Hi Geniuses! Sigh. I have Mac Mail and received a notice from Apple saying there will be no more

[gateley]

mobile me. I assumed that meant my Mac Mail was going away, period. But someone told me the Mac Mail system isn't changing, just the mobile me access.

Do any of you know if that's correct? Any of you have Mac Mail, and if so, what are you doing?

I don't have a system where I can upgrade to Lion so I don't think I can access the iCloud.

Thanks again for any help!

[hamerfan]

1. True.

MobileMe is going away this June.
If your system is capable of running Snow Leopard, there are some who think the 10.6.9 update will include iCloud access.
I can upgrade to Lion if I wish, but I want to stick with SL, so I am one of those hoping for iCloud access with 10.6.9.
When MobileMe goes away, so will iDisk and Gallery. I use both of these.

[gateley]

3. I'm not sure if the 10.6.9 update will allow iCloud access or if it just allows you to upgrade

to Lion. I'm sorry about your iDisk and Gallery.

My only experience w/mobile.me is when I would log onto my email from another computer. My email is the @mac.com address, and that's what I'm confused about. I thought that would get tossed along with mobile me, but then I was told it wouldn't. I still don't know for sure either way.

If it IS going to affect my @mac.com address, then I'll have to get a system that can run Snow Leopard -- my current one can't. Have to admit I'm toying with the idea of getting a used or refurbished Air that will allow me to upgrade to Lion (SN 10.6.9 if it's true it'll have access) so I'm almost hoping I'll have to do it. Or, an iPad w/iOS 5, but I think I'd like to get the yearning for a MacBook Air out of my system.

The best possible thing, given my financial situation, would be I wouldn't have to do anything and I could keep my @mac.com email.

If you can access iCloud with 10.6.9, will there be anything available to you that would take the place of iDisk and Gallery? (Or does the flash mean no Disk? I really have no idea what iDisk is.) I hope something works out for you!

[northoftheborder]

2. Haven't been able to use Mobile Me, because would not work with ATT email with UVerse.

Also, I didn't want to pay the yearly fee. It sounded like it would have been handy. I'm trying to hang on with my 6 year old computer until I can get a new one with the coming new system, Mountain Lion.

[gateley]

4. Okay -- are the @mac.com email system (and I did pay a yearly fee for it) and mobile me the exact

same thing? It's my email system I'm concerned about. I'm probably not asking the right questions about this, and that's because I really don't know much of what I'm talking about.

Mountain Lion is coming really soon, isn't it? I saw it on Apple's site and I was saying to a friend that it's like when Apple seemed to come out with a new iPod about every month there for a while.

[REP]

5. .mac turned into MobileMe, and they're going away in June BUT

You can still use your @mac.com/@me.com address with iCloud (I'm already using iCloud for my mail with my @mac.com address).

[gateley]

8. That's kind of what I thought, which means I have to get a system that will let me upgrade to Lion.

That sucks, but on the other hand, I'm itching to get something new! So tell me, what would you get, REP? An iPad (if the i05 can access the cloud, which I think it can) or a MacBook Air? (I've yearned for an Air for so long, I just wonder who I think I'm kidding asking advice or pretending to "think" about it.

Thanks for your help.

[REP]

11. Yes, iOS uses iCloud

As for me, I need a lot of processing power, so I have an iMac. And an iPad.

[emmadoggy]

7. Here's my understanding of it.

We have had a mac.com address which, yes, comes with your paid subscription to MobileMe (which previously had a different name that I can't remember at the moment.)

Last summer they announced that MobileMe would be discontinued/become iCloud. Unfortunately, it would only work with Snow Leopard or higher. Hubby and I were bummed because we were using a PowerPc mac and could not upgrade, so we ended up getting a gmail account to take the place of our mac.com account when it goes defunct in June. (We have it set up so that our gmail comes in through Mac Mail which is awesome since we were used to and really love Mail.)

Shortly after we did that, our beloved iMac (one of the last PowerPC macs) completely died out of the blue. Logic board. Enter new Lion iMac. Now we have to decide if it's worth it to keep the MobileMe/iCloud subscription. Haven't really looked into it yet. But yes, if you don't have a machine that is on the needed OS, then it is my understanding that you will lose your mac.com address.

