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Apple Betas Web-based Email Service for iTools

Posted by chrisd on from the steve-jobs-as-snowshoe-thompson dept.

cpk0 writes "As more and more 'free' web-based email services fall, and stop offering all their services for free (e.g. Yahoo! won't offer pop-forwarding for free anymore), Apple once again proves its cool-factor by beta-testing a webmail page for use with their iTools e-mail account members. You will find a beta login page, with a link to a feedback page. Now's the time to tell Apple what you guys want to see in this new feature."

43 comments

  1. First post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We like Apple in the slums of India.

  2. Free by QuodEratDemonstratum · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    So it's "free" email to anyone who's spent $2000 on an iMac?

    1. Re:Free by schmoli · · Score: 1

      Jesus I'm sick of people bitching about shit like this. go buy an old $800 imac or something.

      btw, works great, i'm really glad they have done this, this was a feature i was really missing from iTools.

    2. Re:Free by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No one is complaining about the service. If Apple only wants to service those who bought a Mac, that's fine.

      But why call it a "Free Service" when it's clearly not free?

      It's like the FSF calling itself the FSF.

    3. Re:Free by rehannan · · Score: 1

      Or a used Mac for even less... I think it's cool that a computer hardware manufacturer offers such a nice email address for free.

      Sort of OT:
      It's pretty funny how if you try to sign up for an iTools service on a non-Mac computer, you get this page offering to sell you a Mac... :)

    4. Re:Free by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So you're saying that I should go out and pay several hundred dollars to get a free email address?

      No thanks, Hotmail is enough.

    5. Re:Free by repoleved · · Score: 1

      no, cowardly idiot. use hotmail if you don't value your privacy but absolutely love the pretty pansy-assed formatting options. if all those cute smiley icons and the squishy soft interface tickle your fancy and make you feel all bubbly inside, then please use your hotmail address. you are yet another _great_ reason for people like me to filter anything from hotmail.com to /dev/null.

    6. Re:Free by repoleved · · Score: 1

      It's like the FSF calling itself the FSF.

      What do you mean, coward? That the free software foundation does not provide software for free?

      "Many organizations distribute whatever free software happens to be available. In contrast, the Free Software Foundation concentrates on development of new free software---and on making that software into a coherent system which can eliminate the need to use proprietary software."

      Here is how to get the software for free.

    7. Re:Free by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So much anger in this one.

    8. Re:Free by PythonOrRuby · · Score: 3, Informative

      Actually, as I recall, only the initial signup has to be done via a Mac. Since Apple actually bases their services on industry standards, like LDAP, IMAP, and WebDAV, you can then access those services(not sure about webmail though, yet) from any computer. Some have even reported that iDisk(WebDAV) access is noticeably faster, though less slick, from NT-based machines.

    9. Re:Free by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Interesting.

      Can the web interface be used to access the account from a non-Mac machine?

    10. Re:Free by repoleved · · Score: 1

      it is just that you are a fool, and that makes you irritating. now go wilt, you pathetic flower child, in a pile of the warmest hotmail you can find.. may your obituary be written in pretty, bold, well formatted smiley faces after maggots digest your liver and smear their hotmail-colored entrails all over your intestines...

    11. Re:Free by repoleved · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      no, psychiatrist wannabe, there is no anger, no sadness, and only pure seething fury and hatr... can't you tell I'm just flaming you for fun? don't take it personally, since i don't even know who you are.

      but it's still pretty pathetic that you use hotmail.. i mean, c'mon! only, what, 2 megabytes of storage? if apple offered 3 MB you _should_ make friends with an apple person and the two of you will be happy together with your free email account, emailing each other joyfully with not a trace of sadness or of anger in your well-wiped love-prose...

      or maybe, since you're so concerned about my welfare, you should be email buddies with me too, and you can provide much needed counselling to a disturbed and unhappy soulmate... but please, don't smile too much at me, you hot male you.. i don't think i can take it anymore!!

    12. Re:Free by repoleved · · Score: 1

      Your flames are pitiful.

      That's 'cause I'm from the North, where it's cold. ;-)

      They don't inspire ire or contempt

      Except in you, since you keep replying so kindly... thank you.

      You are a sad, pathetic person.

      Shivering in the cold, all alone, dreaming of how much less pathetic I would be if only I could troll as well as you, or as often... ;-P

    13. Re:Free by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Such are the advantages of a high speed internet connection at work.

