.Mac
.Mac (dotmac) was an online service from Apple that the functionality of a Macintosh - computer with the operating system macOS on the Internet expanded. .Mac was replaced by MobileMe on July 10, 2008 , which was in turn replaced by iCloud on July 1, 2012 .
Costs and benefits
The .Mac service was originally launched as a free service by Apple called iTools. Initially, it only included the use of an e-mail address and was advertised with the slogan “Free e-mail for life”. After a year, the service was expanded and now cost fees. At that time, the price was € 79 per year. In conjunction with the iLife line of products, Apple wanted to bring Internet technologies and the Mac closer together for home users.
Functions
E-mail address
A .Mac user received an email address with the domain "mac.com" (for example, username@mac.com) and up to five other email aliases. The e-mail service included functions such as an automatic reply and access via the web interface. The data from Mail (Apple's e-mail application for Mac OS X) was always kept synchronized, e-mails sent via the web interface also ended up automatically in the “Sent” folder of the program, which was implemented via IMAP .
iDisk
iDisk was Apple's name for a WebDAV -based storage space solution that behaved similarly to a local disk on a computer. Other users could also access files in a “Public” folder on the iDisk. Access could also be restricted with a password. The iDisk had a storage capacity of 10 gigabytes since August 7, 2007 and was intended for exchanging data with friends and colleagues or between one's own computers or for backing up files. Most recently, the storage space was 20 GB for a single license and 40 GB for a family license.
Photocasting
Photocasting was introduced with iPhoto '06. With the iPhoto software, a photo album could be set up as a photocast. The image files were loaded onto the .Mac server. IPhoto '06 users could subscribe to such a photocast. This appeared in the iPhoto 06 list in a Photocast folder. The current pictures of the subscribed album were then located here. With these pictures you could do anything that could be done with pictures from other iPhoto libraries. Those who didn't have an iPhoto '06 could only look at the pictures. A Photocast was actually no more than one RSS - web feed associated with each image-enabled feed reader could be read, such as Safari, NetNewsWire or coffin. Photocasting was interesting for people who often share photos with family and friends. The photocast could be protected by a password.
One Click Publish
With one click, a website created in iWeb was loaded onto the .Mac server and made available or updated there.
.Mac Sync
With .Mac Sync, appointments and tasks from iCal , address books, bookmarks, passwords, e-mails, dashboard widgets, dock objects, notes and Mac OS X system settings could be synchronized with the .Mac server. This data could either be called up with another Mac OS X computer or partly via a web interface with any web browser. The data could also be kept synchronized on several computers, whereby a clean synchronization was always carried out in Mac OS X, that is, everything that was on the local computer was not simply overwritten, but the changes were combined with one another.
Backup
With .Mac came the in-house backup software Backup 3.1. This offered the possibility of burning data on CD / DVD for backup purposes, saving it on an external hard drive or transferring it to the .Mac storage space. Backup 3.1 only transferred small amounts of data such as appointments, addresses or documents to the iDisk. Movies could not be uploaded.
.Mac groups
The .Mac group feature provided easy communication between .Mac members. A .Mac user account was a prerequisite for group membership, but a trial user account was sufficient; this could also be used after the trial period had expired. On the group side, “notice boards”, calendars, announcements, member lists and the like could be made accessible to the entire group, and photos and videos could also be exchanged. Each group had its own area on the iDisk, which could be flexibly allocated storage space. The group function was designed for private use and is not a business application.
iChat AV
The e-mail address (see above) was also the user account for using iChat , an instant messenger that was compatible with the AOL instant messenger .
safety
Connections to the .Mac web interface were only possible without encryption. Parts of the offer (e.g. conversations via iChat AV or access to the iDisk via WebDAV ) could be used in encrypted form on request.
Replacement by MobileMe
In the keynote that opened WWDC 2008 , the replacement of .Mac by the new MobileMe service was announced. The previous services have been expanded and new services are also available for mobile devices.