Mac Users: Google or MobileMe for cloud computing?


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Which do you prefer, and why?

Reason I'm asking is because it just hit me over the past couple of days that I'm maintaining a .mac e-mail address and not even using it, yet I use the rest of MobileMe and pay for this service. So I'm thinking of simplifying things and just moving everything over to MobileMe. I love the interface, it's really smooth and simple in terms of syncing, designed specifically for Apple products, thus extending the experience, and did I mention I pay for this? Plus the calendar syncing is no seamless across the board with full "Push" features for mail, calendars, contacts, etc. Apple improved MobileMe (from .mac) very quickly, and IMHO has the best interface of the bunch. It seems they're intent on going head to head with Google in this area.

On the other hand, Google services are free, seem to offer a few more features, but are less easy to manage than MobileMe. The interface is a bit clunky, but the calendar is better than iCal - or rather, a bit easier to manage, but only in terms of being able to enter everything colour-coded on a single calendar. Plus, from what i can tell Google services aren't fully "Push" as of yet. But I could be wrong about this. Mind you, Gmail is excellent, apart from the ugly interface. That email-thread feature is really useful, and you get some serious e-mail storage as well.

I might just end up hanging on to my Google account, at most just de-syncing it from MobileMe, etc.

In any case, I'm interested in the opinions of other Mac users.

Edited by LTD

I prefer MobileMe for its ease of use, I love how it synchronizes the data from iCal and Address Book, plus I can have it store my preferences, e-mail account settings, and other data to the cloud which is very useful. It also keeps everything in sync with my iPhone. I tried using Google and their services for these tasks and found it quite cumbersome and overall it didn't work as well as MobileMe.

  Mercellus said:
I prefer MobileMe for its ease of use, I love how it synchronizes the data from iCal and Address Book, plus I can have it store my preferences, e-mail account settings, and other data to the cloud which is very useful. It also keeps everything in sync with my iPhone. I tried using Google and their services for these tasks and found it quite cumbersome and overall it didn't work as well as MobileMe.

Yes, it's the attraction of that tightly-integrated, made-for-mac experience.

I know what you mean.

Well I decided to move everything over to MobileMe.

Syncing was pretty much automatic between the MobileMe "cloud" at me.com, my Apple Mail, and my iPhone. All I had to do was configure junk mail settings and that's it. Couldn't be any easier. Everything is "Push" enabled, including my calendars/events/to do's.

20gb of storage should be enough for e-mails (of which the trash and junk folders are emptied regularly) and file storage and public sharing. I also get website hosting, photo galleries, address book control, etc. All in all very nice and the interface is dead-simple.

It had better be good for about $100 a year! ;)

I use mobile me I keep a MacBook g5 tower and iPhone synced. I even his two website of it and all this or ?50 -?60 a year it's amazon at whatbit does.

Keep everyhig in sync wirlesly by a simple interface and push!

I love GMail and GCal. IMO, they are far better than the Apple products. However, it's not easy to sync GCal to my iPhone, and syncing my contacts from my iPhone to Google has been a royal pain in the ass. Contacts would vanish, split into multiple contacts, duplicate, or change the label for a phone number (home would change to office or something stupid like that), and contact photos would change.

The ability to simply sync my contacts and calendar events from my iPhone to my Mac and have them available online (so I can get them while at work) was more than enough reason to for me to pay the $99. Plus there is the iDisk. I really don't use the @me email.

I just wish there was a better way to sync GCal with iCal.

In my opinion, MobileMe is the biggest waste of money ever. I use Google services myself and would never even think of paying for MobileMe. Nearly every service they offer can be found for free online.

I even signed up for a free trial of MobileMe when it first came out, and even aside from the constant issues, I found nearly nothing useful for the cost. Sure someone will say that MobileMe is the best because it has push email and Google doesn't, but that's my personal email. Nothing I receive is so important that I can't receive it a maximum of 5 minutes after it was actually received.

I will say, however, that I have an Exchange account with work (which I'd use over MobileMe as well), and I use it to sync my contacts so I have a backup somewhere, but there are other ways to deal with that too. That wouldn't be worth the cost. I'm in a position where I have nearly unlimited access to Exchange, web space, etc, so MobileMe isn't for me.

  d3bruts1d said:
I just wish there was a better way to sync GCal with iCal.