    14. Re:Free by mjpaci · · Score: 1

      Yes. I am doing it with IE 6.0 from a Windows XP machine.

    15. Re:Free by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do you know how I can change my account options from a PC? I have mac.com forwarding, but I want to turn that off so I can use the webmail while I'm at (PC) work today. (If you try to change that stuff in "Account", it says you need a Mac.)

  3. Passwords for sale by ptbrown · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Web mail is great as an alternative. I won't use it as the only option, but it's nice when I'm on the road to be able to quickly check my messages without mucking about in someone else's client configuration.

    But is it too much to ask for email providers -- not just web-based but POP3 and IMAP as well -- to use secure connections? All those passwords being sent in the clear are a packet sniffers dream.

    --
    Any sufficiently advanced civilization is indistinguishable from Gods.
    1. Re:Passwords for sale by sammy.lost-angel.com · · Score: 1

      There are secure POP3 servers (can't remember off hand). And apple's sight does use SSL, so it's modertly secure. I know on my own personal web mail site, which I use when I'm on the road without web access for my laptop (or, when mindterm is being screwy), I use https. Good stuff really.

    2. Re:Passwords for sale by repoleved · · Score: 2, Informative

      Hear hear,

      but if you use linux or *bsd, then you can set up your own, truly private, email service, and make it as secure as you want with

      1. open source operating system
      2. apache
      3. ssl module
      4. php module
      5. squirrel mail
      6. a free dns server (and there are plenty of these)
      7. an always on internet connection such as adsl

      or a friend with all of the above... ;-)

      case

    3. Re:Passwords for sale by rbrito · · Score: 2, Informative

      I agree completely. I have fear of using my POP3 account anytime I use my notebook, wandering through networks (where I have to) whose (local) security I know nothing about.

      And what makes the matters worse is that setting up a secured version of POP3/IMAP is exceedingly easy with the use of SSL wrappers like stunnel or sslwrap.

      So, this once again convinces me that the problem with security is not technological, but educational and/or philosophical.

  4. Hello COFFEE? by 3nd3r · · Score: 0

    Look at all the failed internet business's that still keeping falling by the wayside because they were doing it for free, and wake the fsck up. We should realise that this is only a value added service that comes with the purchase of a freaking great personal UNIX machine.

  5. Sweet by Schemer · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I've been able to get to my mac.com mail using IMP for a while now, but its nice to see an Apple supported webmail thats part of the iTools site.

    In fact, I wouldnt be suprised if Apple based their wemail stuff on IMP, since it was one of the iTools engineers who pointed me to it at last years Mackworld NY in the first place :)

    --
    A buddhist walks up to a hot dog stand and says ``Make me one with everything.''
    1. Re:Sweet by ahknight · · Score: 2

      Look at the URL. It's WO, not PHP. I doubt Steve would let anyone use anything other than WO on the site... ;)

  6. OmniWeb and WebEmail by norwoodites · · Score: 3, Informative

    If you try to use WebEmail for iTools in OmniWeb be sure you change the identity of OmniWeb so it identifies itself as IE or Netscape, otherwise you get a message saying your browser is not supported.

    1. Re:OmniWeb and WebEmail by glenmark · · Score: 2

      Odd. I had no difficulty whatsoever trying it out from OmniWeb without changing the identity...

      --
      *** Quantum Mechanics: The Dreams of Which Stuff is Made ***
    2. Re:OmniWeb and WebEmail by szpak · · Score: 1
      On WinNT, both Mozilla and IE return the message This iTool requires that you are on a Macintosh when accessing the Accounts settings. However, you can access your e-mail (I haven't checked this out extensively).

      So if you're up the creek without a Mac, you won't be able to modify accounts. - Mark

  7. Cool Factor? by Ratso+Baggins · · Score: 2, Interesting
    If

    • Apple once again proves its cool-factor by beta-testing a webmail page for use with their iTools e-mail account members

    Then I guess MS is down right legondary for providing hotmail for free to everyone, no matter what your race, creed or OS choice...
    --

    --
    "we live in a post-ideological world..." - Billy Bragg.

    1. Re:Cool Factor? by ScumBiker · · Score: 2

      You realize, of course, that M$ bought hotmail? That it still runs on FreeBSD, except for a few front-end Win2K machines so it looks like they're eating their own dogfood? And it sure as hell isn't out of the goodness of their heart, they sell add space on it. So, what part about hotmail is benevolent?

