Hi all,
with all the current debatest re switching from Pc to Mac, especially with Vista knocking on everyones door, I started to think about it again. I have some quick questions, especially regarding some native Mac software options, because I want to avoid running parallels. Dont want to waste space on my HD and money on Vista.
* Statistics software like SPSS. It is a must for me, yet SPSS is not avail. for intel macs. Any alternatives? I usually do multivariate stuff in all flavors (factor, cluster, MDS, various regressions and ANOVA's galore).
* Personal finance software (especially German variants). Something like Quicken. I know there is an American Quicken for Macs, but there is no German clone. I guess I'd need a German variant for proper online banking. Any ideas?
* What about PDA's? Don's have one, really need one. How do they interact with Mac's? Many PDA's are centered around Office, particularly Outlook. That seems to be a problem, right?
I really appreciate any help!
r.
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- RichardPrice
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RE: Question From A Potential Pc To Mac Switcher
Cant help you on the first two, because I have no personal knowledge there, but -
PDA's are a problem that havent been solved 100% yet. Some work with iSync, some work with third party apps like Missing Sync, none work perfectly. Installing apps on them ranges from trivial to impossible. File transfer is easy, especially if you have bluetooth.
Missing Sync works well, but you do not get the same level of functionality as you would on a Windows system.
| Quoting Rabenschlag (Thread starter): * What about PDA's? Don's have one, really need one. How do they interact with Mac's? Many PDA's are centered around Office, particularly Outlook. That seems to be a problem, right? |
PDA's are a problem that havent been solved 100% yet. Some work with iSync, some work with third party apps like Missing Sync, none work perfectly. Installing apps on them ranges from trivial to impossible. File transfer is easy, especially if you have bluetooth.
Missing Sync works well, but you do not get the same level of functionality as you would on a Windows system.
RE: Question From A Potential Pc To Mac Switcher
| Quoting Rabenschlag (Thread starter): What about PDA's? Don's have one, really need one. How do they interact with Mac's? Many PDA's are centered around Office, particularly Outlook. That seems to be a problem, right? |
I use a HP PDA, and it Syncs fine with my iMac. Bearing in mind iMac has Bluetooth make sure your PDA is also Bluetooth as it really is a walk in the park.
RE: Question From A Potential Pc To Mac Switcher
I can't help you with SPSS nor with PDAs.
But for banking I use MacGiro. I'm primarily interested in secure and reliable communication with my various banks and it does that very well and with a minimum of fuss.
But for banking I use MacGiro. I'm primarily interested in secure and reliable communication with my various banks and it does that very well and with a minimum of fuss.
RE: Question From A Potential Pc To Mac Switcher
One word "Parallels"
Parallels allows you to setup a Windows virtual PC on your Mac. I do this to connect to my office computer via VPN.
Parallels gives you the best of both worlds. For anything you can't do on a Mac, you can do in the PC environment. Everything else you can do natively in the Mac environment. It really is the ultimate flexibility. Their new product called Coherence will make Mac and PC even more seamless.
Go to:
http://www.parallels.com
Parallels allows you to setup a Windows virtual PC on your Mac. I do this to connect to my office computer via VPN.
Parallels gives you the best of both worlds. For anything you can't do on a Mac, you can do in the PC environment. Everything else you can do natively in the Mac environment. It really is the ultimate flexibility. Their new product called Coherence will make Mac and PC even more seamless.
Go to:
http://www.parallels.com
RE: Question From A Potential Pc To Mac Switcher
| Quoting Rabenschlag (Thread starter): * Statistics software like SPSS. It is a must for me, yet SPSS is not avail. for intel macs. Any alternatives? I usually do multivariate stuff in all flavors (factor, cluster, MDS, various regressions and ANOVA's galore). |
STATA is the answer. It's a statistics program that I've read is more powerful than SPSS, and is available for Mac, Windows and Unix.
http://www.stata.com/
| Quoting Rabenschlag (Thread starter): * What about PDA's? Don's have one, really need one. How do they interact with Mac's? Many PDA's are centered around Office, particularly Outlook. That seems to be a problem, right? |
Don't know about PDA's specifically, but Office is available for Mac. I use MS Entourage to connect to an MS Exchange server, and it works without any problems. I access the account from both Outlook on a PC and Entourage on my Mac, and I've never had a hitch.
And as others suggest, Parallels is always a viable option.
RE: Question From A Potential Pc To Mac Switcher
You know what they say,
Once you go Mac, you never go back!
Once you go Mac, you never go back!
RE: Question From A Potential Pc To Mac Switcher
| Quoting Rabenschlag (Thread starter):
What about PDA's? Don's have one, really need one. How do they interact with Mac's? Many PDA's are centered around Office, particularly Outlook. That seems to be a problem, right? |
Check the PDA's documentation. If you can sync with a Mac, then your question is answered. Otherwise, you can try to install 3rd party software which enables you to sync with a Mac, or you will have to install Windows via Bootcamp, Wine, etc., and take it from there.
Being a Pocket PC (Windows Mobile) owner myself, the PDA requires Microsoft ActiveSync, which isn't available for Mac. However, as stated there is 3rd party software that enables you to synchronize it with a Mac.
[Edited 2007-02-09 03:34:57]
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