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Where are the Killer Apps?

elgrecomac

elgrecomac

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 15, 2008
1,163
162
San Diego
I am new to the Mac. I purchased a MBP about 2 months ago. I was fed up with the twitchiness of Windows and made the switch. Clearly, THE Killer app for the Mac is the OS itself. It is more stable than a window system though it does act up from time to time but, overall, the UI for OS X is a significant leap better than windows XP or vista. So I have no regrets.
But beyond that, the thing I’ve been noticing is the lack of ‘killer apps’ that are Mac-specific. The number of apps in virtually every discipline for windows is extensive and the entertainment/game options for a windows system are equally extensive. Weather they will induce the infamous BSOD is another matter…
So have the Mac-specific developers abandoned the platform for the more lucrative windows market? Where are the ‘really cool’ apps that can only run on a Mac?
 
Garageband, dude! It's amazing! :D Quicksilver too!

I think you're right, though. Mac OS X *is* the main attraction.
 
The last real "killer app" I remember was Napster, since it was Windows only for awhile, that was a really bad time to only have a mac. Macs are still getting the short end of the stick with file sharing programs though. iTunes was kind of a killer app until it went to Windows, but Windows had Winamp which was an itunes killer at certain stuff.

Most apps that can achieve "killer" status tend to be multiplatform now.
 
The killer app for me is definitely Keynote. Let's all those other preso apps look like they are from the 90ies (which they are, more or less).

/Rupert
 
I'll go with Cromulent and David:

+1 Final Cut
+1 Logic
+1 Aperture

Those are some real biggies. You'll be hard-pressed to find Windows equivalents of even the toned-down semi-free versions of those you get with iLife (iMovie, GarageBand, iPhoto) which is a great set of apps in itself.

Photoshop is obviously available for Windows now, but its home is the Mac.

+1 Keynote

That's another good one. Powerpoint runs and hides when it hears Keynote is coming.

+1 XCode

Sure you can get a similar IDE on Windows, but how often do you get the real, complete set of developer tools free included on every single install DVD?

Quicksilver is a free one that's pretty great, if you ask me, too.
 
Photo Booth. It is an amazing app for the mac. Also, it is what makes a lot of windows users switch. They see their warped face and think they need one of these. At least, that's what I did.
 
callmemike20 said:
Photo Booth. It is an amazing app for the mac. Also, it is what makes a lot of windows users switch. They see their warped face and think they need one of these. At least, that's what I did.
Click to expand...

Ahahaha, wow...

That reminds me of a story, that will probably make everyone think I'm an ass, but, I'll tell it anyways.

[rant] When I got my Macbook, I was really happy (and still am) because I was the only kid at school who had a Mac. I felt better because I have the best computer in the school. Well, until I found out there was this girl with a rich family who got bought two Macbook Pros. TWO MACBOOK PROS! What did she needs these for? Nothing. Basic computing tasks. And this is the part that made me really mad. She had to come up to me to ask me how to use photo booth. "How do you take pictures with your computer?" She asked me. I told her, but I was mad. Here, I was being outdone by a rich kid with two professional laptops, who didn't know how to use photo booth. Yeah, I was happy that there were more Mac users around here, but that made me so mad, because I worked hard to pay off my computer. :(

[/rant]

Sorry, guys. I +1 the Logic and Final Cut mention, though. Absolutely amazing applications, and all the iLife programs are great if you're not into doing any of those activities too heavily. (They're still great, but you may need some more professional software) and there are lots of games and programs for OS X. Just google sometime :) you'll find a lot.
 
For me, the Mac killer apps are:

TimeMachine
iMovie
iWeb
Keynote

The biggest weakness for the Mac is the lack of mature, hobbyist-oriented (<$100) drawing / painting programs.
 
ZiggyPastorius said:
Yeah, I was happy that there were more Mac users around here, but that made me so mad, because I worked hard to pay off my computer. :(
Click to expand...

It's not what you've got, it's how you use it. :)

The best and biggest mac exclusives are listed above (FCP, iLife, Aperture, etc), but unfortunately you gotta add iChat. I wish it wasn't mac only, since all my distant family are Windows knuckleheads.
 
Appcleaner does the same thing as Appzapper and Appdelete, but freer. But none of them are killer apps. Windows has a built in uninstaller. Macs don't. I think the only ones are Adium and iLife.
 
Mac only applications:
Bookends, http://www.sonnysoftware.com/
Papers, http://mekentosj.com/papers/
Enzyme X, http://mekentosj.com/enzymex/
Graghic Converter, http://www.lemkesoft.com/
Mellel, http://www.redlers.com/
iWork (especially Keynote, but also Pages ... Numbers needs to mature a bit more before it makes my must have list)
iLife
Omnigraffle, http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnigraffle/
LineForm, http://www.freeverse.com/apps/app/?id=6020

With a looser definition of "Mac only" add:
BioX, http://www.ebioinformatics.org/
Fink, http://fink.sourceforge.net/
(Mac)Pymol, http://pymol.sourceforge.net/
 
But beyond that, the thing I’ve been noticing is the lack of ‘killer apps’ that are Mac-specific. The number of apps in virtually every discipline for windows is extensive and the entertainment/game options for a windows system are equally extensive. Weather they will induce the infamous BSOD is another matter…
Click to expand...

Not true. MacOS has wonderful killer apps, and some have no equivalent in the Windows world. Here are a few:

- iLife: unmatched by anything in the Windows world.

- iWork: a great office suite; Keynote is the best presentations software ever; Pages has incredible layout options (Windows equivalent: MS-Office, the standard office suite, but it also has a Mac version).

- Mellel: best word processor ever for academic use (Windows equivalent: MS Word lacks features for this kind of public; Framemaker is very expensive and not quite there).

- Nisus Writer Pro: great general-purpose word processor (Windows equivalent: MS Word, OpenOffice.org Writer, Word Perfect).

Bookends or Sente: best citation and bibliography managers on any platform (Windows equivalent: Endnote, which costs 3x more, is bloated and developing is slower than a turtle)

- Final Cut Studio Pro: the standard software for video editing, about 50% of professionals use it (Windows equivalent: Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere, both of which have MacOS versions)

- Scrivener: word processor for creative writers (Windows equivalent: Page Four, not nearly as good).

- DEVONThink: a great organizer of documents, very useful for research; the Pro Office version allows OCR recognition (Windows equivalent: none).

- Skim: best software to annotate PDFs (Windows equivalent: Foxit Reader, Adobe Reader, etc. - but Skim is hands-down the best in organizing and finding notes of text).

- Papers: PDF organizer (Windows equivalent: none).

- VMWare Fusion or Parallels: MacOS can run Windows on a virtual machine, so you can have the best of both worlds simultaneously (Windows equivalent: none, Windows cannot run MacOS on a virtual machine).

- OmniOutliner or Tinderbox or MacJournal: outliners and ideas organizers (Windows equivalent: MS One Note, which is also great).

- Abaltat Muse: soundtrack composer (I've never heard of something equivalent for Windows).
 
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