“There are a lot of misconceptions about the Mac. What’s absolutely the worst one, though, is that there’s no software for it,” Scot Finnie reports for Computerworld. “Before I bought a Mac mini in 2005 (the first step in my current Mac odyssey), I hadn’t used a Mac since 1996, when I owned several Macs and Windows machines.”
“The first thing I realized as I began to explore the Mac world in earnest was just how much more Mac software there is than the last time I used the Mac. The Mac shareware/freeware marketplace, while not as gargantuan as that for Windows, is filled with a rich selection of largely well-done products. There are many small commercial Mac software companies,”Finnie reports. “At the same time that Windows development companies appear to be consolidating, you have the sense of a renaissance among Mac software makers. The Mac market was reborn with OS X.”
Finnie reports, “That’s the backdrop for my decision to create a continually updated list of the best applications for the Mac, called the A-List of Mac Software… My goals are to point out the best software products, improve the software available to Mac users and to make it easier for other new Mac users to locate solutions that will work for them.”
Full article covering, browsing options, screen-capture, antivirus software, HTML editors, corporate and personal email, and more here.
Related articles:
Washington Post: Only Apple Macs can run both Mac OS X and Windows – March 08, 2007
Computerworld: Apple Macs are the most flexible, compatible computers on the planet – February 20, 2007
Apple Macs can run more software than Windows PCs – October 30, 2006
>Apple Mac’s 2007 market share climb will dumbfound almost everyone, create mayhem in PC market – September 08, 2006
$399 for Windows Vista Ultimate?! (Hint: Get a Mac) – August 29, 2006
Dude, you got a Dell? What are you, stupid? Only Apple Macs run both Mac OS X and Windows! – April 05, 2006
Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ ultimate goal: ‘to take back the computer business from Microsoft’ – June 16, 2005
Why buy a Dell when Apple’s Intel-based computers will run both Mac OS X and Windows? – June 08, 2005
Intel-based Macs running both Mac OS X and Windows will be good for Apple – June 10, 2005
Windows users who try Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger might not want to go back – June 07, 2005
Microsoft and Dell must have a lot of bricks lying around today – June 07, 2005
I’d far rather have the smaller (but by no means small) yet quality filled Mac software selection than the gargantuan crap filled Windows market.
Poor guy. I guess his “wow” never got started.
Yeh, I’d rather have a small handful of well made apps, than a bargain bin full of crap.
QUALITY NOT QUANTITY.
This article looks like an ad for Scot Finnie.
I tell people all the time that the Mac can run *THE MOST* software out there….
People start to argue, then I tell them that the Mac runs windows too (at the same time) – so combined with Mac software and windows software, it runs the most.
then I ask of the windows platform can to the same…..
If he’s bothering to cover Mac anti-virus software I don’t really think he gets it yet. Still, he’s heading in the right direction!
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BTW, I like that daylight saving has started in the U.S. – MDN now starts here at about 1 a.m. instead of 2 a.m.
I remeber when I bought my first Mac in 94. My best friend (at the time anyway), who had swiched from Amiga to PC, asked me if I wasn’t concerned about software quantity? My response then was “No I am concerned about software QUALITY!”
I was switching from Atari ST at the time.
Apple + UNIX + Windows software == Macs run most of the software available in the world today that anyone wants or needs to run.
Windows is the underdog here, not Mac OS X.
As Rory said, Macs can run the most software now…a fact that many people still seem to miss surprisingly. What I do tell my PC friends that even then, so what! Mac users choose qaulity over so much PC crapware that even with all this access, we generally stick with Mac software.
“The Mac market was reborn with OS X”
Apparently, the average gestation period for a Clue is about 7 years.
There is no need to choose between OS X and Windows when you can have both, but only on a Mac!
ChrissyOne,
It wasn’t so obvious 7 years back what the eventual effect of moving the OS to NeXT and branding it OS X would be on Mac software development etc.
No one knew back then how rapidly Apple would update OS X and how dramatically it would mature and what software would be available for it 7 years later.
As a switcher, one of the first things I noticed was the QUALITY of the software available. Especially in the shareware/freeware market! Little apps like Pod2Go, Galerie and Salling Clicker made my early Mac days a lot of fun and I’m continually amazed by the quality of products like RapidWeaver where the sheer value can’t be beat.
Full article covering, browsing options, screen-capture, antivirus software, HTML editors…..
antivirus?
Hmmm, he IS a newbie.
After having the proverbial “Mac vs PC” arguement with a friend of mine, (for a number of years) , he finally bought a Mac .. (Dual 2.0 – G5 Cheeze-Grater), .. I told him ..
“If you don’t like it after 3 months .. I’ll gladly take it off your hands” …
Today, he loves it, and rarely uses his XP machine !!
My next Mac purchase will be an Intel Mac of some sort .. (I drool over the Mac Quad) .. but, the thought of running any flavor of WinDoze on it, gives me nausea !
I have never felt “left out” due to the lack of software.. in fact.. everything I have ever needed has always been readily available to me !
The iPods, TVs, iPhones, etc .. are nice.. but, PULEEZE Mr. Jobs .. keep on making the best computers on the planet !!
One of my favorite freeware pieces for OS X is “Witch”. It does the same thing as Expose but in a very different way – much closer to switching between apps with Command-Tab than Expose.
Oh, and I know of several former Mac users who left the platform with the OS X switch. None have come back yet, but I suspect with 2 years they all will.
Speaking as a guy with a foot in both camps, there needs to be an ‘A’ list of the best Windows software.
I bet iTunes would be on it.
I bet the list would be a short one.
I sent a request that he take a look at “iStabilize” because almost nobody’s heard of it. It smooths out jerkiness in poorly shot video.
I’m using it to fix all of my older videos that were shot with a pre image-stabilization crappy Sony handy cam from 1992.
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There are no misconceptions about the Mac. Those are all things that used to be true. They once were slower. They once had a lack of software. They once had compatibility issues. They used to be terribly unstable and crash often. These problems became less and less true, but persisted up until Mac OS 10.3 and the G5 chipset.
“The Mac market was reborn with OS X”
and OS X was reborn with Intel chips. double whammy
It’s not PC’s that are the problem, it’s Windows Vista that’s garbage. Windows XP Pro & Linux still can mop up the floor with MAC OS-X very easily!
I’ll never be a Vista user, I think it’s shit warmed over. But I’m not switching from Linux or XP Pro either to use a MAC as my primarty computer.