MAC Software - what do you recommend?

mfwild13

mfwild13

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Mark
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Just ordered a 27" iMac for me and a 13" Macbook Air for the wife - Xmas presents :). Been a PC user forever and am an IT Manager running a dept managing 1500+ PCs so please no comments on Mac Vs PC.

So the question is, other than Lightroom and CS5, what software do you recommend as essential for the Mac?

Thanks

Mark
 
iWork ( comprises Numbers, pages and keynote). That's the only 'Work' related stuff I have - everything else is for fun really.
 
Microsoft Office for Mac.

I know it seems silly to put Microsoft stuff on a Mac, but it's very stable.

Firefox is better than Safari imo.

Aperture is like an advanced iPhoto.

I've got all those bits.
 
Office 2011 For the MAC is fantastic.

Also, Parralels is a great VM product. Works really well with windows 7.

Apart from that i have CS5 and Lightroom on my mac
 
Essential !!

That impossible to say without know exactly what your going to do with it.

I needed something to replace MS Money so Money Manager EX is essential for me, also I write my website and needed Kompozer, and Jalbum

For office stuff I have iWorks, but there is always the free open office suite, which is supposed to be VERY good.
 
Thanks guys, also looking for thoughts on best IM, Twitter client, Browser, FTP, un-archiver, Email client, any other essential utils or must have apps/games?

whiteflyer said:
also I write my website and needed Kompozer, and Jalbum.
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Other than being very cost effective, how does Kompozer compare to Dreamweaver or Flux 3?
barneyrubble said:
Office 2011 For the MAC is fantastic.
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Do you have Outlook as well? Wish they have included OneNote!
 
mfwild13 said:
Thanks guys, also looking for thoughts on best IM, Twitter client, Browser, FTP, un-archiver, Email client, any other essential utils or must have apps/games?
Click to expand...

For me personally:

MSN
TweetDeck
Firefox
Cyberduck
 
mfwild13 said:
Do you have Outlook as well? Wish they have included OneNote!
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yes, outlook is very very good for the mac - will be linking it up to exchange next week, currently only gmail.

But I really like it

Onenote is the real reason I got parallels
 
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As with most things, youve got a choice
Office:
MS Office
iWork
OpenOffice
NeoOffice (a mac specific clone of OO)

PP:
Lightroom
Aperture
Photoshop
GIMP

Other stuff:
Adium (IM client)
Quicksilver (general productivity)
CyberDuck (file transfer)
Firefox, Opera or Chrome (for when safari just isn't supported)
StuffIt Expandet (zip fes & archives)

Anything else will depend on what you plan doing. The bundled software, including iLife, is very good and will handle most day to day tasks.
Mail, calendar and contacts are handled well by the included apps. I can't really see a reason to install Outlook unless you need Exchange connectivity.
 
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Oh, and if you have an iPhone, a MobileMe account will tie everything together nicely.
If the price of MM is a bit steep, Google apps is nearly as good.
 
mfwild13 said:
Other than being very cost effective, how does Kompozer compare to Dreamweaver or Flux 3?
Click to expand...


Never used Dreamweaver or Flux 3, but KompoZer is very basic, and as it's free it's super cost effective :LOL:
 
Handbrake - cracking app for movie file conversions. I think it's released for Windows too.
Adium has been suggested and I second that - really neat IM client.
 
VLC for viewing movies.

Tweetdeck for twitter
Thunderbird for email
Evernote for keeping track of miscellaneous bits
Kindle e-reader for reading free books
Scribus for doing DTP related things without adobe.
Openoffice/NeoOffice. Neither can do word forms properly though. Always end up mangled.
Aptana studio - proper programming development tool for web and software. Never got kompozer to work without crashing.
 
Personally, LightRoom and MS Office are all I need for now; so I am really not adding anything to this thread in terms of what applications to get.

However, seeing as the OP is new to Apple / Mac; may I suggest a read through this thread. It was over a year's worth of tips and hints that is well worthy of being in the Archives of the Great Jedi Library (y)
 
iCompta is a good shareware replacement for MS Money with the added bonus of an iPhone app.

Use a few Omni group products to replace some MS business apps, namely Project and Visio.

Latest version of Office is more like the Windows version, but I miss the floating toolbars!

Still need Windows from time to time so Parallels is great for that.

And 1Password is great for remembering lots of personal info (e.g. passwords) so you only need to remember a few!!
 
Jim.R said:
As with most things, youve got a choice
Office:
MS Office
iWork
OpenOffice
NeoOffice (a mac specific clone of OO)

PP:
Lightroom
Aperture
Photoshop
GIMP

Other stuff:
Adium (IM client)
Quicksilver (general productivity)
CyberDuck (file transfer)
Firefox, Opera or Chrome (for when safari just isn't supported)
StuffIt Expandet (zip fes & archives)

Anything else will depend on what you plan doing. The bundled software, including iLife, is very good and will handle most day to day tasks.
Mail, calendar and contacts are handled well by the included apps. I can't really see a reason to install Outlook unless you need Exchange connectivity.
Click to expand...

There is really no need to use Entourage/Outlook just to get Exchange connectivity. I use Mail/iCal and Address Book with an Exchange account, and that way I still get the benefit of Mac specific features, most notably Spotlight searches.
 
Many thanks for all the information guys, much appreciated.

Really looking forward to it arriving now.

Mark
 
Another vote for Adium and Cyberduck here. Imagewell is a handy little resizing app.

I prefer Safari to FF as it seems faster - interested to know how FF is 'better in every single way'.

Quicksilver is something I would no longer be without - makes loading applications etc so much faster.
 
Not much to add other than I am an avid Chrome user for browsing, I've just never really got on with Safari, I dont know why.


I have Lightroom (2) and Photoshop Elements 9 as I can't justify the £600+ for CS5. I also have a MobileMe account which I find really useful, andI use it for hosting my web site.

Steve
 
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