I have a dotMac email address, ryansking@mac.com, but it’s disappearing tomorrow. I’ve grown tired of paying $100 a year for an email address and a small amount of web space. So, if you still want to email me, make sure you use ‘ryan at this domain’.
Sadly, in addition to losing the email address, an old website of mine will be disappearing. This is why, as much as possible, I try to publish stuff on domains I control.
October 3rd, 2006 at 11:37 am
I’m experiencing sticker-shock.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:12 pm
Yeah, I can’t believe I actually paid for it for 4 years.
October 4th, 2006 at 6:33 am
I paid for mine for 2-3 years, and got tired of it the same way you did. It seemed really cool at the time, but looking back on it, it wasn’t “$100/year” cool.
October 6th, 2006 at 5:46 pm
Hahahah! No way Ryan! Me too! I’m canceling my .mac account tomorrow too. For the same reason as you. 100 bucks is just to much for a service that just doesn’t compare to what else you can get out there.
*sigh* I really want to keep it too, because I love the intergration it provides with syncing and my idisk. Not to mention having my bookmarks on any computer I get on. But I just signed up for dreamhost the other day and get this!! 200GB of storage, 2yrs of service and free domain name regestration for….. drum roll pease…. $90.00!! ummm I think this a no brainer. .mac for 99.00 1GB’s of storage and no dedicated hosting or dream host for 90.00 with a lot more, but no syncing. By the way I got really lucky on the price becuase it just happend that I chose to buy on the day they were celebrating they’re 9th anniversarry, so they took 99.00 off!
Anyways the next time I see you we’ll have to have a drink to toast the death of our .mac’s.
Note: my new email address mario@exploringmario.com
October 8th, 2006 at 1:19 pm
What a smaller sticker price have made a difference?
I never bought dotMac, but I was often tempted by the portfolio of products.
October 8th, 2006 at 11:46 pm
lloyd-
I actually started using dotMac when it was free (did it have a different name then?). I continued with it when they started charging because I didn’t want to change my email address. I continued with this for several years mostly out of inertia.
When it comes down to it, it’s about more than the price. It’s about control. Control of data and control of idenity and identifiers. I don’t want my methods of communication to be subject to the whims of others, so I try to limit their involvement.
October 16th, 2006 at 11:29 am
It’s really about lowering your tolerance for bullshit, Ryan. When Apple gave free email addresses touting their foreverness, then turned around and started charging for them, my bullshit radar beeped loudly.
October 16th, 2006 at 12:09 pm
leah-
It certainly hit my bullshitdar, too. But I had too much inertia- it was my primary email address and web presence- and I had more important things to do that to migrate away from it. It was only when I’d already essentially replaced it that I could let go of it. I’m sure I’ve lost contact with people because of this, though.
October 24th, 2006 at 11:46 pm
Ryan King, just how many of us Ryan Kings can there be?
With Regards
Ryan King
October 31st, 2006 at 12:11 pm
[...] Despite recently canceling my dotMac account, I think this is important news because it highlights a use case of microformats which many have not recognized. [...]