Is Google slowly creeping up on .Mac?

Google is constantly said to be a threat to M$. They are. But they are doing a good job of eating into Apple also, especially .Mac. I am now using the Bookmark Sync, Google Toolbar, Google Phone extension for Firefox, Gmail, etc. Why, is a die-hard Apple person doing this? Because Apple has really basically dropped the ball on some online services opportunities. Firefox, renders more websites better than Safari in many cases, especially the ones built for IE. Firefox is better for bloggers as it supports third party extensions and mark up tools. Gmail is faster and better than .Mac and free! Let's face it Apple has NOT developed .Mac into what it could have been and should be. Apple also let Skype, eat iChat's lunch also. I may have to reconsider paying the $99 when my .Mac expires as it has basically changed little since it was introduced. When Google integrates thier Word Processor, Spreadsheet, Gmail, Google Calendar, Gtalk, and online storage a bit better, why would we need .Mac anymore? Third party developers will just add Google support to their apps for syncing soon! Wish Apple would wake up!

I too am considering ditching .Mac for a combination of Box.net/Plaxo/Gmail. The main reason is cross-platform support. It's silly of Apple to assume that those of us who own Macs at home also have them at work. Other developers haven't made such an assumption, leading to free, elegant solutions like Plaxo and Gmail's browser sync.

One question about Gmail calendar: Can it simply use any .ics file that's publicly available? Right now all my iCal Calendars are hosted on my .Mac account. If I published them somewhere else, would Gmail still be able to access them, or does it have to use a webcal protocol or something like that?

#13 - Rick:

Here ya go:
http://www.google.com/tools/firefox/browsersync/index.html

Just to be clear when I said Google Sync I was referring to the Google's FF syncing extension.

Cheers.

I really think that the .Mac part of the Apple empire is the least developed property and the one with the most potential. It blows my mind that there seems to be some mental block at Apple that prevents them from integrating iCal into .Mac so that I can use my calendar on my Mac when I am at the office. I have voted with my feet - kicked iCal off my dock and now use Google Calendar. The increasing integration of Google Calendar and Gmail is also threatening my allegiance to Mac Mail. If Apple doesn't transform .Mac into an online portal to my Mac apps I will just assume that they have given up the fight and reluctantly move completely to Google.

If only .Mac was free (or cheap, after all, we already payed enough to the box itself to justify a free service like .Mac), then it would be a competitor to Google's services.
I just hope Apple is not going to FORCE us into .Mac. That would make Apple the next Micro$oft (well, the third, that is).

I bought .Mac to backup my files and have access to my contacts and bookmarks when I travel. It's been a huge waste of money.

While my iBook shows that my last .Mac sync was yesterday, Address Book on .Mac says it happened last week. It seems that everytime I need to sync, I have to do it manually (logon to .Mac, go to preferences deslect "Turn on .Mac Address Book Synchronization" , select save, and then select "Turn on .Mac Address Book Synchronization")--what a pain!

And the two times I've tried to restore files from Backup, it didn't work either--even with Genius assistance.

Finally, the customer service at .Mac is awful. E-mail them and wait a day for a response? If I'm bothering with customer service, it means I need an answer immediately.

Save vast improvements, I won't be resubscribing.

i use .Mac to sync my calendars, contacts, bookmarks between my work and home apple macs. Publish a web page to .mac, publish photocasts and transfer files on my idisk. but sometimes it is just so slow to update, sometimes i add events at work and it is 9pm at home before it finally syncs (after numerous error messages).

When .mac works it is great, when it doesnt work (which is way to often) it is horrible and expensive

I stopped using .mac almost a year ago. It just was WAY to slow. I'm now a Gmail power user. I spend propably hours on Gmail each day and so far it's way the most efficient mail client I have used on both PC and MAC.

Instead of iDisk I use box.net. 1% the cost. 1000% the speed.

Now all I have been needing are the iSync capabilities.

When Apple announced that developers would be able to use .Mac syncing in their applications in Tiger, I had assumed there would be plenty of support in the development community. But for whatever reason, it has totally failed to take off. Bare Bones and Panic are the only two developers I know of that tap into this, when there are plenty of OS X apps that would greatly benefit from its use. Perhaps .Mac just isn't as popular as I had assumed.

Safari bookmark syncing is the only reason I subscribe to .Mac. That's how much I appreciate bookmark syncing. I simply can't operate without it. But now thanks to Google, I'll likely ditch Safari once Bon Echo becomes a reality.

Ah, thanx David.