I think Apple made a mistake by this move. It's ok they want to charge you for a product that is more than iTools was. So, you have to pay now, but you'll get even more than iTools was. That's understandable and I think plenty people will want to use the integrated services.
What I don't understand is that people don't have an option to keep their e-mail address. Only option is to pay way too much for an e-mail address (if you don't need all the extra's of .Mac, like most of the users), or look for a 'sponsor', which is crap. It's always been good promotion-material for Apple and it's escpecially nice for the average, ever-loyal Apple-user. It's part of the Mac-experience and, unlike iDisk, not too costly for Apple. So, they should give us the option to get a mail-only-account for free or a small amount of money. Noone would complain then like they do now.
What I don't understand is that people don't have an option to keep their e-mail address. Only option is to pay way too much for an e-mail address (if you don't need all the extra's of .Mac, like most of the users), or look for a 'sponsor', which is crap. It's always been good promotion-material for Apple and it's escpecially nice for the average, ever-loyal Apple-user. It's part of the Mac-experience and, unlike iDisk, not too costly for Apple. So, they should give us the option to get a mail-only-account for free or a small amount of money. Noone would complain then like they do now.