I am an enterprise application architect. My daily professional work consists of creating architectural documents and writing code in C# using the .NET Framework. But I do all of this on a MacBook Pro using a Parallels virtual machine or, in now rare occasions, the Boot Camp instance. I run Windows Vista Ultimate in the VM. But I only work in Windows when I have to. Even my documentation work is all done on the Mac side now. Here are the Mac applications I use regularly:
Parallels.VMWare Fusion. This is my VM software. Since I bought this, VMWare has come out with a very nice competing product. But ParallelsVMWare works very well and now has DirectX support so, in theory, it’s possible that I could do some light Windows gaming in the VM now. (Link)
Quicksilver. This is the ultimate productivity app for Mac power users. I admit I did not get into using it for a long time but I use it constantly now. Minimally, it is the best launcher app you will find. Full benefits realized, it will allow you to orchestrate your Mac activity effortlessly. (Link)
Growl. A system-wide notification system. Many apps surface notifications through Growl. (Link)
Pages. This is Apple’s word processor offering. It comes with iWork as well as Numbers and Keynote. It does everything a good word processor needs to do in a beautiful and intuitive interface. I write all of my documentation here. (Link)
Adobe Acrobat Pro. This is the flagship Acrobat program. I use it for several purposes. One, I scan a lot of paper documents into my Mac and they are all scanned in as PDF files. I use this program to manipulate the documents a bit, i.e. rotate pages, delete pages, etc., before committing the document to my repository. Two, I take my scanned timesheet and invoice and combine them into one document which I then electronically FAX. Three, a ton of documentation comes in PDF format and so I use this as a reader also. Four, using Pages I will often “Print to PDF” - a capability built into all Macs - and edit the document using this app. (Link)
Numbers. This is Apple’s spreadsheet offering, also a part of iWork. Fantastic software. Simply awesome. I cringe whenever I look at Excel now. In particular, I like the little things like “Add Row Above” and “Add Row Below” when I right-click on a row heading. Excel expects a user to guess at such things. (Link)
Transmit. A wonderful little FTP client from Panic Software. (Link)
XCode. Apple’s free and included Visual Studio-like software for building Mac Objective-C programs. I think Visual Studio is a little more mature and there are certainly many more tools (Resharper, NUnit, etc.) that integrate with it than with XCode. But it is hard to beat free. (Link)
Safari. My browser of preference is actually Firefox, but Firefox is ugly on the Mac. The next best thing would be Camino, which looks much more Mac-like, except that Camino isn’t compatible with Firefox mods, etc. Safari is lean and fast and works with all of the other software I use. For example, I can clip text from Safari and have it automatically become an item in my OmniFocus inbox. (Link)
NetNewsWire. RSS feed reader. Free. The Mac client is awesome and it syncs with NewsGator (also free) which is available online. And the best part about that is that NewsGator has an iPhone interface which allows me to read the news in iPhone and the fact that I read something is automatically propagated back to NetNewsWire so I never have to read it twice. (Link)
OmniOutliner Pro. Uber outliner/notetaker. This used to be the basis of the KinklessGTD system but that was turned into a real product, OmniFocus. Now I just use this for notes and other tasks where a nice, structured outline format is appropriate. (Link)
OmniFocus. This is currently the market leader in GTD software for the Mac. I tried out all of the other players, including Midnight Inbox, iGTD, etc. and this was the most feature-packed, stable, and best-supported of the group. (Link)
Adium. Instant messenger client. Well, since Microsoft doesn’t make MSN Messenger or Windows Live Messenger for Mac OS X, something else is needed. Adium works great, looks great, and that’s all it takes. (Link)
iChat. Video IM client. If you happen to own a Mac, I can video chat with you on iChat. Sort of a MacBook Owners Club thing since all MacBooks have built-in iSight. (Link)
