Wanted: Top 10 Killer Apps For Mac, Mac OS X.

We’re a nation that loves lists. Top 10 Lists, FBI’s Most Wanted Lists, Music Charts, Top Movies.

Whatever can be listed, we love it. How about the Top 10 Killer Applications for the Mac? Classic or Mac OS X?

I read through Peter Coffee’s Top 25 Killer Apps of All Time which got me inspired. I agreed with some on the list, not others.

To be fair to Peter’s list, Apple was well represented with 7 of the 25. The list covers nearly 30 years of personal computer applications.

The earliest was WordStar, circa 1978, and VisiCalc from 1979. WordStar was not a Mac application, neither was VisiCalc, though it later showed up on an Apple II.

Apple was well represented by such noteworthy Mac applications as the MacWrite/MacPaint combo of 1984, Aldus PageMaker in 1985.

I have no idea what Peter was thinking by including dBase Mac on the list. Photoshop made the list, of course. As did Mac OS X, and Apple iTunes.

It could be argued that neither Windows or Mac OS X could be considered Killer Applications.

The list got me to thinking. What would be on a list of the Top 10 Killer Applications for the Mac Classic? How about Mac OS X?

Some of them are no brainers like Microsoft’s Word 5.1, or, perhaps WriteNow.

Certainly Microsoft’s Excel, first on the Mac, would be on such a list, no?

What else? Photoshop? Naturally. PageMaker would show up on the Mac Classic list, but not on Mac OS X.

For Mac OS X, I’d put Safari high on the list, along with iTunes, or perhaps incorporate the entire iLife suite as one entry.

PowerPoint for Mac Classic would make the list, perhaps for Mac OS X, too. Is there a clear database entry as a “killer” application for Mac? How about FileMaker Pro?

The problem with Killer Applications is that, by definition, they would stand out, even among other similar applications. That makes it difficult to put Firefox on the list.

Dr. Mac Bob LeVitus came up with a list of Killer Software, either free or inexpensive. I wouldn’t put any of those on my Killer List.

Some Mac users would choose Panic’s Transmit as a killer FTP application, though it could be argued that other FTP apps are as good or as popular.

What Mac applications are in use today that would qualify as an ubiquitous tool that nearly everyone has on their Macs, business or personal? That makes for a much shorter list, Mac Classic or Mac OS X.

Which Mac applications or utilities would you place on a Top 10 Killer Application List for the Mac (Classic and Mac OS X)?