctly so, and in modern times, people nearly always use terms such as "proprietary", "freely-redistributable", "open-source" et cetera to accurately subdivide freeware into its various sub-categories.

@artifex - The $220 Mac Mini I bought was a G4, not an Intel. Combo drive, Airport but no Bluetooth, original software, an Apple keyboard and mouse, but no monitor.

"I may have changed phone numbers a dozen times since college, but my email address will always stay the same, for as long as I can manage it."

You mean like any of the free email services that are available... gmail and yahoo mail come to mind (and you don't have to pay $100 a year for either).

The problem with .mac email is that the minute you decide you don't want to pay Apple anymore for it you are screwed.

The great thing about Apple's .mac is the seamless integration with iLife and the fact that you don't have to have seperate email, flickr, youtube, webhost, etc. accounts. You sign up for one service and everything is provided in an easy to use pre-configured way w/ FULL iLife integration.

I'm willing to bet that with this someone (maybe the winner) will create a "real" dot mac commercial alternative that combines email, photos, videos, web hosting into one package, but I doubt that it'll be as easy to use and stylish as Apple's.

I don't think most people will run their own server. But I think some enterprising minds (probably the dude who started the contest) will offer commercial .Mac alternatives for a reasonable price.

Well, I had a solution for this "contest" long ago. You just needed to have a spare server farm, a team of Arctic sled Dogs and 2 dozen Google Engineers at your disposal.

I call shenanigans.

Well, I like the goal of this project, and I'm happy to see that someone won the grand prize.
However, I do have a problem ; don't take this the wrong way, it probably isn't related, but I think it's important to signal it.
The AppleShare server (AFS) on my mac mini failed yesterday, just one day after I tried out notMac. I don't know if it's really related, but it's a very serious failure that I was only able to repair by restoring a previous backup, so be really cautious...
Backup your data before trying out notMac, and check that the Apple File Sharing component still works after trying.
Again, notMac may not be the cause of this failure ; I tried auto-syncing my (real, apple) iDrive the same day, and I did other stuff too.

Cheers,
David.

Tse.... how does it work with the URL Links?! Second try, sorry...

Lean Back and Relax - Enjoy some Nature Photography:
http://photoblog.la-famille-schwarzer.de/