Coda. HTML editing. Am kinda new to this app but it is made by Panic, which also makes Transmit, and their website is gorgeous. Having now moved into the WordPress world, I suspect I’ll enjoy their FTP-integration even more now. (Link)
Textmate. Text editor extraordinaire. This program makes Windows’ Notepad look like (Link)
Aptana. Everything editor. Aptana is built on Eclipse. Aptana is what I use for Ruby on Rails work - the little I do - and Javascript editing of any significance. You can also use it to edit CSS and HTML but I prefer other apps for that. I do also have a lovely installation of Eclipse which I use for Force.com work. (Link)
Photoshop CS3. I suck at Photoshop but can use it to do rudimentary image editing and preparation. I use it for creating images for my blogs and for images I am using in my top secret iPhone application. (Link)
Illustrator CS3. Illustrator and I have a love/hate relationship. It loves me and I hate it. I suck even more at Illustrator than I do with Photoshop but am able to tweak out some logo work and other single composite image stuff. (Link)
iPhoto. Ah, the ubiquitous photo management app. The latest Leopard version of this improves on the usual with the introduction of Events, a very intuitive way of automatically organizing your photos. iPhoto has fairly good RAW support - at least until you get Photoshop or Aperture involved - and works perfectly with my Canon Digital Rebel. (Link)
iTunes. If you finally give yourself over to the Dark Side and go with a Mac, iTunes, the iTunes Store, and the iPod/iPhone device, you’ll love how easy everything just works. Yes, it’s a closed system but the system works so good you’ll think you’re sucking on a chocolate popsicle made of crack. (Link)
iCal. Kind of a putzy calendar app, really. Apple needs to put more work into this. But, it is free, syncs with Google Calendar and the iPhone, and that is really all I need. (Link)
Mail. Ye olde mail client, now with IMAP! A little slow but it does integrate with everything else in the system. (Link)
Disco. Sometimes an app comes along that is so beautiful you just have to possess it, just to look at it once in awhile. Disco is like that. It burns CDs and stuff. And when it does so, it smokes…literally. And if you blow in your microphone, the smoke dissipates. Really. Hell, I burn CDs for no reason at all other than to show people how the smoke works - it’s that cool. LOL (Link)
Toast Titanium. Burn DVDs and CDs. A little expensive but this is the best program in this category. Always buy the best and you are never disappointed. (Link)
Handbrake. Rips DVDs. I am working on converting all of my non-HD DVDs into huge files which I can store on my Mac and play on my Apple TV. Handbrake does the job. (Link)
Time Machine. Apple single-handedly solved the one thing I could never solve myself - regular and comprehensive backups. Time Machine is a Leopard feature and is pretty much “fire and forget”. It’s brainless. I just plug in my MacBook into my Cinema Display every night when I get home. The Cinema Display has USB and FireWire. I have a terabyte hard disk hooked up on FireWire. When I plug the MacBook into the display, the FireWire drive comes with it. Time Machine wakes up, backs up all of my stuff, and goes back to sleep. I do nothing. Brilliant. (Link)
Photomatix Pro. Convert pics to HDR. It’s relatively inexpensive - at least compared to any camera which allows you to take bracketed exposures - and works very well, with zero learning curve. Of course, as always happens, I bought Photoshop two weeks after I bought Photomatix and found out it has even better HDR support. But Photomatix costs 75% less and is much easier to use. (Link)
OnyX. Mac OS X system optimizer. A free app which I run from time to time whenever I suspect a little cruft in the Mac somewhere. Worked better in Tiger but the Leopard version still works well. (Link)
Wallsaver. Runs your screensaver as your desktop wallpaper. (Link)
Ventrilo. I never use this, except when talking to guildmates when raiding. So I guess I always use this. LOL (Link)
Skype. The industry-standard in VOIP. My household does not have a landline phone - by choice. But sometimes I just don’t care to hold my iPhone to my ear, say for a 2 hour conference call for work. Bust out the headset, fire up Skype (and SkypeOut), and chat away over the Internets. (Link)
XTorrent. The first rule of torrents is, do not talk about torrents. But if I was to talk, I’d say “yo XTorrent!” (Link)