MobileMe to iCloud migration tips

Here's the iCloud system status site:
www.apple.com/support/icloud/systemstatus

Here's how to open a ticket with Apple using Express Lane:
www.apple.com/support/icloud/contact

Wed Oct 12, 2011:
Here's some observations I've had tonight, as I go through the process of updating 3 phones in my immediate family and another 2 in my extended family.  Of course, a majority of these issues would not apply had I just waited a day or two, to avoid the inevitable time-out sort of issues expected for such massive deployments.

I have also located this excellent troubleshooting article on cnet.

1) IMAP sluggish at me.com

I noticed a lot of IMAP timeouts and such coming from my email programs all day today, Wed Oct 12, 2011.  This is when Outlook or Windows Live Mail is trying to retrieve my MobileMe based IMAP email. It would seem to be that Apple servers are overloaded? Not surprising really, given how many people are trying to upgrade:

2) URLs that are up and down

Finally, a bunch of the links in the me.com/move wizard are down, including the 2 to get the iCloud Control Panel for Windows Here's the complete list, some work, some don't:
support.apple.com/kb/HT4898
support.apple.com/kb/DL1455www.icloud.com/icloudcontrolpanel
says "We're sorry. We can't find the article you're looking for."
support.apple.com/kb/HT4902
support.apple.com/kb/HT4707

3) me.com/move wizard won't complete Oct 12 2011 2:45pm Update:

http://www.icloud.com/icloudcontrolpanel now available and installer works (didn't complain about 64 bit Office 2010), but the me.com/move wizard won't complete, getting this error:

 is down

If you're trying to login to me.com you may be prompted to update your login by changing it to an email ID:

you click OK, then are redirected here: appleid.apple.com which eventually times-out.  But I found a workaround, just go here and you can change password
iforgot.apple.com

Here's the site to figure out how to move to iCloud but still share a user account for iTunes purchases within a family: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4895

5) Error upon iCloud first sync:

I'm getting a rather peculiar message in German, when instead of migrating an existing MobileMe account, I instead try to create a new one.  The thing is, although I should, I don't actually know any German, but I can read the "iCloud Problem" part just fine, I suspect it's complaining about 64 bit Windows as all previous MobileMe Control Panels did, not sure yet:

6) Error upon trying to run iCloud Control Panel

Even after successfully finishing the me.com/move wizard, I get this error:

Tried to submit a report to the support forums, but got this message in the early morning on Thu Oct 13th, that's when it was time to call it a night:

7) Error when running iCloud to Outlook sync, if you use Office 2010 64 bit:

"Der automatische Refresh konnte nicht gestartet werden" reported here:
discussions.apple.com/thread/3399814?start=0&tstart=0

Looking at Task Manager and the location of the files, it's apparent that iCloud.exe is a 32bit executable located here:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Apple\Internet Services\iCloud.exe"

Essentially, MobileMe Control Panel has been replaced with a newer UI, and supplemented by a service that runs full-time (as long as the system is powered up, no login necessary):
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Apple\Internet Services\iCloudServices.exe"

While this is an improvement, it appears the blank error dialogue popping up is still there, when you're an Microsoft Office Outlook 2010 64 bit user.  In other words, the Outlook sync apparently still doesn't work for Office 2010 64 bit users.  But Bookmarks and Photo Stream should work fine.

So, at least Apple is supporting 64 bit Windows 7 at last, just not 64 bit Office.  So using icloud.com/calendar is one workaround to view the calendar, and it works quite well (basically the same as it did on me.com/calendar before the migration).

In the end, we've made the move on all 6 phones in my extended family, from a single MobileMe and a 5 User MobileMe Family Pack, over to free iCloud, and it does work.  Be sure to make a bookmark for the direct access to your spiffy new calendar view:
www.icloud.com/#calendar