Bye Bye iCards

With the launch of fancy new MobileMe service, Apple has essentially and quietly killed the free e-cards service that has been my favorite since 2001. It used to be available at www.apple.com/icards

I used to use the service heavily, thanks to good taste in choice of images, nice and fast UI, and the ability to use it without any kind of log-in.

Now it seems like "this public beach has been bought and now members-only"... a pity and a move that makes me hostile to me.com. I am not becoming a member, also because I remember the free iTools that Steve told us "will stay with you forever".

"The best things in life are free"

Apple seems as aggressive with it's market moves as Microsoft's .NET - but in a very closed nature.
I honestly believe we should not fully land in the hands of yet another monopoly.
But with all the news about Linux approach to the desktop - where else a humble end-user should go to get the best experience?

And I know it's not only Con Kolivas, I have a hacker friend who quit this also because of egotism in Linux community.

So, for a while, I will stay with the Mac as my home machine - but keep on looking...