For all you recent switchers.

I found this over at digg the other day and found it fairly useful, so I figured I would pass it along to the folks here.

http://flernk.blogspot.com/2006/07/guide-to-os-x-software-for-switchers.html

It is not a guide per se, but programs that are Mac-specific and designed to replace things you used on the PC side that may not be available. It also includes a few OS X programs like Activity Monitor that you maybe did not know were there. It is by no means complete, but the comment section has more reccomendations.

Hope this helps some of you with your switch!

**EDIT** Also, if any of you more experienced users have any good reccomendations please add them!

 

Thank you for sharing! Very timely for me, as my new Macbook Pro is arriving in the next couple hours. I'm going to try as hard as I can to find a way to avoid most of the issues I experienced as a PC user. I've been using computers for 20 years and this will be my first induction into the Apple world. I'm just hoping to avoid the drama and annoyances of software/hardware incompatibility and the constant search for updated drivers.

 

I'm excited for you, I have a feeling once you get used to OS X and understand how it works, you're gonna absolutely love it! I know you will.

Have fun!

P.S. Thanks for the guide, I'm sure it will become helpful to switchers.

 

thanks .

 

And if you havent already, switch 101 and mac 101 from the apple support site.

http://www.apple.com/support/switch101/

http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/

 

I originally purchased my MBP with the intent of using bootcamp to install Windows XP. But after a week of using OS X I never, ever want to use a Windows OS again.

I recently found out that I was accepted into the third year of my university's architecture program and will need to install XP in order to run several programs related to the degree.

On one hand, I'm happy to be accepted into the program, but on the other... I'm gonna have to buy an install XP on my beautiful MPB!

 

OMG you have to taint that beautiful MBP with Windows? Well, at least you can do it! Haha. Now its just a matter of deciding if you wanna use Boot camp or Parallels, I don't know what programs you will be using but if its heavy on GPU, it might be more wise to go with boot camp because we know that parallel sucks with video right now. Heck we still gotta see about the rumor of Apple releasing something like Parallels with their Leopard.

 

LOL I understand! I only use Windows to play games now. Nothing else but games.

 

Except there is nothing for Mac to match IrfanView. And no, Inkwell by all reviewers' accounts does not come close.

IrfanView and Hypersnap DX (I need to capture scrollable windows!) are two of the programs holding me back.

 

I am not sure what those programs are. Have you checked into the screen capture abilities of OS X? I am sure there has to be something more elaborate for screen captures in Mac. But to be honest I'm not really sure what those programs do exactly. Maybe if you could be more specific we could find a good replacement.

 

This is going to sound dumb, but what is the OS X you all keep talking about? I am completely new to the world of Apple (I am thinking of buying one). I need help understand this......

 

OS X is an operating system.

The most common operating system you'll see on computers these days are Windows, OS X is Apples Operating system, they make their own for their computers.

 

Oh! Well that makes sense now. Lol

Is it hard to get used to the OS X when you have been used to windows (pcs all my life)?

I have heard that Apple doesn't support a lot of things that windows does so it is a "hit or miss" thing with doing things that you could with windows.

 

Sure:

IrfanView is a quick image viewer/resizer/cropper, image enhancer. Takes up little space, can view just about any picture format known, and can do batch rename/resize/convert. Inkwell to my knowledge can not function in batch mode. There is no other PC equivalent to IrfanView and ACDSee is too congested to be as slick a program. For image browsing, I tend to favor Fast Stone Image Viewer for the slick interface.

Hypersnap is a great tool I use in troubleshooting. It can capture scrollable windows and you can screen capture at least 30 different times, and each capture will be in its own tab within the program (filename on each tab). You can easily add text, highlight or crop the capture.

 

You need to explain this whole "hit or miss" thing. Yes Apple doesn't have as large as a software base (third party software companies making products for their OS) thats true, however Apple makes their own competing software to PC software, and they work so much easier.

If you ever have a chance go to www.apple.com and use it to look for a local apple store or reseller, go try out the product, you can never really know about Apple unless you actually try it.

 

IrfanView is old story.. I find Picasa way more functional and also can open just about any file extension. Nevertheless, I still keep IrfanView.. just in reverence to the author who whipped ass of all the software heavy weights with the least resource hogging "Can open ANY extension in the world" program

Again, for screen capture, I suggest Snagit:
1. Capture a screen and the text in the screen will be editable, Capture long webpages, scroling banners, icons, drop down menus, taskbar (its icons seperately if desired), video, make your own video (mouse movement and stuff), capture streaming video and even screensavers etc. etc..!

Good luck finding a replacement for them on a Mac.

 

Well I am new to OS X too, so I can share some experiences. I am a Linux guy in principle and there is a load of things I miss from Linux right now(i.e., OS X is more well-rounded but Linux GUIs are far more configurable).
The first thing I thought I would be installing was Boot Camp - it is a utility from Apple that allows you to use Windows in Intel based Macs (such as the Macbook, Macbook Pro, MacMini and iMac). Well, I haven't. I found OS X to be more than capable to do everything I'd like to do with Windows or Linux. It is different, an I think some things about the interface are more optimized for ease of use than for productivity. But the thing is, you got to stick with it for some time until you get used to the interface. Having a go at a Mac store will at most amuse you with what Acqua can do (it is beautiful, but then Windows Vista seems to catch up).

So, if you're going to buy a Macbook/Macbook Pro, give yourself sometime to get used to the system *before* you install Windows. Since you can run Windows now using Boot Camp with no performance hit (there are just some minor problems with drivers) you have nothing to loose.

 

Ok, thank you for the explanation. Irfanview can be replace by Preview which is buiilt in to OS X. It can handle everything from .pdf to .jpg. It also allow some limited editing including cropping, resizing, etc. Also, you could write a very simple Automator (another built-in) application to do any batch editing you want. It would take all of 5 minutes and you would have your own customized action to do it exactly how you want. And once you make it you can use it whenever you want.

For screen capture, OS X's own screen capture ability will do what you want. It can capture a full window even if it is bigger than the screen.

So which Mac are you gonna get now?