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hirstopher

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 14, 2004
16
0
Hi all,

Have had my PowerBook for 2 weeks now, and am quite enjoying it. Have ordered a 1gig ram stick and an airport express, but am now wondering if there's any free mac programs out there that are in widespread use. Since I'm such a new user I'm sort of unaware of what's been happening with mac programs (and where to get them,) so any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Christopher
 
hirstopher said:
Hi all,

Have had my PowerBook for 2 weeks now, and am quite enjoying it. Have ordered a 1gig ram stick and an airport express, but am now wondering if there's any free mac programs out there that are in widespread use. Since I'm such a new user I'm sort of unaware of what's been happening with mac programs (and where to get them,) so any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Christopher

Pretty much all of the stuff that comes with the computer (iTunes, iPhoto etc) is good. www.versiontracker.com is a good place to start for other free programs.
 
Many good apps

Well if you like anything from Adobe or Macromedia you'll be happy on the Mac platform. If you like Microsoft Office (or OpenOffice.org) you'll also be happy on the Mac. All of Apple's i-Apps (iPhoto, iTunes, iMovie, iDVD and GarageBand) and iChat are awfully nice for low-end programs, and many of them have higher-end versions (like Final Cut Express and Pro and DVD Studio Pro).

As to shareware and freeware, as others have already pointed out there are tons of them. I personally am using AkwaIRC (an IRC chat program), the Firefox web browser (I got one of the unofficial PowerPC G4 optimized builds and it works great), VLC for playing videos (it plays some files which Quicktime cannot). I also enjoy some simple games like LBreakout because I'm not into first person shooters.

There are some great programs for the Mac, and if you don't find what you're looking for in the other threads which have already been posted, there's always Google. :)
 
freiheit said:
Well if you like anything from Adobe or Macromedia you'll be happy on the Mac platform. If you like Microsoft Office (or OpenOffice.org) you'll also be happy on the Mac. All of Apple's i-Apps (iPhoto, iTunes, iMovie, iDVD and GarageBand) and iChat are awfully nice for low-end programs, and many of them have higher-end versions (like Final Cut Express and Pro and DVD Studio Pro).

As to shareware and freeware, as others have already pointed out there are tons of them. I personally am using AkwaIRC (an IRC chat program), the Firefox web browser (I got one of the unofficial PowerPC G4 optimized builds and it works great), VLC for playing videos (it plays some files which Quicktime cannot). I also enjoy some simple games like LBreakout because I'm not into first person shooters.

There are some great programs for the Mac, and if you don't find what you're looking for in the other threads which have already been posted, there's always Google. :)

Microsoft is offering a 30 day trial of Office 2004 right now. I've used it, while slow, I prefer over the pc version. Open Office is cool, but I can't seem to get used to it. If you do instant messaging, I love Adium X, I've tried Proteus, but Adium is free and I like the interface. Gimp is a cool app if you want a free alternative to Photoshop. I sometimes play some America's Army when I'm bored. There's lotsa free stuff out there. If you want to change your icons, Candy Bar is very helpful, although I don't really want to pay 12 bucks for it, I'm probably going to end up doing so soon. Ahh, I love my mac!
 
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