Buying Wife an iBook; Need Bird Reference Software

[Deslock]

I'm thinking about buying my wife an iBook. She's currently a Windows user and one of the programs she currently uses is a bird reference guide (Thayer Birding Software).

I haven't an equivalent yet found for the MAC. I could run Virtual PC, but I'd prefer an OS X solution. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[BakedBeans]

I'm thinking about buying my wife an iBook. She's currently a Windows user and one of the programs she currently uses is a bird reference guide (Thayer Birding Software).

I haven't an equivalent yet found for the MAC. I could run Virtual PC, but I'd prefer an OS X solution. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

i dont think alot of people are going to know off-hand, it might be an idea if you find a bird forum and see if any of those use macs?

i hope you find your answer, if you have any tech questions when you get your ibook then dont hesitate to ask, if one person doest know the answer then somebody else will...

 

[Deslock]

i dont think alot of people are going to know off-hand, it might be an idea if you find a bird forum and see if any of those use macs?

i hope you find your answer, if you have any tech questions when you get your ibook then dont hesitate to ask, if one person doest know the answer then somebody else will...

Thanks for the quick reply. I found no mention in any bird forums. I did find a pre-osx program over at guide.apple.com... I guess we could run it with an emulator (ought to perform better than a Windows emulator).

 

[jsw]

Thanks for the quick reply. I found no mention in any bird forums. I did find a pre-osx program over at guide.apple.com... I guess we could run it with an emulator (ought to perform better than a Windows emulator).

Which program? How "pre-OS X" is it? Maybe one of us could see if it works OK if there's a trial download of it somewhere....

 

[mikeyredk]

got to love google

http://homepage.mac.com/wings_4d/

thats the first link if you search "birding software mac"

 

[iSaint]

Google gives Apple!

try this link to iBird

or Birdwatching.com

of course, DVD guides and CD Roms will work fine on any Mac

Happy Birding!

 

[iSaint]

...more for Mac

or Wings

ok I'll stop, but Google also does specific software searches...

 

[Deslock]

I've done several google web and USENET searches... I'm looking for a reference guide (like the software I linked to in my first post). Bird Brain is not OS X native. Wings and iBird seem to be geared more towards bird watchers tracking their sightings. From the screenshot, iBird initially looked like what I wanted but the description at the developer's page indicates it's pretty limited (correct me if I'm wrong).

The Thayer Birding Software has lots of multimedia (images, video, sound clips of bird calls), migration, historical, and background information, and a robust search feature. Unfortunately, there's no plan for a MAC version.

 

[freiheit]

If the "pre-OSX" software you mentioned is MacOS 9 software, it could be run in MacOS X using "Classic" (literally runs MacOS 9 as a MacOS X program) which would be akin to an emulator but probably much faster since it's still got native hardware, etc.

There is also a _possibility_ that it would run natively in OSX -- that would depend on whether it uses the Carbon libraries which brought a lot of OS 9 support into OS X. But that's a long shot if the program is more than a couple of years old. Classic would be more likely to work for you.

I'm not sure if Classic still comes with MacOS X -- I know it came with my 2003 vintage PowerMac that had MacOS X 10.2.4.

 

[Nermal]

I'm not sure if Classic still comes with MacOS X -- I know it came with my 2003 vintage PowerMac that had MacOS X 10.2.4.

Yes, it does. And my 2003 Power Mac came with 10.3

 

[irock]

Deslock,

Hope you don't mind I ask. Are you trying to force your wife to switch? When I try to 'convince' my dad to switch, I met heavy resistance. He doesn't like the first thing about Mac.

Or probably your wife doesn't really care whether it's a Windows or Mac.

 

[Deslock]

Hope you don't mind I ask. Are you trying to force your wife to switch? When I try to 'convince' my dad to switch, I met heavy resistance. He doesn't like the first thing about Mac.

Or probably your wife doesn't really care whether it's a Windows or Mac.

*Force* her to switch? You aren't married, are you?

She's always used Windows and doesn't care about OS. To her it's just a tool (but after using OSX, I think she might become more enthusiastic about computers).

She relies on me for advanced stuff and asked me to pick out a new laptop for her... I was going to get her a Dell Inspiron 700m, but I suggested that she try out OSX (since the 12" iBook is about the same price and is still fairly lightweight - her primary requirement). I explained the pros and cons (better GUI, easier to use, less temperamental, more secure, easier to install/uninstall stuff vs less available software) and we went to CompUSA so she could play with a demo model... she really liked it and decided to try switching.