OK, so you are not a happy camper about having iTools disappear. You are miffed that your MAC.COM account will be vanished like Cyberdog unless you cough up US$49 before September 30. You feel cheated, abused, and abandoned. Oh, sure, you understand why Apple must now charge for what used to be iTools, but you think itis a bit short-sighted of the guys and girls at 1 Infinite Loop to not at least offer you an opportunity to hold on to your e-mail address if you really canit find use for all of .Mac.

To use a Clintonism, I feel your pain. While voicing your distaste for the iTools/.Mac misstep here and on other forums may make you feel better, it really wonit do much to change things. In fact, there may not be much at all that anyone can do to change Appleis mind about .Mac, but it reminds me of a story concerning my Aunt Eunice in Ethaca.

Aunt Eunice loves to play the state lottery. Every week sheill trot down to the local drug store and lay down $1 dollar and ask for a lottery ticket. She never wins, she hasnit even matched 3 numbers, which will get you a free ticket I think. One day I was with her when she bought the ticket and I asked her why she bothered playing when she had virtually no chance of ever winning. She smiled and said, "True, I have almost no chance to win, but if I donit play I have no chance to win."

I think the same thing is true in this .Mac situation. It may be a small chance that Steve Jobs and crew will pay attention to you if you wrote them using the .Mac Feedback form at Apple and explained in an intelligent and reasonable way what you like and dislike about .Mac and what changes you would like Apple to make. If you donit write, however, there is no chance that they will know what you think.

Apple has shown that it listens to its customers in the past. Write them. Tell them whatis on your mind. Perhaps they are still listening.

Eh? Whatis that, Aunt Eunice? You say thereill be a BIG surprise for me in your will? Aww, you shouldnit have.

Vern Seward is a frustrated writer who currently lives in Orlando, FL. Heis been a Mac fan since Atari Computers folded, but has worked with computers of nearly every type for 20 years.