Well, not the Apple networking protocol, but Apple stuff in general will be discussed here. Since I refuse to fully succumb to the cult-like mentality most Apple users have, I realize that some of my posts regarding anything Apple tend to be too critical, and are subject to debates.

So in a gesture of good faith, I would like to provide useful information about the said platform from my own experience.

What I will do now is simple: I will objectively list the counterparts PC software have in the Apple platform. Add some insights and some personal opinions, but nothing that can start a war or dissent from either side. I believe this would be important for people who want to “switch” sides but are hesitating to do so since they fear they might not be able to do apply their regular workflow, with their preferred software in the new platform.

But before everything else, let me say that I cannot give a proper assessment as far as value for money is concerned – as I get my software for free. But then, usually if you’re an Apple user – money is no object, you get it because Jobs told you to get it, and the cult seems to be happy living that way.

Ok sorry ’bout that, just one troll okay? Now for the article.

Convergence

Nowadays, you’ll be surprised how easy it is to switch from one side to the other. You can even use the different platforms simultaneously if you wish, since the companies are now trying their best to try to standardize those applications that are used in the big industries.

So your regular word, excel, photoshop, etc. etc. files can be opened anywhere as long as the application has a version for that particular platform. Photoshop files are photoshop files (PSD) no matter what platform you open it from, if you have photoshop for windows and mac, then the same file will open either way. The only compatibility issue one can think of has something to do with versions, which is unavoidable even in a single platform environment.

So having said that… MAC counterparts for PC applications for this set may go something like this:

PC                                      MAC

Adobe Products (Photoshop, etc.)        Adobe Products (Photoshop, etc.)
MS Office Products (Word, etc.)         MS Office Products (word, etc.)
Macromedia Products (Flash, etc.)       Macromedia Products (Flash, etc.)

* Any other well-known software

You get the idea, but just to deviate a bit, it is worth mentioning that Keynote would be a replacement to PowerPoint which I’m sure all windows to mac switchers would definitely accept – just cuz it’s so damn better than PowerPoint.

Also, there is no MS Outlook for the Mac, its counterpart is MS Entourage – and MS, in it’s infinite wisdom, did not even care to provide proper convertors (or none at all even) – okay, second troll, but at least it evened things out.

There is an infinite possibility of matches and/or permutations when it comes to the little apps that make life a little bit easier – the RSS reader, the internet browser, the media player, the download manager. All have different choices from either side, but I will list what I use. But since I get to try most of the software, I think my choices are somewhat decent enough to bear some credibility.

It is worth mentioning however, that from the list, there are some software that the Mac can’t match currently, so the counterpart is more of a quick-fix, and not really expected to be as good as the other (or better)… same goes vise versa. I’ve marked the better apps with an asterix (*)

Here’s my list:

PC                                      MAC

Firefox (browser)                       Camino
Feedreader (RSS reader)                 * NetNewsWire
C1 (photo RAW processing)               C1
* FlashGet (download manager)           iGetter
* Trillian (multi-IM client)            AdiumX
* Hotline (p2p)                         Heidrun
Kazaa lite  (p2p)                       * LimeWire
* CuteFTP Pro (FTP client)              Transmit
VideoLan VLC (media player)             VLC
ABC Torrent (bittorrent)                * Bits on Wheels
* ACDSee (media viewer/browser)         Graphic Converter
Zempt (blog manager)                    * MarsEdit
Nero (CD burning)                       Toast Titanium
* SoundForge (audio editing)            Bias Peak
CakeWalk Sonar (audio production)       * Logic
WinRAR (archive manager)                StuffIt
Huey                                    * Art Directors Toolkit
HexEdit (hex editor)                    Resorceror
UltraEdit                               BBEdit

There are a lot of exceptions above which need to be mentioned, else it would simply not do the apps justice.

• Camino is supposedly Firefox when implemented into a Cocoa architecture (Cocoa is what they call the native program framework for OS X)
• There is LimeWire for the PC, but I haven’t installed it, I made the list based on which apps I left the PC with when I got my powerbook.
• Nero and Toast do the same thing, but are different animals altogether. I like Nero’s overburn flexibility, but I also like how Toast can verify stuff Nero can’t (of course that’s not to say Nero can’t verify at all)
• I have TRIED logic, but though it’s hands down better, I prefer Sonar since I’m used to the interface, and can get more stuff done with it.
• Bias Peak is a pathetic excuse for a waveform editor. I wish Sony would port SoundForge to the Macintosh so I can dump Peak in the bin as soon as possible.
• Winrar is less intrusive, but StuffIt supports more archive formats.
• Huey, in case you didn’t know is a color selection tool, very useful for graphic artists who need the HEX/RGB values of a certain pixel anywhere in the screen, regardless which program is running.
• ACDSee is the best, and should be ported to Mac right away! To get the features of ACDSee, you need to have a combination of apps from the Mac such as PhotoMechanic, Graphic Converter, etc. iView Media Pro, on it’s own, is close to ACDSee I guess, but still, no contest!
• I never got to use UltraEdit that much, so I can’t really compare the two, I’m using BBEdit since there is no HomeSite for the Mac (plus, the more advanced text fuctions that aren’t available in TextEdit/Notepad are in BBEdit.

Lastly, there are apps that aren’t available yet on the other platform, but are worth mentioning.

• Delicious Library (MAC) – I’m sure there are media cataloging software in Windows, but, like ACDSee, Delicious Library should be ported to Windows right away!
• Homesite (PC) – I like hard-coding stuff; it’s cleaner and easier to troubleshoot. HomeSite allows that flexibility of writing your own code, but makes it easier because you still had a whole arsenal of web-dev-specific tools at your disposal if you should need them. BBEdit does an extremely impressive job at replacing that, but still lacks the number of web-specific functions HomeSite has – but then it was never intended to be for web-only use (that’s why I didn’t compare it to HomeSite in the first place)
• QuickSilver (MAC) – I hear people say there is a similar app that does this, but they themselves tell me that it’s a far cry from the real/original thing, so that doesn’t count. QuickSilver is an application launcher that uses semantics. Think of it as Google meets predictive text input. You start typing, then it tries to match what application you most probably are trying to launch – and does an amazing job I might add!

There are a bunch of other stuff I probably missed, but these are what I can think of as of the moment. So to all you “switchers” to either side, I hope this piece of information will prove to be helpful in your decision.