After 2 years of using .Mac, I finally say goodbye to it next month.
Unlike many who felt that the USD100 was too much for the service, I actually found at first that it was worth it. However, recently I realised it was more effort and nuisance than it was worth. At first I wanted to use the online backup feature, but as my home directory is huge now – much bigger than my iDisk space – I no longer use it much, and back up to another hard drive and DVD. As I thought about it I realised that even though I use my Address book, iCal and iPhoto a lot, I barely use the online abilities.
On top of that, my @mac.com account was a spam magnet, bringing in almost 99% of spam in my inbox. I wont be sad to see that go. Also, I used to use the photo gallery a lot, but now I just use my own Gallery software I set up, so I’ve barely used that of late either.
I think the final straw was the poor support I got from .Mac when I asked why my 2000yen voucher for renewing last year never arrived. They said it had (it hadn’t nor had it been cashed, as they confirmed, and had actually expired) and when I said that I wasn’t happy with that reply and said it was things like this that make people leave, the support person helpfully sent me detailed instructions on how to unsubscribe. No negotiation, or ‘I’ll look into it’, just a point to the door. Ah well, in truth, the decision had already been made.
I should say though, that I do think .Mac has a place, but ultimately I don’t think it’s for me anymore. Therefore, if you contact me on my @mac.com account, stick a comment on here and I’ll get back to you.