And to your last point, yes, one of the things about Apple that really bugs me is how quickly they come out with new operating systems and how quickly they (and the tech world in general) discontinue support for older operating systems (even though they really aren't that old from a time standpoint). Not all of us can afford to constantly get the next new thing. The PC world doesn't seem to have this problem.Grrrr.

[gateley]

10. Thank you so much! Think I'll just have to get something that will allow me to upgrade

to an OS that will accommodate the iCloud. I do want to keep my .mac address (I can't even begin to think of all the lists I'm on where I'd have to change it!) and I kind of like the idea of the iCloud, if I understand it correctly. But for the life of me I couldn't get a clear answer on this so of course THEN I realized that you guys here always know the answers. Thanks!

How are you liking Lion?

[emmadoggy]

14. Update:

After posting my last reply to you, I ended up checking into it. I did go ahead and convert our MobileMe to iCloud. The nice thing about it was that apparently it is free if you have a compatible device (the way I understood it). The only cost is if you want more than 5G of storage, then you have to pay to have more.

Now for us, iCloud is really somewhat pointless since we don't have any other compatible devices besides our home computer. (We have a 1st or 2nd generation iTouch which is not compatible.) So we don't need or have the capability to "push" our data to other devices. But I did decide it was worth it just to have another "backup" for our stuff and the ability to access it away from home (if I understood that part right).

As for Lion - for the most part it is very much like Tiger (which I LOVED), but there are some changes here and there and I haven't liked all of them. I found Tiger overall to be easier to use and understand. One problem we have been having since getting the new computer that we almost NEVER had with our old computer was internet connection/wifi problems. I kept thinking maybe we had something configured wrong, but no. A couple weeks ago, we got an update notice from Apple for Lion, which was supposedly supposed to fix a problem with wifi not working after waking from sleep (which was often when our problem was), but it hasn't completely solved our issues. I'm wondering if it is an issue with our older modem and airport express and them not getting along with the new computer somehow. We are thinking about getting a new modem from our ISP and also an Airport Extreme to give us a faster and stronger wifi network. I'll be curious to see if our issues are fixed by that.
So overall, Lion is fine but I don't quite love it as much as Tiger. And I was also irked to see that they are already coming out with another new OS this summer!! Ugh, I can't keep up.

Anyway, good luck with your MobileMe issue. Hope you are able to get it worked out!

[REP]

12. Apple started using Intel chips in 2005

The didn't drop PPC support overnight.

[emmadoggy]

13. I realize they didn't.

But we bought a PowerPC Mac just before the Intel Macs came out and as of Snow Leopard we were not able to upgrade. Snow Leopard came out, what? a couple years ago? So that gave us maybe five years. One of the great things about Macs is that they (usually) last longer than PCs - BUT often they come out with a new OS so frequently and the (SLIGHTLY) older machines can't handle them - or in our case flat out weren't compatible. At least that has been our experience. It just seems crazy to me that something that is a few years old is considered "vintage".

I still love Macs and will never buy a PC, but that is a gripe of mine. Unfortunately, we were also fairly disappointed that our PPC Mac completely died out of the blue (logic board) just before Christmas - so it was just under 7 years old. We were hoping to get another 2-3 years out of it, even though we were starting to see compatibility issues cropping up. We have an old grape iMac that still works.

So now our compatibility issues are resolved, but at a high price. Not to mention, Lion just came out last summer(?) and they are already coming out with another new OS this summer!! So our brand new machine is already going to be behind. And we can't afford to constantly buy the newest/latest/greatest gadgets and tech stuff all the time.

Sorry, but Apple is guilty of making people play the "keep up" game or get left in the dust.

[REP]

6. Actually, MobileMe does work with Uverse - I have both at home

You just need to add a new account to your mail settings to MobileMe. Easypeasy.

[northoftheborder]

9. Well, wish I had had a correct answer to my problem several years ago.

I did add my @att address to the Mail mailbox, and it worked sending and receiving, as well as from my start page through Yahoo. But my .mac address would only send out, & would never receive, once I signed up with att. Curiously, and more mysteriously, now, I am out of att, and on a different provider for all mail, BUT, I still can receive & send mail to my att. address through "Mail". I thought it would have stopped immediately when I stopped Uverse. Color me confused. I thought perhaps it was still working because I also have an IPhone served by ATT, which also sends, & receives, through all mailboxes entered into my phone settings, EXCEPT, mac.com.