[richard plumb]

hi

so I just bought a samsung NC-10 netbook for my wife (running XP home), and will be selling her white macbook (on here BTW.... )

I should have both machines up and running for at least a few days, so want to migrate stuff to the new machine as easily as possible.

she uses gmail via IMAP, so that should be fairly painless, and I can copy documents across.

but what about internet bookmarks, and contacts? Is there a simple way to export those and put them on the PC? can I perhaps import the contacts into gmail, and sync them that way?

Lastly, is there any application that can sync documents between a mac and PC? I've been using chronosync to do that previously for home documents/photos etc, but I don't expect that'll work between a mac and a PC.

[Tenex]

I think Foxmarks supports Safari and Firefox so that's one way of getting bookmarks across. Export the AddressBook as vCards.

[spooney]

Agreed. Import the bookmarks into Firefox and export them into an HTML file

[richard plumb]

I exported contacts into CSV using a little app. Imported them into gmail which is very handy. Will outlook express import contacts as CSV?

worth downloading/installing firefox just to use as an intermediary for favourites? if its as simple as it sounds then its probably worth doing.

[spooney]

Originally Posted by richard plumb

I exported contacts into CSV using a little app. Imported them into gmail which is very handy. Will outlook express import contacts as CSV?

worth downloading/installing firefox just to use as an intermediary for favourites? if its as simple as it sounds then its probably worth doing.

OutlooK Express can import comma delimited files

[James.1]

If your wife was using Safari then it has the ability to export bookmarks as an html file. In Safari, File > Export Bookmarks…

[Chester]

Sorry for going off topic Richard, but why is your wife migrating to a Windoze notebook?

Gotta say for the money, Samsung notebooks are bloomin' good value. But I am interested in hearing her argument for the migration.

[spooney]

Originally Posted by Chester

Sorry for going off topic Richard, but why is your wife migrating to a Windoze notebook?

Gotta say for the money, Samsung notebooks are bloomin' good value. But I am interested in hearing her argument for the migration.

Propably color, feel of the surface and the design but nothing to do with Samsung, Windows, etc.

PS: Married for 14 years

[richard plumb]

two reasons

1) she feels her macbook is a bit too big and heavy for just browsing and email - which is 100% of what she uses a computer for. TBH I think she is nuts as the notebook isn't *that* much lighter.

2) when I told her that there would be some money left over from the switch, the shopping list was already drawn up in her mind. I suggested I could add some money and get her an air, which would be just a light as a netbook and have a better screen etc. But she was already mentally buying new shoes, winter coat etc..

she doesn't care about the technology as long as it works. *I* care about the technology as I'm the one that has to make it 'just work', which will now require more effort

It'll only last for as long as I can resist buying an air on the pretence its for her :P I give it 12 months

[spinaltap]

My wife (a teacher) was given a free Toshiba laptop by her employers recently.

It's loaded with Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint and Publisher - and she's completed qualifications on using these programs.

In the last six months the laptop has been switched on a few times just 'for the look and feel' experience.

However, it's rarely used for anything that could be described as 'productive' - and takes an eternity to check for the latest Windows and Norton updates (often in the background, without the ability to cancel the process).

Had we had actually spent our own money on buying this laptop I would have been deeply aggrieved on spending so much money on something that wasn't used.

So, what is my wife using instead? She says our Mac is so much easier to use (and without any supervision by me - unlike her Windows laptop). Despite her Windows software training, she is a real technophobe. She uses our Mac very productively for producing reports and papers.

I might suggest that your wife should care deeply about the technology. I would be very surprised if it didn't take her very long to realise that she had made a serious error in judgement in buying a Windows laptop with her (your) own money.

[spooney]

Originally Posted by richard plumb

I give it 12 months

First serious complaints after 6 months after a while of whining about why this works different. I bet.

[wavefront]

Originally Posted by spinaltap

However, it's rarely used for anything that could be described as 'productive' - and takes an eternity to check for the latest Windows and Norton updates (often in the background, without the ability to cancel the process).

