Crossing the Software Divide

Switching to a Mac isn't easy. There are dozens of questions that come up about software. As a Windows user you become used to having dozens upon dozens of options with software. When you hear about the limited selection of products for Mac it's a bitter pill to swallow. When switching from Windows to Mac you really need to think out what software you'll use. Below is a quick guide of items potential Mac users should investigate their future options. For those items where Apple includes an application with "OS X" I'll include the name in paraenthesis.

Browsing (Safari)
Email (Mail)
Music (iTunes)
Photos (iPhoto)
Video Editing (iMovie)
Antivirus
Contacts (Address Book)
Personal Finance (Quicken included on certain product lines)
Word Processing
Spreadsheets
Presentations
DVD Burning (iDVD)
Instant Messaging (iChat)

Note: I intentionally left off AppleWorks because it is such a poor performer. Free products like http://www.officeoffice.org are available.

The above list is just a sample of applications most likely to be used. While it's one thing to know what application you're going to use it's another learning how to use it. There's discomfort in switching for most users, but for the average user who shows enough resistence to Microsoft it's good to know you can focus on learning the new software and not selecting it.