Hi

I'm researching whether to move from my PC to a Mac. Am I right in thinking that whether or not a Google service, like Docs or Gmail, works depends not on the machine or operating system, but simply on the browser used? For example, I use Firefox on my PC, and if I install Firefox on a Mac, then all the Google services that work for me now will work EXACTLY the same on the Mac?

Des

P.S. Links to any articles providing an *objective* comparison of PCs and Macs would also be appreciated!

you're right, google services works perfectly on a mac and depend more on the browser than your OS.
exception : there are no picasa and gtalk standalone applications but you can install a plugin for iphoto (to upload pix on your picasa galleries) and set ichat to connect to your gtalk account.
i haven't tried google desktop as there's already spotlight which works great.

As a recent switcher to a Mac, most if not all of the Google Services I use work exactly as they would if I was on a Windows PC.

I do wish there was a Gtalk application for the mac that allowed for voice chats. If Skype can achieve this on multiple OS's why can't Google?

As for Picasa, I never really used that app on Windows so I don't have an immediate need for that on a Mac.

Google Mac apps:
http://www.google.com/mac.html

Re Google services, that's great to know – thanks!

I'd still be interested if anyone knows of any articles providing an objective comparison of PCs and Macs in general.

Hey Colin, Sorry to reach you through this but I couldn't find your email address. I am wondering if anything further has developed with the genealogy work that I found from 2006.

Thanks,
Bob Muller

Robert Muller
Associate Professor
Computer Science Department
Boston College

Robert, you can contact me at colincolehour AT gmail DOT com.

I haven't done much with my data that was in Base since early 2007. I ended up finishing phase 2 of my data feed which included children in each family.

example showing children:
http://base.google.com/base/s2?q=colehour+genealogy&btnG=Search+Base&scoring=r&us=0&a_n0=genealogy&a_y0=9&nd=1&showrefine=1&hl=en&gl=US#ajax%3Fa_n0%3Dgenealogy%26a_y0%3D9%26start%3D0%26q%3Dcolehower%26scoring%3Dr%26%26a_n1%3Dgiven%2Bname%26a_y1%3D1%26a_o1%3D5%26a_n2%3Dgender%26a_y2%3D1%26a_o2%3D5%26a_n3%3Dsurname%26a_y3%3D1%26a_o3%3D5%26a_n4%3Dspouse%2Bsurname%26a_y4%3D1%26a_o4%3D5%26a_n5%3Dspouse%2Bgivenname%26a_y5%3D1%26a_o5%3D5%26a_n6%3Dbirth%2Byear%26a_y6%3D1%26a_o6%3D5%26a_n7%3Ddeath%2Byear%26a_y7%3D1%26a_o7%3D0%26a_v7%3D1910%26a_n8%3Dmarriage%2Byear%26a_y8%3D1%26a_o8%3D5%26%26%26lnk%3Drefine-7%26nd%3D1%26hl%3Den%26gl%3DUS%26view%3DList

Shoot me an email if you would like to discuss more about what my project entailed. Or we could possibly create a new forum post here if you would like.

An objective comparison is difficult until you pick two machines to compare.

New Macs are intel based meaning that if you buy a Mac you can run Windows and OSX+ at the same time. After you buy a Mac you'll never want to run Windows. :)

http://www.apple.com/getamac/