      --
      --- Think of it as evolution in action ---
    2. Re:Cool Factor? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      microshaft only gobbled up hotmail from an independent guy years ago when they needed a webmail service. I remember, because I was one of the original HoTMaiL users.

      it's not like it was their grand idea!

    3. Re:Cool Factor? by Niherlas · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Let's consider that quickly-slammed cool factor. Apple's Webmail has the following features (available without paying an additional fee):

      • 5MB of data storage (vs 2MB for Hotmail)
      • No frigging ads
      • Can be accessed via any IMAP/POP client
      • No frigging ads
      • Can set a "vacation" autorepy message
      • No frigging ads
      • Will allow you to forward your email elsewhere
      • Did I mention no frigging ads?


      Granted, Apple's hand may have been "forced" by websites such as imapple.net that were using IMP and SquirrelMail to provide access to mac.com email accounts, but Apple's implementation is fast, clean, and imposes minimally on the users.

      Although you have to use a Mac with at least OS9 to sign up for iTools, you can access the mac.com email via web or POP/IMAP client from any platform, and the iTools disk space and HomePage storage (20MB) is acessible via any platform that supports WebDAV.

      That's much better support of open standards and ease-of-access than Hotmail, Yahoo!, GeoCities, you name it.
      --
      -- Niherlas
    4. Re:Cool Factor? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Then I guess MS is down right legondary for providing hotmail for free to everyone, no matter what your race, creed or OS choice...

      Yeah, I enjoyed my hotmail account until I realized there's no way for me to download my mail. Now my inbox gets filled with emails from Hotmail saying that my inbox is too full. So I'm going to have to forward each and every fucking email seperately to an email account where I can actually download my mail. I figure it'll only take a few hours and it'll completely screw the dates and "from" fields up so when I need to find an old email it'll take a lot longer. Terrific service, that Hotmail. [Oh yes, I think if I join more MS services or buy outlook or something then I can download my mail. After this inconvenience why in hell would I suffer through more MS in my life? If I buy outlook how do I know in another year, outlook won't require that I buy Office to view my emails or some other moronic tie-in won't happen? Bad marketing, IMO.]

  8. bouncing by geethree · · Score: 2, Insightful

    For a beta project, I'd say that the mac.com webmail product is pretty darn good.

    One thing I'd like to see is the ability to 'bounce' a message the way I can do from mail.app

    Bouncing is a great way to fight back on the occasional spam that gets thru.

    --geethree

    1. Re:bouncing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What do you mean by "Bouncing"?

      Does it work and what mail applications have this feature?

  9. WebObjects by Space+Coyote · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Looking at the URL for this thing, I see that this was done with WebObjects. I bet I'm not the only one who'd love to see the code for this thing, considering WO's reputation for being an effecient tool for rapid development in much the same way as Cocoa is for desktop apps.

    Nice to see Apple eating their own dogfood once again, especially when there are so many off-the-shelf systems they could have used instead.

    --
    ___
    Cogito cogito, ergo cogito sum.
    1. Re:WebObjects by GutBomb · · Score: 1

      it is possible that it is php. they can set the server to parse php files with any extension, not just .php

    2. Re:WebObjects by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      Yeah, it's WebObjects. Apple has had most of the code to do this for at least a year. It's a set of WO frameworks wrapped around Sun's JavaMail API, and a WO app. built on those FWs. It was just a matter of the iTools group getting around to it. The frameworks probably took one guy a month or two, and the WebMail application itself probably took another two or three.

    3. Re:WebObjects by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't think the iTools team will bother using PHP when all the iTools are using WO.

      I am impress by the speed ! It's damn fast !

  10. what was that? no adds? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Like, I totally believe you dude...

    I think the point being made is- there's nothing new here, so cool is a big stretch. "Catches up" would have been a better phrase.

  11. Address Book by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think everyone should send them feedback about a syncable address book. I'd like if the address book app had an option to "Update Database" or something...It would put your address' on your iDisk so it's secure, then wherever you use Mail.app you would have the same address book, plus it would be available in the webmail app.

  12. dog slow? by clunis · · Score: 1

    I get that it is a beta and everything, but did this app seem incredibly slow to anyone else?

    moof!