The A-List: Top Mac Software For A Windows User.

A Windows expert switches to the Mac and finds the very best Mac software. What did he choose?

Would you use what’s on his list as the best of the Great Mac Software Hunt? What advice would you give to a switcher from Windows?

Scot Finnie, writing in Computerworld, says there are many misconceptions about the Mac. The worst, he says, is that there’s no software for the Mac.

We know that. Now Scot knows it, and he’s telling people. Scot’s a switcher from Windows and took a 10-year hiatus from Mac using before picking up a Mac mini a few years ago.

What got Scot to switch back to the Mac was an Intel-based Core Duo MacBook Pro. His experience is similar to many switchers from the Windows world, though his choice of what he considers top Mac software is not typical.

Scot’s A-List is a dynamic list as he tries out new Mac applications and adds and subtracts from the list. Generally speaking, Scot was impressed with the amount of Mac software that’s available for OS X.

Tops on any switcher’s list will be browsers, and Scot starts there. He calls Safari his default browser but doesn’t love it. Let’s call Scot a bit geeky, and the geekier among us love the add-ons, such as those found in Firefox.

Elsewhere, Scot fell in love with SnapNDrag from Yellow Mug, but devotes a bit of time dissing it and the more powerful cousin, Ambrosia’s SnapZPro X.

Old habits die hard. Without a virus to be found on the Mac, Scot tries out ClamXav and Intego’s VirusBarrier, obviously not wanting to spread Windows viruses to his Windows friends.

He even says he’ll check out Norton Anti-Virus for the Mac. That says more about Scot than it does about the virus industry on the Mac.

In a wonderful attempt to spread a limited list of Mac software over as many web pages (generating many more ads than necessary considering the quality of the list), Scot disses Adobe’s Dreamweaver for the Mac, preferring HomeSite on Windows instead.

The dissing continues with a few pokes at BareBones’ venerable BBEdit as a poor HTML editor, preferring the free and capable Taco HTML.

For corporate email Scot choose Lotus Notes. If it’s corporate email, is it much of a choice? Again, choices tell us about the man’s perspective. He’s still stuck on Eudora and some decidedly quirky ways of handling email.

Do you filter your outbound email messages? I’m willing to bet that 99.9-percent of all email users, Mac or Windows, don’t, and never will.

The so-called A-List of Mac software, according to an expert Windows user who came back to the Mac after a decade away, includes more than a few titles that are probably on your Mac.

There’s Microsoft Office. Again, that’s not much of a choice, since most businesses require it. He likes SuperDuper!, so we have something in common.

There’s multiple FTP (file transfer protocol applications) clients on the list. Even Adobe Reader makes the cut, as does the Apple iApps, ranging from iCal to iChat to iPhoto and iTunes.

On Scot’s list of Mac applications “under consideration” are Quicksilver, PathFinder, Camino, OmniWeb, NetNewsWire, and the anti-virus app that won’t die, Norton AntiVirus 10.0 for Mac (also known as the destroyer of hard drives in all 50 states and Canada).

Scot has switched back to the Mac from Windows and is checking out the Mac landscape for worthy Mac software. Search away, Scot. May the lords of productivity help break your obviously Windows-oriented habits in favor of a New World Order for your Mac.

What Scot has done is help dispell the myth that there’s not much software for the Mac. True, there’s not as much as is available for Windows, but there are literally thousands and thousands of titles. I have over 100 on my Mac. How many do you have (not including those that come from Apple)?

If you were to compile a list of Mac software for a Windows switcher to try, what would be on your list? Share your perspective in the Comments section below.

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