What do you use use to sync them? I just use the google Calendar Address thing but all it does is send the gcal stuff one way and not over the air. Not exactly great

  furby said:
What do you use use to sync them? I just use the google Calendar Address thing but all it does is send the gcal stuff one way and not over the air. Not exactly great

I don't use anything at the moment. I wish there was a way that it could be done.

I've seen a lot of people suggest Spanning Sync, but I've not had a chance to try it out

  Super Sneb said:
I use mobile me I keep a MacBook g5 tower and iPhone synced. I even his two website of it and all this or ?50 -?60 a year it's amazon at whatbit does.

Keep everyhig in sync wirlesly by a simple interface and push!

English only on the forums please

  Super Sneb said:
it's amazon at whatbit does.

I didn't even notice this.

I think you meant: "it's amazing at what it does."

Anyway, interesting responses so far. Thank you!

I'm still comparing Google and MobileMe. It's nice to be able to test both, although I'm leaning a bit toward MobileMe because the syncing is so seamless - very user friendly and hassle-free.

I still don't like the idea of separate calendars, even though I can superimpose my other ones onto the main one I use. You can't just use one calendar to make colour-coded notations, you nee to use a separate one for each purpose.

If only Google Calendar syncing wasn't so flaky . . .

  LTD said:
I didn't even notice this.

I think you meant: "it's amazing at what it does."

Anyway, interesting responses so far. Thank you!

I'm still comparing Google and MobileMe. It's nice to be able to test both, although I'm leaning a bit toward MobileMe because the syncing is so seamless - very user friendly and hassle-free.

I still don't like the idea of separate calendars, even though I can superimpose my other ones onto the main one I use. You can't just use one calendar to make colour-coded notations, you nee to use a separate one for each purpose.

If only Google Calendar syncing wasn't so flaky . . .

Just recently signed up to MobileMe trial mate, it's pretty flawless as you say. I have the same issues as you in terms of Google Calendar and what not. I personally use Google for searching, and mail. That's IT. Everything else (ical, etc.) is through Apple - and it's working brilliantly.

I don't think it's a case of Google vs. MobileMe - It's an embrace of both that works best.

I just use Google.

On my computer I just use the web clients for Gmail and Google Calender; they seem to do the job well enough for me.

I also have Gmail on my iPod Touch via IMAP, and I also sync my Google Calendar using a third-party service called NuevaSync.

I really can't imagine why anyone who doesn't have an iPhone would be willing to pay for the MobileMe service.

With that said, as someone with an iPhone, I've never been happy with the way gmail folders are displayed on the iPhone or in any mail client. I could never get it customized in a way that it was neat, simple, and didn't have any duplicate folders between the client and web interface.

  sundayx said:
Can't you bring Gmail to iPhone through IMAP?

You certainly can, but it's not Push, and the way the Gmail mailboxes are organized is a bit messy.

It requires a bit more tweaking, too. But that shouldn't be too much of an issue.

You can sync both Calendars and Contacts to Google fairly easily - of course it's not as seamless as Apple's solution, but it'll work for most people, myself included.

For Calendars, follow this link:

http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin...swer=99358#ical

I believe the only possible 'issue' maybe that you will have to create calendar's in Google's application first, but once done so, entries sync both ways.

For contacts, there is a built in function within Address Book. Launch it, select the application menu, goto preferences, and enable 'Sync with Google'. This will perform a sync every time your iPhone is connected to your Mac, both ways.

Some of you may not be aware, that you can access Google contacts, outside of Gmail, via this URL:

http://mail.google.com/mail/contacts/ui/ContactManager

I think both of these 'tips' will help any fans of Google, a little unaware.

As for me personally, I love what Apple do, in terms of user experience, but personally I can't support MobileMe. As a Web Designer, I pay a hosting fee per month for a fully featured hosting environment. I'd gladly drop that if Apple's MobileMe service allowed me to have the freedom I have with my current host, but unfortunately that isn't to be. Without that, and with Google on the scene, it's hard to justify the money. If someone asked who I preferred more, as a Technology company, it'd be a tough one, Google can't really do no wrong, in my book, cannot speak highly enough for so many of their products.

Steve

(not yet working for Google...)

Edited by Steve
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