What's better than a couple of well versed, well argued technologists presenting deeply reasoned and sharply insightful, fundamentally different but equally challenging, views on a critical topic? Well... nothing. They're just hard to find given the intertube collective's penchant for rewarding punditry and link baiting. Sometimes, however, we're lucky enough to find a mix of both knowledge and provocation.

Cases in point: here were have noted Windows Super-Siter, Paul Thurrott, and accomplished Roughly-Drafted Apple Insider Prince McLean each presenting their own unique, multi-part perspectives on MobileMe.

Ready for the blow-by-blow? Continued after the break!

Says Thurrott, about how he "can't imagine why any Windows user would ever sign up for this car crash":

unlike the mature Exchange product, the initial version of MobileMe is half-baked, with glaring functional holes that make it less than desirable than it could be. And that's especially true on the Windows side--the focus of this review, of course--because Windows users get dramatically less for the $99 a year that Apple is charging than do Mac users.

Says Dilger by way of contrast to "Microsoft's proprietary MAPI RPC (Messaging API using Remote Procedure Calls), used by Exchange Server to deliver messages between the server and Outlook client software, was designed only for use over a secured LAN and does not provide the security required to pass messages over the open Internet" :

For an initial offering, Apple's MobileMe really gives even the entrenched enterprise-grade competition a run for its money with its low consumer price tag. MobileMe's low price is all the more interesting because nobody is currently even competing in the consumer market for comprehensive push messaging. And despite the attention Apple has been getting for the rough rollout of the service, MobileMe is now working smoothly enough to be well worth the $99 retail price.

As much views as reviews, there's some technological and historical gold hidden deep within the punditry, and I recommend reading both, provided you have the time and can muster up the inclination.