In early November I bought my first Apple, a 12 inch PowerBook. The inclusion of a Mac into my computing family is less of a switch and more of a diversity situation, as I am still running machines with Microsoft Windows XP (Pro and Home) and Red Hat Fedora Core 4.

I wanted a laptop so I could work while on the road (a frequent but not usual occurrence), at a coffeeshop, or my backyard. I’m glad I did, but I’m also glad that I have a desktop to compliment the laptop lifestyle.

There are a couple of reasons why I went Apple. One is that I was growing tired of Windows. The desire to spice up my OS life may be a result of the fact that I have primarily used DOS/Windows machines my entire computing life (since mid-1990s), but it was also because I was becoming frustrated with Windows Updates and virus issues. I gave Linux in the forms FC3, FC4, and Ubuntu (The Breezy Badger) a go, but found the hardware problems and update utilities to be both problematic and a hassle.

A second reason why I made the switch was because I wanted to become familiar with OS X. I was promised by several people that interoperability issues were largely solved, although I experienced some basic problems within the last couple of years (on OS 9 machines, however). In particular, ZS’ success and happiness with his switch gave me the extra push to take the plunge (Note: He e-mailed 20051128 to say that he’s having some odd problems).

So far, I am happy. I have had no problems integrating it into my networks (home and work, both of which are Windows dominated) and interoperability issues have been zero, although I have mainly used it for only Web and word processing tasks.

All of the software I have needed so far has been freely available, although I need a free (but not OpenOffice or StarOffice) spreadsheet application. I also need a statistical-analysis software package (e.g., STATA and SPSS). Recommendations?

So far, I have found a good number of useful applications, primarily freeware. Two of the best sites are FreeMacWare and Open Source Mac. Both sites were suggested to me by Ben The former site is useful for small miscellaneous applications and is updated nearly everyday. The latter site is more useful in getting your Mac up and running with all the software you need. I suggest deep visits to both.

Most of the software I list below can be found on these sites.

Web Browsing: After a few days of using Safari, I returned to Firefox, which I use on all of my machines.

RSSing: I’m satisfied with RSS Owl, but think it’s too limited and sometimes a bit wacky (read: buggy). Vienna might be an attractive option.

IMing: Adium is fantastic. Much better than GAIM. I would switch immediately if it were available for Windows.

Media Player: VLC is fairly good for media playing. I do not like it for a music player because of the hassle of loading files, but for video, it is unbeatable because of the number of codecs it comes loaded with. Plus, it can be used to easily stream media anywhere.

DVD Backuping: HandBrake has worked well the one or two times I have tried.

There’s a bunch of other software I have not tried yet and I am sure future needs will require additional software. For now, however, I am happy.