Useful Mac OS Apps

Day 3

Day 3 was a day about discovering what useful (not just cool) apps are on the MacBook that help make the transition easier for Windows users. Here's a run down of the apps I've discovered.

Safari: This is the default web browser on the MacBook. I haven't fully tested it yet with SharePoint and other Microsoft centric sites, but so far so good. On my PC I use up to three browsers: Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Chrome. Time will tell if I give up on Safari and try Firefox or Chrome. But out-of-the-box, Safari is a solid browser. I have no complaints.

Finder: Windows File Explorer (not Internet Explorer) is a key utility for probably up to 99.9% of Windows Users. It's the one app you use to locate and access files of interest on your hard drive. On the MacBook the application is identified as "Finder." The "Finder" is represented by a goofy two face icon, which I find less then intuitive in terms of representing its intended functionality. But once you launch this app, a very intuitive lay out of your folder and file space is laid out in front of you. It provides an environment that lets you easily hunt for files of interest too, which I can't say is easily offered within Windows Explorer (even the new revamped Windows Explorer offered in Windows 7). I find Finder it an easy to use utility.

PDF Reader: Let's face it. PDF files are a just a fact of life. And therefore it's important to be able to load and view PDF files. For Windows, you need to fetch and install Adobe Reader from the Adobe website. Fortunately the Reader capability is already installed on the MacBook. It's nice not having to download it. Additionally the ability to print to a PDF file (i.e. distiller) is provided for all apps on the MacBook. That fact alone eliminates a huge cost from having to go purchase Adobe Acrobat. Certainly, on a windows box - there's ways to produce PDF files for free as well (i.e., Cute PDF comes to mind), but that capability requires some PC know-how. Fortunately for a Mac newbie that type of know-how is not required.

Spotlight: Windows Search (at least for Windows 95) is weak. Windows 7, command prompt search is better - but I now know what app may have inspired the Microsoft team for Win 7 - it's Spotlight. Spotlight let's you type in anything of interest that you are trying to locate or learn about. It also has a great "history" listing of any user oriented actions (like recent docs opened, web pages, and applications that have been launched.) What confuses me though is that Finder has a search text box for locating files of interest as well - also with a reflection of past search history. But maybe having multiple paths for search on the MacBook is a blessing. On my windows box, by-the-way, I use a great app called Copernic (think Google Desktop without the bloat). I can't compare Spotlight with Copernic yet - but I think Spotlight will fill the bill.

TextEdit: I realize Windows Notepad is not on everyone's top ten list of Windows apps, but it does serve a purpose and can be highly useful for just marking up plain old text. Fortunately, the MacBook offers a comparable app called TextEdit. But, in truth, TextEdit is probably more like WordPad than NotePad as you can affect the font style (italics, bold, underline of text). For real word processing I probably would recommend the iWorks package over TextEdit - but if it's plain old text, TextEdit is find.

Terminal: The one thing I remember I disliked about Mac OS System 7 was that there simply wasn't a command shell (or solid set of commands) to navigate and explore the system behind the Mac OS's graphical user interface. Whereas Windows has always offered a DOS command shell to allow you to move and manipulate files and folder. Fortunately, Mac OS X on the MacBook offers a similar "linux" command shell called "Terminal". My unix / linux commands are a bit rusty and I need to brush up on them, but it's nice to know I have this capability. There's also another app on the MacBook called Xterm that seems to be equivalent to Terminal.

Trial-ware and Pop Ups: Most new Windows boxes seem to come loaded with time-expired trail apps and pop-ups for other apps. So far, the MacBook seems free of any trial ware apps, which is GREAT! - but there is one pop-up nag for service called MobileMe. "MobileMe is the simple way to keep everything in sync on your Mac, PC, iPhone and IPod touch." At least that's how it is marked. Of course I haven't tried it yet. You can signup for a 60 free trial. Or spend $99 for a year service. I plan to stay clear of it as long as I can, but apparently MobileMe is linked to other things within the MacBook like iLink, which, if you try to click on iLink, results in the MobileMe Pop-up nag. It would be nice if the user could associate other web deposit folders with iLink other than MobileMe (such as a corporate FTP site, a network shared drive, or other web storage location like my Google account).

Well that's all I have to share for now. There's still so much more to discover though. I haven't touched on the suite of "creative" tools that the MacBook offers, which you would have a hard time finding on a brand new Windows box. Maybe that will be the subject for Day 4.