Ready to Switch? Software for the Mac
With the operating installed and running stably, what’s next? Well, since our goal was to create an office Mac, we need the appropriate tools and applications. Apple’s own browser, called Safari, comes pre-installed with Mac OS X, but Firefox and Opera are also available for the Mac platform. Microsoft Office has become the quasi-standard of office suites in the business world, and the good news is that it, too, is available for the Mac. We installed the test drive version of Office:mac 2004 for the Mac and felt right at home. We have heard reports that some users encounter problems migrating their files from Outlook to its Mac counterpart Entourage. Things should change with the release of Office:mac 2008, which is expected to ship early next year and will close the version and functionality gap to Office 2007 for Windows.
If your main field of operation is graphics and image editing, you’ll be glad to know that all of the well-known Adobe applications, such as Photoshop and InDesign, also exist for the Mac platform. After all, this is where most of these applications began their existence. Video editing and animation are also quite at home on the Mac, and you can choose between Apple’s own Final Cut Studio / Final Cut Express and Adobe’s Premiere Pro.
There are a lot fewer tools for handling and moving files, however. For example, Total Command (formerly Windows Commander), a tool we have come to appreciate here at the lab, is not available for the Mac. The closest thing we found to it is a tool called Disk Order 2.5.1. At least Disk order is able to read Windows NTFS partitions. The FTP client Cyberduck is a very handy tool, though, and is even able to open SFTP connections to the iPhone, as we pointed out in our iPhone Workshop feature.
Apple considers its Quicktime player to be the default media player in OS X, alongside iTunes, of course. If you would like a little more flexibility, consider using the well-known VLC media player, which is also available for the Windows platform. The tool Flip4Mac, which is also officially recommended by Microsoft, lets you play back WMV video files. Lastly, the DivX codec along with the DivX player are available for the Mac as well, so that you can enjoy HD-videos and movies up to 1920 x 1080 on the DIY Mac, too.
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Let the bitching of the Mac haters commence!
Let the bitching of the Mac lovers commence!
Actually I'm a BSD lover (Who still likes XP for gaming no matter what Apple and EA may try). The only truly good part of Apple that's in OSX is the Finder (and the fact that you can get the best commercial media apps for what is essentially a BSD). Explorer was one thing I truly hated about Windows, even more so since I got used to the Finder. Where's the no to all option? Why can't folders open for me to drag files into? Why can't I script it and add my own toolbar buttons? It does merge copied/moved folders properly though (less the 'no to all'), where OSX just overwrites the entire branch, although that's because of *nix file handling not Mac.
All the *nix developers who came up with OSX's foundation deserve far more credit for OSX than Apple, as pretty much all the good points about the OS come from it's *nix roots. That was one of the earlier revolutionary steps Apple took, dropping that OS9 rubbish and getting someone else's system to base OSX on.
I really wish Apple had left /etc and the .conf configuration system alone, instead of going with netinfo. That's one place that shouldn't be proprietary, as it makes scripting a pain. Having X11 and darwinports is handy if you really want to dump huge chunks of Apple.
Apple's computers really are overpriced, unless you're looking at them in terms of design and decoration. People spend stupid money on other things just because they look better too. I got an MBP and the design is partly worth it (I wanted a laptop that looked good, so I'd look after it). The clean lines don't catch on stuff, and nothing has broken off. But the maglock connector is a nuisance and useless when there's a network cable plugged into the thing. I won't be buying another Mac for any time soon though. Not everyone can be a trendy design yuppie with lots of money to spend on their image, and I hate the image Apple is trying to sell.
Jobs reminds me a little of Dr. Breen from HL2, a man I thoroughly wanted to punch in the face. At least Bill Gates is more like a geek/real computer (ab)user, and not some pretentious marketing nob.
OSX can WRITE to as well as read from NTFS file systems with free software.