Macs are the same, theres always some 1-200mb security update waiting that requires you to reboot - annoying on a laptop if you leave it in hibernate most of the time.

There's also the button issue, easy to deal with on a desktop you just plug a different mouse in but on a laptop you can't swap the trackpad.

My wife likes it, but I think it's more because its a laptop than because its a mac and she ignores things like security updates...

[itsamac]

I am strongly considering going the same way. My MBP is my second mac I have purchased. First was a PowerBook G4 1.67Ghz. Whilst the spec has been very good, the same can not be said the quality of the hardware or the software isn't as high as it used to be.

[rant]

I have been using Apple products for most of my life (mainly through school and work). Apple used to be renowned for quality software releases. Lately it seems there are almost as many updates as Windows. Hardware wise, my first PB developed a fault with the DVD drive just after the warranty finished. Installing Tiger on the MBP took four days with various hardware errors and the Superdrive made a chainsaw type noise (does every time I insert the Tiger DVD). A straight install of Leopard was impossible, having to install Tiger first (even though I bought a retail copy of Leopard). The day before yesterday, my OSX install failed. I could log into Windows but not OSX. With the last rebuilt, I stopped storing anything on the local hard drive so thankfully I didn't lose anything this time.

Normally I would not care about such issues but the fact that the MBP cost £1400 (including AppleCare) leads to me have higher expectations than I would of a Windows laptop that costs a third of the price.

On top of that I don't believe I get much more value out of my mac than I would out of Vista. Both can send emails, browse the web, edit photos, etc. Both are patched every week (this is more of a recent thing with Apple) and lately Apple has had a tendency to release updates that breaks things e.g. 10.5.6 broke Mail and bluetooth teethering. With Bootcamp configured, I am finding myself use Vista more and more. It just works for *me* more easily. Copying files between devices or other computers doesn't take forever and a day under Vista yet it does in OSX.

It hasn't been all bad. The firewall on OSX works great and there are some software features I will miss but nothing that I couldn't do under Windows.

Have a HP mini-note on order and come the summer, I will probably sell my MBP in the back to school rush and buy a Windows desktop to complement the mini-note.
[/rant]

It's a shame really as I wanted to be a repeat customer for Apple. Have a Airport Extreme (and recommended it to others until Apple decided to stop support Time Machine backups of AE attached drives) and iPod nano in addition to the MBP. Once the MBP goes, the AE is going as well. So Apple, come July is bye bye from me.

Will probably have to change my nick after I sell the MBP

[A n d r e w]

I've never had a problem with any of the three Macs I've owned. As for the many Windoze-based PCs that have come and gone over the years, that's another story.

Just goes to show that everyone's experience is different, eh.

Andrew.

[Digitalize]

When i went the other way, i had to manually find my Firefox Bookmarks file, and copy it over to my Mac, cant remember the exact method, google will tell you.

[sajhid]

I have been using Mac for all my life and so is my wife. I wanted to introduce her to PC but I know she'll just curse if things goes wrong. Touch wood that I haven't had any complaint yet, (still marry to her). lol. Anyway as this is my 4th mac and no problem yet I would advise you not buy a PC if you wana protect your 14yr of marriage.

[Jimmer]

Originally Posted by sajhid

Anyway as this is my 4th mac and no problem yet I would advise you not buy a PC if you wana protect your 14yr of marriage.

Oh dear

As said about though, export bookmarks in firefox or safari

[richard plumb]

I used the foxmarks plugin which synchronises my bookmarks on my wifes computer, my MBP and my work computer, and customise them (so my work bookmarks don't come up at home for example)

She's liking the netbook ok. I'm liking the battery life a lot. But the screen size is limiting - websites these days are built more and more for larger sizes, with frames that mean the actual content area is pretty small. Maybe with the popularity of netbooks website design will take small screen areas into account too?

She does have a few problems eg with google maps randomly scrolling and not stopping, but overall she's liking it. She's even got used to gmail on the web as her main email client (using the notifier on the desktop to inform)

Not sure she'd move back, but I don't think she'd say no to an air :P