Joe Kissell of TidBITS, has wrote this article for MacWorld.com back in Janurary, but I just discovered it.
He first admits that MobileMe can be a great deal. I think that is because of the tight integration between MobileMe, iPhone and Macintosh. It also works with the PC, but the integration isn’t as tight.
The subtitle to this article is: “How to sync, share, and publish with third-party tools.”
He continues “But MobileMe isn’t right for everyone. Perhaps you prefer to use calendaring, contact-management, or mail apps other than those that come bundled with OS X. Maybe you like other platforms for publishing photos and Web sites. Or possibly you simply balk at the $99-per-year subscription fee.
“Whatever the reason, you have many alternatives. None offer the one-stop-shop convenience of MobileMe.”
Address Book Sync Starting with OS X 10.5.3, Apple’s Address Book application can natively sync your contacts with Exchange, Yahoo, or Gmail Contacts, without requiring MobileMe. …
He then talks about using Google Calendar to sync, but admits there are a number of limitations to this solution compared to iCal.
(it doesn’t support to-do items and doesn’t sync directly with an iPhone or iPod touch.)
Other options include Sync Software BusySync and Spanning Sync let you synchronize existing iCal calendars with Google Calendar, …
Plaxo can also do some syncing too, if you are a member.
Another feature of MobileMe is iDisk.
Other services that offer comparable features and potentially more storage space. Including Evenflow’s DropBox, SpiderOak and Sharpcast’s SugarSync.
Other features of MobileMe have alternatives as well, but I will let you read Joe Kissell’s article to find out what they are. Of course, he also gives additional info on the above alternatives and the comments also add options.
BTW – isn’t it amazing how much more useful MacWorld magazine has become over the last several years?
Check it out here.
You can also check out Joe’s “Take Control” e-books (MUG discounts available) http://takecontrolbooks.com/
That includes “Take Control of MobileMe.”
