Haven’t had time to write about it, still, better late than never.

I have always heard positive experiences from people switching to Mac. Last month, forced by the slowing down of my Acer TravelMate 290 laptop and encouraged by Andy Piper and Eneko Alonso, who had blogged their recent switching experiences, I finally bought a 15” MacBook Pro and a Mighty Mouse from Apple.

Despite there is always a bit of a learning curve involved (I have had some minor issues due to Windows-Mac equivalent keys, as the Print Screen, Control and Command, and Alt and Options keys), I found the move very easy. Setting up Mac OS X is really simple, and the user interface behavior is terrific. I have also found the blogosphere as a very valuable aid for switchers, as it is plenty of useful tips and hints. I recommend you How to Switch to the Mac and Andy Piper’s Mac posts.

After playing with some applications that I have found at some Mac specialized web sites as MacUpdate, here is the list of them that I have installed so far:

  • Adium (free): instant messaging application for Mac OS X that can connect to AIM, MSN, Jabber, Yahoo, and more.
  • Eclipse (free): the essential IDE.
  • Firefox (free): the essential open-source browser.
  • Flickr Uploadr (free): to upload your photos to Flickr.
  • Flip4mac WMC Player (free): a collection of QuickTime components that allow you to play, import, and export Windows Media video and audio files on your Mac using your favorite QuickTime-based applications.
  • Growl (free): a notification system for Mac OS X.
  • iTerm (free): a full featured terminal emulation program.
  • NeoOffice (free): a free software port of OpenOffice to the MacOS X platform.
  • OnyX (free): it allows you to run misc tasks of system maintenance, to configure some hidden parameters of the Finder, Dock, Dashboard, Exposé, Safari, Login window and of some of Apple’s own applications, to delete caches, to remove a certain number of files and folders that may become cumbersome, to see the detailed info of your configuration, to preview various logs and CrashReporter-reports, to check the Preferences files and more.
  • Parallels (79.99$): enables you to run Windows, Linux, and more side-by-side with Mac OS X on any Intel-powered Mac, without rebooting (coherence mode is terrific!).
  • Plazer (free): a little piece of software that will help you make the most out of Plazes.
  • PocketMac for Blackberry (free): to sync BlackBerry device with Entourage, Address Book, iCal, Now Contact, Now Up-To-Date, and even Stickies.
  • QuickSilver (free): a unified, extensible interface for working with applications, contacts, music, and other data.
  • Skype (free): free calls over the Internet.
  • Textmate (39$): a powerful tool for programmers, web designers, and anyone else who regularly needs to work with text files on Mac OS X.
  • Transmit (29.95$): FTP, SFTP, or TLS/SSL.
  • Twitterrific (free): a fun little application that lets you both read and publish posts or “tweets” to the Twitter community website.
  • Visionary Saver (free): Twittervision/Flickrvision and Twittervision 3D screen saver.
  • VLC (free): a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, …) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols.
  • XCode (free): to create Mac OS X applications (It is bundled free with Mac OS X v10.4, though is not installed by default).

Anyway, as a Mac beginner user, your tips will be welcomed.

Comments

Comment by andyp on 2007-08-08 14:16:52 +0000

I’d recommend jUploadr rather than Flickr Uploader – it is far, far richer in function. other than that, I’m pretty much using the same stuff as you, except for those tools I don’t need (blackberry, Parallels, etc.).

You might find the Textmate book helpful.

And thanks for referencing my posts! I’m glad you found them useful.

Comment by Antonio on 2007-08-08 17:25:53 +0000

I’ve found iusethis.com for a source of popular apps and such. Off the top of my list would be the Unsanity products HERE, of course, as you’ve listed it already, Flip4Mac, iBackup, info.xhead, and another one by the Flip4Mac people, Drive In.

Comment by Ferdy on 2007-08-09 00:37:55 +0000

Andy, Antonio, thanks for the recommendations!

Comment by kellyd on 2007-08-09 03:15:10 +0000

welcome to the dark side, ferdy. It’s nice here. 🙂