If you are merely interested in the programs themselves, I would just scroll past this next stuff.
I finally approached the one year mark of owning my first Apple computer. I have a 2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo Macbook with 2 GB of RAM. I am not quite sure I really knew how much I would eventually appreciate this little laptop. I had a pretty decent list of reasons why I wanted to get an Apple computer, and just figured I would probably still have a Windows machine as well (or use Boot Camp/Parallels to boot windows on it if I had to). From my family’s basic use of the computer’s we had (they actually did get into computers pretty early in the 90’s), my schools, jobs, and the friends who all had PC’s, there was a pretty high level of calls to tech support companies, and lots of replacements. Actually, I think there still may be a dedicated area in my parents’ house for the pile of their old PC’s. I really just kind of hated computers growing up, and the stress’s caused to everyone around me trying to get them to work right didn’t help.
Sure, there may be some people, that could make assumptions and generalizations on my exposure to PC’s to date; “Your family probably is just computer illiterate, or were bad consumers”, “your school sucked obviously and had old hardware” etc. etc. Nope. I was the typical and average person (still am you say?), I fitted in the majority demographic for PC/Windows exposure. Thats the point. Any time a Window’s lover tries to slam Apple, or prove they are “superior” (though we are naively comparing ‘apple’s to rotten oranges’ really) they just fail to admit that in an average situation, where a Window’s based machine was being used by an average person, the process was too much of a struggle. Only higher than average computer |\|3®Ð$ (nerds) were seemingly without worry or stress.
Everyone in my family were all average computer users, my friends and jobs were average in technological advancement, and I attended an average high school. I was in the 4 year engineering program my high school had which was given the most advanced computers on campus. When a computer craps out, something goes wrong, Windows error messages pop up in the thousands; I know as well as the next guy, that many of the problems were hardware more than they were software (which even now gets chalked up to %100 user error by the previously mentioned Windows lovers). My uncle was in charge of moving forward Salt Lake Cities technology in the mid 90’s, and research was conclusively showing that it takes 1/5 as many full time employee’s to support Apple’s over PC’s. managing a full school district’s comprehensive computer system, and the computers cost less and lasted longer.
If it’s user error, then the point is still-> Windows software and machines weren’t made for the average user, they were made to take advantage of them. If it’s hardware problems, PC’s were made cheap and likely designed to wear out and be out dated in a few months contributing the disposable society. The average computer consumer doesn’t seem to buy into the ‘you get what you pay for’ concept. If you want a long lasting computer with $2000 of hardware, what do you think it’s gonna cost? Comparing the mere hardware on my computer and it’s cost when I bought it, it was the same price to get an equal PC. Actually, when I bought this computer, it was named the most advanced computer that could run Windows XP under $1800. Yeah- if you can’t figure where this is all going yet, you are better off on your disposable PC.
I love my Mac- it’s opened a ton of doors that PC’s couldn’t approach out of the box, and not because I can’t do the same things on a PC, cause most of the time a person can, but I can do them with quite a large selection of free software that came on my computer. My Apple computer doesn’t get viruses, no built in out-of-the-box spamming software (shame on you dell, compaq and all the others), isn’t susceptible to bad/spam software being installed with out my knowledge, and everything is just plain full of good looking software, and equally attractive form factors. Click the ensuing link in the sentence to find a better Mac VS PC argument.
So.. here it is. The list of my favorite software for Mac OS X Tiger.
Mac OS X Applications: Get your Apple the hook-up.
Quicksilver.Freeware (you can download it for free from the makers). The smoothest and easiest to use software, document, picture, and all around data launching program. Adaptive to the things you use most. Pick a short cut to open it, start typing the name of the file or program you want to open and there it is as well as a full list of related and similarly named files. It is really easy to use, and your work flow and organization can benefit quite a bit.
Adobe Creative Suite 3. 30 Day Trial. Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Dreamweaver and more. Finally native on Intel Macs and running better than ever. You should already be aware of what they do. My photography and designs have never looked better, and my interest in how to use them is always growing.
Bean. Word processor. Freeware. Don’t want to buy use Microsoft Office X on your mac? Bean is a pretty decent free word processor.
Neo Office. Freeware. Another good set of programs (based on open office) which give a full office suite, with a Word Processor, Power Point equivalent program, Excel etc. A little slower than Microsofts suite, but still easy to use, and best of all, free.
VLC. Freeware. Want to play any video format, regardless of what your perceive is a Windows or PC format? This is the solution. I use it more than any other video playing program because it already has all codec’s and software needs to play whatever I can get my hands on.
Smultron. Freeware. As pointed out on Gthing, Smultron is a plain text editor with a multi-tray loader for managing multiple documents. It has syntax highlighting, (color coding and extensive list of code), split window view, auto-completion of html tags, and remote server file editing. It serves as a decent replacement for those who don’t want to buy Dreamweaver.
Garage Band. Freeware that comes on your Apple computer. One of the more popular software programs that come on your computer, and part of the iLife software set, Garage Band gives you your own mini recording studio. Multi-track management, auto-tempo on audio files, mixing, a huge list of effects for all audio, virtual instruments, podcast factory and more.
Parallels. Demo to Purchase software. Run Windows XP, 2000, or Vista at the same time as Mac OS X. Parallels now has better 3D imaging support (for windows gamers), can partition your hard drive and is a Window’s installer as well. You can easily use BootCamp to just boot straight into Windows on your Mac machine if you want it to run as best as possible. Parallels is some pretty friggin sweet stuff when you get it going though.
IMovieHD. Also free on your mac, part of the iLife set. Windows movie maker looks like the 80’s butt rocker in modern times who just can’t let go of the era, the mullet, gold chains, and ac/dc shirt. Edit video (even High Definition video) faster and with more effects and styles than ever. With 99% of the worlds video’s being edited on Apple computers, it won’t take long to learn why- and maybe you can eventually bump up to Final Cut. (professional movie editing software available at all Apple product retailers.)
You Control Tunes. Freeware. A simple and easy to use way of controlling iTunes right from your menu bar. I don’t really like iTunes a ton, but its good enough. The interface and usability is a little more complicated than I would like, and this program makes up for it and acts as a middle man.
CandyBar.Demo to purchase. Simple and cheap. Download some cool icons from the internet, replace any icon on your computer with them.
For an Apple owner, I am still just an average user I suppose. There is so much freeware out there for Mac’s, that can do just about anything and everything, there are probably some really good lists much better than mine for you to look through. There are newer machines out, but mine isn’t outdated or disposable really. It’s faster than it was before and I know how to use it more.
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