Tier 2

For individuals and nonprofits: $60/yr (+$25 one-time setup fee)

Tier 2 includes all features offered in Tier 1

I. Domain registration (www.yourdomain.com)
Tier 2 and Tier 3 members get their own free domain name (www.YourNameHere.com). You are welcome to choose any available domain. If your first choice for a domain is taken, you may wish to try altering the suffix from .com to .net or .org. Many common names were taken long ago, so don’t be surprised if your first choice is unavailable.

As part of MSS registration, we will ask for three domain name choices in order of preference. If none are available, we will email you a list of alternatives from which you can choose, or you can submit additional names for us to try registering.

Domain registration is required to have access to most MacAtoZ Service Suite features (email, WordPress blog, Gallery, Jabber, iDisk, etc.). If you already have a domain, you may choose to have that domain transferred rather than use a new one.

Additional domains may be registered for $12/yr.

II. 2 email addresses (secure, ad-free, spam-filtered, web-accessible email)
You don’t need another email account, you need the BEST email account! Your MSS email address is the last email you’ll ever need. Here are some of the reasons why:

1. Because you have your own free domain as part of MSS Tier 2, you can pick any email addresses you want at that domain. Maybe you tried to get JohnDoe@yourisp.com, but there were other JohnDoes already so you had to be JohnDoe12@yourisp.com. With your own domain, your email can be exactly what you want it to be.

2. Unlike many of the free email accounts available, MSS email is ad-free.

3. MSS email can be either IMAP or POP (your choice) and works with Apple’s Mail (or other email software).

4. MSS email has a secure (https) web mail interface, so you can retrieve it from any Internet connected computer (including PCs).

5. MSS email uses SpamAssassin spam filtering which includes whitelists (allowing certain email to always get through) and blacklists (allowing certain email to always get blocked).

6. MSS email supports digital signatures and encryption.

Additional email addresses are only $5/yr.

III. Jabber accounts for every email account
Jabber is an open source instant messenging (IM) protocol supported by Apple’s iChat AV , Fire, or Adium X. Unlike other IM services, you do not need to fill out any intrusive sign-up forms to use Jabber, making it an excellent ad-free alternative to other IM services like MSN, AIM or Yahoo!

MSS Jabber IM supports transports for connecting with other IM services (like AIM), multiuser conferences and audio/video chats. Jabber IM is the basis of GoogleTalk, Google’s IM service and as such is compatible with MSS Jabber IM.

IV. iDisks (public and private online storage) / web hosting space 2 GB of online storage
An iDisk is a remote WebDAV server that appears on your desktop just like any other removable disk. It’s great for backing up files, transferring files between computers, sharing files with a friend, or saving items off-site. Just click the iDisk open like a hard drive, and drag-and-drop! Plus, because the WebDAV protocol relies on http, it is a significantly faster method of transferring data than sending files by email.

If you wish, you can also use the online space for hosting your own web site. Simply use any FTP client (we recommend Panic’s Transmit ) to upload HTML files to your space. If your FTP client supports SFTP (Secure FTP) we recommend that you use it, as FTP is an inherently insecure protocol.

As a courtesy, we will place an index.html file with your domain’s name (www.yourdomain.com) root web folder. This keeps others from seeing the files stored at your domain, and it provides a convenient point of reference for placing your own HTML files in the future should you wish to do so.

You can use any number of web site creation programs including Adobe GoLive, Adobe DreamWeaver, RapidWeaver, Nvu, and Apple’s iWeb (part of the iLife suite). Help with web site design and implementation is also available at our hourly rate from MacAtoZ should you prefer to leave the coding to us. We’ve created a number of web sites over the years and would be thrilled to help in building yours.

V. WordPress blog (your words published for public or for private audiences)
A web log, or “blog,” can be whatever you make of it. Some people use it as an online diary. Others post their short stories and poems. Some post about events in their lives, figuring it’s easier to post in one place than email a dozen people. Some blogs are confined to one topic. Others cover just about everything.

WordPress is online blogging software that is designed to make it easy for you to have your own blog. In fact, you set up your blog so that others can make entries as well—they need have only an email address, not an MSS account—opening up the possibility of a group blog. Imagine you and your extended family, community group, etc. blogging on the same site—a neat idea for keeping in touch or just sharing an online space!

This web site was created using WordPress.

VI. Optional services… (many add-ons available at small cost)
We offer a variety of optional services at an additional cost:

1. Add more online storage. $10/yr per gigabyte
2. Add another email address. $5/yr per address
3. Add another domain name. $12/yr per domain
4. Add another Jabber account by purchasing another email address.
5. Add another WordPress blog. $10/yr. Be aware that you can set up multiple users for your WordPress blog, so you may not need another WordPress account.
6. Add a Gallery Account for uploading digital pictures—a free iPhoto to Gallery plug-in is available on the net. $20/yr.
7. Add an iCalendar Account for online calendaring. $10/yr.
8. Help in building a traditional HTML-based web site. $96/hr. Over all time to completion depends on complexity.

Many of the above options are included in MSS Tier 3.