Must Have Mac Apps When Switching From Windows
June 4, 2009
If you have read this blog before, you probably know that I now am a MacBook Pro user who ran Vista via Boot Camp. Do to my need to use Podcast producer, I decided to move to Leopard. Below is a list a must have apps, when switching from Windows.
- Remote Desktop for MAC – I still support many Windows machines and servers and need quick remote access to them.
- Office 2008 – So I can access documents sent to me and for Entourage, which I enjoy using much more than outlook. Entourage is very easy to access your exchange server easily.
- Parallels – Tried VMWare but this is much faster and I was able to join my install of Vista to the domain.
- Taco HTML Editor – Needed a replacement for Frontpage. Something just to write code. I like the interface; simple and easy.
- Ecto – Blog editor that isn’t as good as Live Writer but a pretty decent substitute. Still have Live writer installed via parallels; just in case.
- Firefox – Great browser, don’t need to say much more.
- X-Marks – Was able to sync my bookmarks/passwords instantly. Saved a ton of time because I didn’t have to waste it setting all that stuff up again.
- Tweetie – Great Twitter client
- Yummy FTP – Needed something to replace my windows copy of Cute FTP and Yummy was what I needed.
- Camino – Chrome isn’t available for the Mac and Camino is a nice alternative.
- Show Desktop – Loved the show desktop shortcut in Windows and missed it quite a bit. This program fills that void.
What would you suggest for a recent convert?
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July 7th, 2009 at 11:18 am
virtualbox.org instead of Parallels or VMvare Fusion – free, and just as good in every way
BetterZip for .zip file management
Coda for web editor (delete it’s preferences file periodically to have an indefinite trial)
Instead of ‘Show Desktop’, setup an Expose mouse gesture, such as hit bottom-right corner to show desktop. This works nicely with drag-and-drop – hit bottom-right, start dragging a file from desktop, hit bottom-right again to get your window back, drop the file.
I like Cyberduck best for FTP client, but …
Macfusion lets you mount FTP and other servers as volumes and use Finder to manage them. It’s indispensable.
I store my bookmarks on delicious.com and use a Firefox plugin and Safari toolbar additions – makes my bookmarks portable to any computer and browser anywhere.
July 7th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Thanks @jeff for the suggestions. I like the idea of mounting the FTP servers as volumes so Macfusion is on my list to check out. Coda has caught my interest as well but the price of $99 scares me off a little but compared to something like Dreamworks, it’s bargain.