To .Mac, or Not To .Mac

Apple .Mac

After becoming an Apple convert over the last month, I was bitterly disappointed in the functionality offered by the .Mac online services.

It claims to be "Your life. On the internet", but after signing up for a Trail Account, the interface was dismal, the features limited, and the overall response painfully slow.  Understandably, the target audience is the typical online user with a fair amount of bandwidth (not so common here in South Africa) and a habit of traveling and a need for transparently available information. 

But we're starting to become accustomed to the cool decor and responsiveness of Web 2.0 type applications - with Ajax and the likes - and large vendors are no longer able to hide behind the simple HTML of the yester-year, a mould that was smashed by Google's Gmail (apart from its cruddy look and feel).

It would be great to see Apple's trendy product image filter through to its online services offerings.  And I believe it to be a necessity in order to survive the onslaught of Web 2.0 apps appearing in the coming years.

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