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Jordan · Jun 20, 2009, 10:30 AM

Hey all,

Hoping I can tap into the collective here and come up with something that's "Dad proof".

Background: Dad after being a Windows user for years finally listened me and moved to a Mac. Everything has been going well for the last two years and he's very happy (even refreshed the Mac). As he has a small consulting company I went to a hosting provider and bought the full pack giving him a website as well as an email service and domain name. Plugged all that into Mail and things were both hunky and dory.

Problem: He doesn't use the website but has now become very reliant on mail. Now he is starting to a travel a lot to very remote places (Africa, Asia) and while he can often get internet, there is a lot of problems with this hosting provider so it's time to move him.

Target Service: We've been looking at Google's Premium service at work and it's pretty impressive for the price ($50/year) so I want to go down that path. (I know MobileMe is out there but there are other features of Google that he could use.)

Advice Needed: I want to make the best Mac/Gmail experience I can for him so need advice from others who may have done this. Here are a few questions to get the ball rolling.

What additional Google Apps should he install? (Notifier, etc.)
What is the best way to migrate his mail from Mail.app over?
What is the best way to sync everything up with his iPhone?
Should he use the Google web client, or Mail.app, or both? (Is there a problem with using both?)
Is Google Gears good, bad or ugly? Is it even needed?
Anything else that can make life easier for someone who is not that computer savy?
Any other advice for someone who frequently travels?

I really appreciate any advice from anyone.

Thanks in advance,

Jordan

TETENAL · Jun 20, 2009, 11:20 AM

If he has problems with his hosting provider, why not simply switch to a better one, one who offers IMAP e-mail, and take the domain with him? The costs should be negligible for a business. That way he can keep his established e-mail address, and present himself a whole lot more professional than with a Gmail e-mail address. No need to migrate from Mail and iPhone Mail.

Jordan · Jun 20, 2009, 11:27 AM

Thanks TETENAL.

I should have been clear that this is not strictly Gmail but Google Premier (which is sort of the same thing but there are differences.) You can use your own domain name so it's invisible to your customers. (point the MX record to their site) Google Premier is cheaper than a normal hosting provider ($50 a year versus $5 - $8 per month).

We've been looking at Google Premier for work (a very large multi-national) and we are even going to trial it. It is still very professional (perhaps even more so with some of the features they have there).

mduell · Jun 20, 2009, 01:04 PM

1. Gmail Manager for Firefox
2. Set up IMAP in Mail.app, drag, drop
3. Use the Gmail web app
4. Using both isn't a problem. I prefer the web interface for searching (Mail.app blows) and it's less confusing (Gmail has a "unique" IMAP folder structure that Mail.app doesn't deal well with).
5. Google Gears isn't visible, it's an API so you can use the web interface when offline. Gmail with Google Gears works offline just like Gmail works online.
7. Google Reader for news (with offline cache thanks to Google Gears)

The free Standard Edition probably meets all his needs; $50/user/year isn't much, just unnecessary.

besson3c · Jun 20, 2009, 02:05 PM

Will there be any sensitive information stored within his email account? If so, you might want to check that there aren't legal issues with using a service like GMail where you don't control/own the data.

mduell · Jun 20, 2009, 02:53 PM

Seems unlikely since he's already at a "hosting provider" that doesn't work well internationally.

Jordan · Jun 21, 2009, 08:59 AM

Thanks guys. Some good stuff here.

I think you need to have the Premium version to have all your own domain stuff. In any case, the investigations we've done with work actually have the Premium service with a different (and guaranteed) service level.

mduell · Jun 21, 2009, 12:17 PM

Originally Posted by Jordan

I think you need to have the Premium version to have all your own domain stuff. In any case, the investigations we've done with work actually have the Premium service with a different (and guaranteed) service level.

You don't. I've been using my own domain with Google Apps (called Gmail For Your Domain at the time) since it was in beta.