I've now been using a Mac daily for a few weeks now. While the switch has been easy overall I found a number of applications that have been a real help. This blog will focus on a few of those applications.
Launchbar (http://www.obdev.at/products/launchbar/)
"It provides instant access to thousands of files and folders, contacts and bookmarks, applications and preference panes just by entering short abbreviations of the searched item's name. You just hit Command-Space to bring LaunchBar's input window to front, enter an arbitrary abbreviation, and as soon as you start typing LaunchBar displays the best matching choices, ready to be opened immediately." I manage my environment by keyboard strokes as much as possible and on the Mac I found it very difficult to as I did with Windows. Launchbar is so powerful that beginners and power users will love it.
Witch (http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/25871)
While OS X allows the ability to switch between application using Alt-Tab there are limits. In the Windows world each and every window is represented by an icon in the Alt-Tab list. This makes it very easy to switch between various windows. The problem on OS X is that you could have five Safari windows to toggle between, but Alt-Tab doesn't display each window. OS X forces you to switch to the application and then navigate to the correct window. Of course Expose could aid in this process, but Expose doesn't consistently provide the convenience of a functional Alt-Tab. Now enter Witch. Witch provides all the functionality of individual window switching as well as providing the name of the Window along with grouping windows of the same application together. It's fantastic and has been a real aid in helping me switch.
X Resource Graph (http://www.gauchosoft.com/xrg)
This application addressed an issue for the geek in me. While I like Activity Monitor and feel it's much better than the Windows Task Manager it has some limits. When my workstation seems to have some performance issue I like to check things like memory, CPU and network traffic. Activity Monitor doesn't provide the ability to view multiple system counters on the Dock. With X Resource Graph I'm able to display a variety of system counters, weather, stocks, etc. I'm able to resize and position the counters anywhere on my screen and I have immediate access to view the information. I tried two or three utilities providing the same features and found this one to be the best. There are bound to be a dozen others on Versiontracker I didn't look at, but this was filled the void I had and has worked well.
Doug's AppleScripts for iTunes (http://www.dougscripts.com/itunes/index.php)
If you're an iTunes user on the Mac this is a must know about site. The site provides solutions to just about all of iTunes shortcomings. With my Mac/iTunes configuration I store all my iTunes music on a Windows workstation. It works great, however, if I delete music from iTunes it doesn't delete from its source location. This is an issue for any iTunes user who stores music outside of their Music directory. I'm not quite clear what Apple was thinking here, but with scripting solution from Doug it doesn't matter anymore. Doug's script allows me to delete any tracks in iTunes and the script takes care of deleting the songs from my Windows box. Awesome!
RadioRecorder (http://u1.netgate.net/~snowcat/RadioRecorder.html)
I remember sitting in my room as a preteen and recording the radio with a tape deck so I could listen to the music from the radio later. Today, I listen to radio on the Internet and record the music to my hard drive to listen to. Same concept with different methods for the period of time. There are a few good programs on the Windows side I've used for years to capture streams, but had a hard time finding one for the Mac that 1) I liked and 2) had the right price. RadioRecorder met all my requirements. It's user interface provides access to all the options I need and for free it's perfect. It may not look as polished as other products, but with features like transferring music directly into iTunes and scheduling it does more than enough for me. It even captures the sound stream independent of what you're listening to on your computer. This frees you up to listen to one thing and recording another.
Export-Import Entourage (http://scriptbuilders.net/category.php?search=Export-Import+Entourage+X)
Simply put, I could not have moved from Office 2003 on the Windows side to Office 2004 without these scripts. The process is raw and rough around the edges, but the results are worth it for migrating data over from one platform to the other with the most amount of accuracy. Other application I tried for converting data were not as reliable.
All of the programs above have been a tremendous help in settle as I switch into the Mac world. Check them out if you have a chance.
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