The handful of programs that keep me using an Apple Macintosh

The computers that I have used over the last twenty-eight years cover just about all the bases.  However, in the end it is not computers that keep you on a platform.  The applications that let you get your work done are really what hold you in one world or keep you using multiple operating systems.

Among the ones that keep me on a Mac are iPhoto, Rapidweaver, and Fetch, but more on that later.

Without the hardware, you cannot run the applications so it is important.  A look back at hardware history provides a little context for software decisions.

I started using Apple's computers in 1982 with the purchase of an Apple II+ and an Epson MX-80 printer.  Shortly after that I started working at Datamaster, probably the first Apple dealership in Atlantic Canada. We also sold PC compatibles and eventually IBM systems.  By 1984 I working for Apple's Canadian branch.  My time on board the mother ship lasted almost twenty years and gave me access to practically all of Apple's hardware and software.

As lovely as Apple hardware tends to be, it is much different when you have to buy the hardware with your own money.

When I left Apple in the summer of 2004, I bought myself an Aluminum 15" PowerBook.  That fall I ordered my first Windows box, a Dell desktop running Windows XP.  By Thanksgiving, with some help from my Linux-knowledgeable son, I had at least a couple of versions of Linux also running on a second hard drive in the Dell.

At the end of 2004, I bought a dual G5 desktop Power Mac that was on sale because it was a discontinued product.  It was bought as a tax deduction since leaving Apple had resulted in some tax liabilities.  It has remained my main computer over the last few years.  I expect it to still be going strong at its sixth birthday.

The last five and one half years have given me a good education in how the non-Apple population deals with computers.  In the fall of 2005 I bought a Dell laptop because the clients I was calling on were all Windows users.  At the time I was calling on government clients.  Over the years there have been clients who closed their minds the minute that they saw a Mac.

In the winter of 2006, I went to work as VP of Sales and Marketing in an Internet 2.0 company selling email services.  I was one of two or three Mac users in a company that had 45 people.  There a few things that I needed a Windows computer to do, so I often carried two laptops to work.

After working there a month or two, I achieved what I called Heterogeneous Nirvana.  Just about everything worked well together.

Late that spring my Aluminum Powerbook went through a number of problems including a bad lower memory slot and finally a screen ribbon cable that gave up.  I got some estimates to fix it, and decided after some consideration, that the few hundred dollars on repairs would be better spent buying a new Intel MacBook.

My MacBook was love at first sight as you can tell by the post, The Genius of Apple. It was written on July 1, 2006.  Still I had moved into the very Windows centric world of real estate, and by October of 2007 for a number of reasons, I bought a Windows Vista laptop.  Six months later I was calling Vista a Quagmire.  I had some slightly less harsh words for it later, but even to this day Vista is not my favorite operating system even though it has come a long way.

Eventually I even calculated that the time that I spend keeping my Vista laptop going translates into a few hundred dollars per year.  

I have managed to learn how to do my work with Mac OSX, Linux, or whatever flavor of Windows is running on my screen.  Learning how to use three operating systems has been enlightening to say the least.  I have favorite things about each operating system and some programs that I like on each.

A while back I did a post which listed why I continue to use Macs.  This is a list from the post.

1. I can count on my Mac to get the job done no matter what it is.
2. My Mac is instantly available to me. There is no waiting for it.
3. There is still enough user interface consistency that I can use almost any application.
4. Things typically just work, hard drives, cameras, mice, printers, etc.
5. Most of the software I need comes with the Mac, and the rest is reasonably priced.

When it comes to Linux, I love the speed of booting and stability.  I rarely use anything more than Firefox on Linux as I have structured my world there to a Google Environment.  Of course I really love that Ubuntu Linux has made my Pentium III Dell Dimension that I bought in the fall of 2004 the fasting booting system in the house.

As for Windows,  I really like SnagIt, an inexpensive image capture and editing program.  I find it one of the easiest program to use when I want to add text or comments to an image.  As a side note there is now a Mac Beta version of SnagIt.  I am very excited about that.

I also like Thunderbird as my mail client and either Firefox or Google Chrome as my browser.  I use @trip PC which allows me to use a GPS logging device, I-gotU and create trips like this one of Bluewater Cove & Cape Carteret. The software puts images I have taken in a Google Earth flyover. 

I hate to admit it but I have come to like a few of the things that I can do with Microsoft Word. I like the way I can be editing a Word document and send it as a PDF, and then make changes to the Word document and easily send it again as a revised PDF.  I have found Word invaluable for getting some of the documents that I create in Pages to print on our large, cranky Konica-Minolta office printer which no longer likes Macs.  I am not very fond of the new Excel.  I also end up using Picasa at least a couple of times per day.  It's not iPhoto, but it has some useful features.

It is no surprise that I love the hardware variety, pricing and availability that you find in the Windows world.  If you want the latest gear, you can usually find it in the Windows world first.

So what are the key Mac programs that keep me on the platform.  At the top of the list has to be Rapidweaver.  I have yet to find an equivalent web design program for Windows.  Rapidweaver is inexpensive, easy to use, and turns out really nice web sites.  I would buy a Mac just for Rapidweaver.

Next on my list for the Mac would be iPhoto.  While I am still using an older version, iPhoto 08, I find that it handles almost all that I need to do with images.  I have Aperture but do not use it.  One of things that I love about iPhoto is the ability to put up a quick web site of photos.  It is not as nice as ones like my Mackerel Morning that I can do with Rapidweaver, but it is quick and gets the job done.

