.Mac

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{{Infobox Software | name = .Mac | logo = Image:DotMac Logo.png | screenshot = Image:DotMac.png | caption =The main page of .Mac. | developer = Apple Computer | latest_release_version = n/a | latest_release_date = January, 2006 | operating_system = Mac OS X | genre = Internet storage | license = n/a | website = [1] }}

.Mac (pronounced "Dot Mac") refers to a group of online services offered by Apple Computer mainly for its Mac OS users, although a limited subset of features are available for other platforms. Originally a free service exclusively to Mac OS users, .Mac now works on an annual subscription service. The name is specifically chosen to parody Microsoft's .NET platform, although the two have little in common. Despite the name, .Mac is not a top level domain.

1 History of .Mac
2 The .Mac model
3 Mac OS integration
4 External links

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History of .Mac

Originally known as iTools (not to be confused with Tenon's web application with the same name), iTools offered several services free to use for any Mac OS user:

HomePage - a free web hosting service
iDisk - an online disk storage service
mac.com - a free email provider
iCards - an online greeting card service

As iDisk made use of WebDAV technology and mac.com was an IMAP service, these services could be accessed from any other computer (although a Mac was needed to setup an account).

Because of its high popularity and the fact that users routinely held several accounts to get around limitations in iDisk sizes, in September 2002 Apple renamed iTools and changed it to a subscription service. This move generated a mixed reaction among the Macintosh community, with some believing that .Mac (as it was now called) was overpriced. Advocates, however, cited improved services, and were generally rewarded with free software - up to June 15, 2005, the most notable was a Mac OS X version of McAfee's Virex virus scanner, which was exclusive to subscribers.

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The .Mac model

Today, .Mac is a subscription service, with an annual charge of $99 USD. Each account came with one mac.com email address and 100MB in iDisk space (later increased to 250MB, then again to 1GB), although users who wanted larger iDisks could pay for more space. The iDisk could be used in any manner, and simply mounts as a normal volume on any Mac OS desktop.

The space on an iDisk can be used in any manner (subject to the terms of their license agreement), and the amount of space dedicated to mac.com email is only limited by the size of the iDisk.

The annual fee for .Mac can be reduced either through Apple's referral program, which offers a 20% discount for the following year for each referral, or eliminated altogether if the user is an Apple employee or a member of the Apple Sales Online Training staff.

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Mac OS integration

.Mac is tightly integrated with the Mac OS, and having .Mac can extend the functions of many programs, most notably within the iLife suite. Among the most notable:

iDisks can be mounted as any other volume on the Mac OS desktop. Furthermore, it is possible to mount the public portion of another user's iDisk. This mechanism was one of the early ways to receive free software as part of .Mac. It is possible to upload to an iDisk offline, although no actual uploading will be done until the iDisk is mounted.
Address Book entries, iCal dates, Safari bookmarks and, as of Mac OS X 10.4, keychains, mail accounts, mail rules, mail signatures, and smart mailboxes can be synched with the iDisk through iSync (prior to 10.4) or .Mac syncing (in 10.4), allowing easy synchronization between multiple computers.
iWeb allows users to easily create web pages that could be uploaded to iDisk and seen over the web.
Similarly, the iMovie, iPhoto, GarageBand, and iTunes libraries can easily be uploaded to iDisk (subject to various licensing agreements).