Users flee email charges at Mac.com

NEWS

Apple Computer's plan to start charging for its Mac.com email service has Mac owners scrambling for alternatives. Even as a petition circulates to try to get Apple to change its mind, many users are shopping around for a lower-cost way to get their mail before Apple pulls the plug on the free service at the end of September. "I am most upset because I felt I purchased this when I bought the OS," said software engineer Paul Causey, who has now signed up for a free email account through Yahoo. "Each time I went into an Apple store, they sold me on the idea of iDisk and email." Although Apple never explicitly said that the accounts would be free for life, many Mac users had counted on it and were not happy when chief executive Steve Jobs announced that, starting in September, the email accounts will become part of Apple's $99 per year .Mac service. While many are likely to go to Yahoo or Microsoft's Hotmail, a number of choices have emerged that allow Mac owners to still proclaim their love of the Mac despite their displeasure with Apple over the new fees. Mac community site MacOSX.com is offering Mac fans the option of signing up for an address with that domain. The company is offering a variety of options ranging from Webmail accounts with 5MB of storage for $10 a year, to server-based email accounts with 50MB of storage for $25 a year. Scott William, the founder of MacOSX.com said he decided to offer e-mail accounts because of the uproar that followed Apple's decision to charge a flat fee for .Mac rather than offering a cheaper price for those who wanted only email. "The community was saying, 'Hey we need something new, an alternative,'" William said. "Ninety-nine dollars is a high price tag each year for an e-mail account." William said he has not had any complaints in the past from Apple over his use of the MacOSX.com domain name. An Apple representative was not immediately available to comment about the competing e-mail service. MacOSX.com's email service is provided by Digital Crowd, which has also been selling macsrule.com email addresses since 1996. William said Apple's price for .Mac isn't bad for all the services offered, such as online file storage, Web page hosting and anti-virus software. "For what people are getting its a great deal," William said. "But what people are wanting is just an email service." Mac.com account holder Ryan Marsh said changing e-mail addresses is the big problem. "I don't want MacOSX.com, or Macguy.com, or any other macsomething.com," Marsh said in an email. "The point is not having to switch email addresses and tell all my contacts that I'm switching email addresses." Causey said that Apple's move is alienating 95 percent of its users. Some 2.2 million free Mac.com accounts had been registered, according to Apple. "As an Apple stockholder, I am very upset," Causey said. "As an Apple customer, I am livid."

For everything Internet-related, from the latest legal and policy-related news, to domain name updates, see ZDNet UK's Internet News Section. Have your say instantly, and see what others have said. Go to the ZDNet news forum. Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom.

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

ZDNet UK Live

How dare film makers, artists or anybody that invests in creativity stop us pirating their works for free. I want to be able to walk into my local...

5 hours ago by JCB33 on ACTA stumbles in Germany

@GrueMaster. I prefer horses for courses rather than one size fits all. I, and I suspect most other computer users, do not really wish to have...

7 hours ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

The product that scares me every time I have to use it is the Office 2007 version of Excel. The first bug that I found was applying the median...

7 hours ago by greycynic on Ten flawed products that derail productivity

Nice review and very informative. One thing I'd like to add (in reply to whs001's 1st question), the main reason to have the same interface from...

9 hours ago by GrueMaster on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

I'be been using Mint 12 since the RC came out, and I am far more happy with the Cinnamon, the Mate, and, yes (with extensions), theGnome 3...

9 hours ago by Frederick Wrigley via Facebook on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Excellent article. One small correction, though--although a fresh installation of Linux Mint 12 will, indeed, provide the user with a version of...

10 hours ago by bdantas on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

11 hours ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

11 hours ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material

For Gnome 2 die-hards, it is possible to add icons to the bottom panel (or top top panel, if you prefer) which provide the exact Gnome 2...

11 hours ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Your comments would seem pretty naive and immature. Your 'solution' appears to be, "gee, let's all just give in to the hackers and give them...

12 hours ago by ramwellian on Cloud computing security: no more oxymoron?

"Interesting thought ... If you installed Win7 as a dual boot on a machine that previously only had Linux, and it wrecked your Linux installation,...

12 hours ago by BugStalker on Windows 7 Declares War on GRUB

This is an excellent summary of Ubuntu and Mint and the interface differences between them. Most such articles take a very partisan position for...

12 hours ago by whs001 on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

@ewallace. Not so clear. Anyone can obtain the text, for example from here http://www.ustr.gov/webfm_send/2379. I support ACTA so long as it and...

12 hours ago by Moley on ACTA: Facts, misconceptions and questions

I think WinRT is fantastic. I just wish it was an option for people that didn't want to go through Microsoft's App Store with its attendant...

15 hours ago by 45283 on Why Windows 8 needs architectural hygiene for WOA

Nine people? £30m? Who's back pocket is that lot going in? And IF they say it is for new buildings, what about all the ones the government has...

17 hours ago by Burn-IT on Police set to launch three £30m e-crime hubs

Just to be clear, nobody knows what is in the text of ACTA, here is a photograph of the text of ACTA http://twitpic.com/8h9iju as submitted to the...

17 hours ago by ewallace on ACTA: Facts, misconceptions and questions

Unfortunately main issue is that ASUS is refusing to accept that they make some mistake on this version of asus Transformer prime. 1 - GPS sensor...

18 hours ago by fgvrg56 on Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime Wi-Fi & GPS problems?

@Marcus A fair question. Just talked with Archos which said it was working on an announcement for next week....

19 hours ago by Ben Woods on Archos confirms G9 Ice Cream Sandwich update schedule

Any update on this, considering the claimed "first week of February"?

20 hours ago by Marcus Karlsson via Facebook on Archos confirms G9 Ice Cream Sandwich update schedule

Bill Goodrich : Just as al_langevin pointed out, with Windows Server 2008 there is no Services for Macintosh anymore. It's gone, not available....

1 day ago by apexwm on Windows Server 2008 drops the ball for Mac compatibility

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

Users flee email charges at Mac.com

Daily Newsletters

Topics

Related stories

Hotmail deletions catch members out

Hotmail users face summer of random email deletion

Ofcom to make it easier to change broadband service

Google set to build backbone of its 1Gbps fibre network

Nicira reveals network virtualisation details

Post your comment

ZDNet UK Live

Latest in Networking

Ofcom to make it easier to change broadband service

Google set to build backbone of its 1Gbps fibre network

Nicira reveals network virtualisation details

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

Test Analyst - Business Intelligence /Data Warehousing

Test Analyst - Business Intelligence /Data Warehousing

Technical MI Manager - 50-60k - Leeds

Inside ZDNet UK

A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

2012 Predictions: VCE FastPath, VI SAN Probe & Hadoop

BlackBerry Bold 9790

Case study: How cloud enables growth

Ten factors that make Ubuntu 11.10 a hit

Toshiba Portégé Z830-10P Review

BT's archive: Pictures from the vault

News & Analysis

Reviews

Blogs

Resources

About Us

Member Services

Special Features

Advertising Features

ZDNet UK / News and Analysis / Infrastructure / Networking

Users flee email charges at Mac.com

Daily Newsletters

Topics

Related stories

Post your comment

Get ZDNet UK's daily newsletter

Enter your email address to sign up

ZDNet UK Live

Latest in Networking

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

Inside ZDNet UK

Resources

About Us

Member Services

Special Features

Advertising Features