The third program on the Mac would be iMovie 08.  While it took me a while to adjust to this greatly changed version,  I find that I like it better now.  Mostly I use it to generate YouTube video from area scenery to tours of homes.  I find the integration with YouTube very helpful.  About once or twice a year I end up doing a DVD.  While I have tried Windows based movie software, I have never tried Windows based DVD software.  iDVD does what I need and is integrated with the other iApps, so it works great for me, but given I only need it once a year, it is the least useful of the programs.

The final program on the Mac which I love and use a lot is Fetch.  I find it a great FTP client.  I also have not found anything as easy, inexpensive, and reliable in the Windows world.  I use SmartFTP on Windows, and it is far more complex.

RapidWeaver, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, and Fetch are the programs that keep me using a Mac.  I also use Pages for one tri-fold brochure that I publish monthly.  I am pretty sure that I could do it in Word, but I have never taken the time to try it.  I could live without Pages.

Beyond those programs, I use Nisus Writer Express for the Mac, Photoshop, and the non-Intel version of MS Office.  I could get by Windows programs that match their functionality so they are not critical to my dedication to the Mac platform.

As beautiful as it can be, it certainly is not the hardware that keeps me using a Mac.  In fact I recently announced my intention to purchase a couple of more Intel laptops.  I got tired of waiting for Apple to come up with I5 and I7 processors in their laptop line. For less than the price of a 15" MacBook Pro with an older processor, I will have two laptops with the latest in processor technology.

When I look at it, the things which keep me on a Mac really have not changed very much in the last few years, but I do think the rest of the world is closing the gap on Mac hardware.  This summer will mark the fourth anniversary of my last Mac purchase.  I am really pleased that my MacBook and dual G5 keep chugging along without any real problems.  Replacing them will be expensive.

I will eventually purchase an iMac with an I7 processor, but I am hoping to see the prices drop.  I think Apple has pushed its premium pricing a little far on the new I7 processor.  I hope the Realmac folks keep churning out new and better versions of Rapidweaver for the Mac.  My guess is that if they went to the Windows world, that might be a tipping point for me.

As it is, I am happy in my world of three operating systems.  I get the best of all worlds, and if something happened to one operating system, I would still have options.   I like being functionally literate in all three worlds.

Tomorrow I pick up my new Windows 7 laptops, so you can expect some reports soon on Windows 7 running on the new I5 and I7 processors.

In the meantime, we have finally gotten some warm weather here on the Crystal Coast.  It is about time, and it certainly beats the snow we had a couple of weeks ago.

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Viswakarma]

You can edit a Word document using iWork's Pages and send it as PDF document. You can not edit a PDF document using Microsoft Word!!!

[ocracokewaves]

Sorry, that the original post wasn't completely clear. I edit the Word document and send as a changed PDF. It is just a click. I find that it is quicker and easier on a PC than on a Mac. I have changed the post to clear up the impression that I might be editing PDFs in Word.

[Joe]

I will be watching for your take on the i7 PC notebooks. I've never understood the need for Fetch, it must be a geek app for running blogs? I went to their site and I still don't get what you gain from this app. Give me a real world example to understand why this is important. When Snagit gets a ruler I may consider the app. Without a ruler it's useless to me. MS Paint in Win 7 works as good for free. With web companies like TypePad, why use Rapid Weaver? I guess if you're a tinkering geek it works. So it comes down to iLife as a reason to pay a wickedly high price for a Mac (with an i7). Hmm, tough sell. No Blueray, only 4GB of RAM (ha), only 500 MB graphics card vs PC 1.5 GB. Apple just loves ripping off their faithful under the guise of cool. Apple has to get a little better on pricing like you said and they'll have to add a few more apps into iLife to make it appealing to PC'ers. And lord, they have to get their gaming act together. They have the money to do some serious challenging here and do nothing.

[ocracokewaves]

Rapidweaver lets me have much more control over a website. I have websites where I pay a hosting company for space, and I create the whole site. The flexibility is much greater. I can put one picture up on the web, a slide show or whatever. While Rapidweaver will work without a FTP client, I prefer to export my website to a local folder on my hard drive and then use Fetch to transfer the files to the web. If you do a lot of photography work and use those photos across pamphlets, websites, cd-roms, and dvds, then iLife makes a lot of sense. The integration is far better than on Windows. I average taking about 100 pictures a day, and I use them on the web and in print material. The Mac is very good at that. However, that said, my first experiences with Windows 7 are very positive, and I love the speed of my HP system with an I7.

[varun]

I have to say that I've had the opposite problem in moving to Mac OS X - there are a few wonderful programs for Windows for which there are no analogues on Mac OS, chief amongst them Paint.NET. Other favourites include IrfanVIEW, 7-Zip and a little mouse tool called StrokeIt, as well as Windows Live Writer, which was a mind-boggling product because (a) it was from Microsoft; and (b) it didn't have an AWFUL HTML export engine. At the time I switched, I was also missing Picasa, which prevented me from switching over full time. I've eventually ponied up for PixelMator instead of Paint.net, even though I'm missing some of the more esoteric and useful functions from Paint.net.

PS - have you tried your hand at http://alternativeto.net/ for some of your programs?