Comments on: .Mac accounts for Ministry

By: Craig Williams

Craig Williams — Mon, 05 May 2008 17:18:47 +0000

I’m switching over to .mac I maintain a blog (which has gone a bit dormant during a significant series of moves in my life) entitled tabletalk – it is on typepad, which I like. There are some features on typepad missing on .mac. But my .mac account is visually satisfying and is pretty seamless with my G4.

Not a compelling reason, but when I went through a job change I thought I needed a more professional address. Try getting a good one for John Smith – that’s almost as hard as Craig Williams.

By: Suzanne O'Brien

Suzanne O'Brien — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:09:17 +0000

One thing that hasn’t been mentioned about .mac is their superior mail tools – I regularly get 70 – 80 spam messages a day, but they all get dumped into a holding folder and I don’t even have to see them, unless I want to scan for a possible mistake.

I’ve other accounts on other services too, but .mac far and away does the best job in filtering correctly (based on what I have historically labelled “junk”).

Suzanne

By: Lars Rood

Lars Rood — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 02:59:21 +0000

So I’ve had a .mac account for the last 10 years. I use it mostly as a backup spot for a lot of my files. I have used the backup feature and the webdesign stuff but mostly I use it to transfer files between computers. I know there are free things I could use but I choose to pay for it because of the ease of the way apple has made it work for me.

That’s it. I admit I’m a fan boy.

By: Paul Dubuc

Paul Dubuc — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 19:57:55 +0000

If all you need is a place to backup files, I’d suggest not using an online service unless you don’t mind the lack of privacy. I decided to invest in a good external hard drive (a Western Digital “My Book”) and some good backup software like SuperDuper. That and Mac OS X Lepoard’s Time Machine ought to make backups relatively painless.

By: Bruce Reyes-Chow

Bruce Reyes-Chow — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 22:34:05 +0000

Google and Typepad own my soul. Please don’t quote me on that The cost is the biggest deterrent, though that was the same argument I made for NOT getting a Mac earlier than I did . . . so it might just be a matter of time. Still, have not heard anything REALLY compelling.

By: David Williams

David Williams — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:44:14 +0000

Given the cheap Scots blood that courses through my veins, I’ve tended to go with the free option. Rather than using dotmac, I have an array of different interlinked blogs. I have an old primary blog, which links to my video blogs, my blogs that compile blogseries posts on theological topics, and blogs that contain my sermon archives. I also have pied-a-terres on an array of different social networking sites. Gets a bit fiddly, but it costs me not a penny.

By: Carol Howard Merritt

Carol Howard Merritt — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:43:08 +0000

I got it.

I don’t use it for blogging though. I stuck with wordpress.

About a year ago, I needed a decent campus ministry site, and I was trying to decide whether to go the .mac route or wait for our larger church site redesign. In one afternoon, I threw up our CM site, and a year later, the church is still working with committees and website designers…

The beautiful thing for me was getting one-to-one consulting. That was $100 for a year’s worth of one-to-one attention. The consultants definitely varied in their abilities… but… when I found a good one, I requested her each time. They answer every question, help you design sites, and basically hold your hand for one hour every week for an entire year. And, I would say that about half of the “geniuses” I worked with at our store, had particular expertise in church sites.

I was nervous about the price as well… but considering how much I learned… it’s been well worth it.

By: Rory Gillespie

Rory Gillespie — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:05:21 +0000

I do, but it is my own account. Worked great for a sermon series on Revelation that some of my college students wanted to follow.

By: Steve Chastain

Steve Chastain — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:19:56 +0000

I’ve been generally happy with the service – it’s a little pricey but (like all Apple stuff), seamless integration is nice – uploading iphoto albums, movies, etc, with a click or two. However: you cannot host a WordPress blog from .mac account. If I eventually decide to move from wordpress.com, that might keep me from renewing .mac.

By: landon

landon — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:29:36 +0000

I hear you, Adam. Why spend money when there are other options that are either free or comparable?

For my money, I choose to buy a URL and have a hosting account that I can/could back things up on. The additional flexibility is worth more to my mind.

And if one of the goals is connectivity, then a facebook account seems more effective.