What’s the ‘killer app’ for a Mac?
If I had to pick a "killer app" for a Windows device, it would be Microsoft OneNote. That’s arguable of course and just my personal preference. OneNote is a SAS to me; a "Swiss Army bit o’ Software" because it’s easy to use and it provides features and functions that maximize my productivity. If you have any doubts on the personal experience, we’ve got plenty of items in our OneNote category that should enlighten.
Now I find a dilemma. What’s the "killer app" on a Mac? Is it a solid browser like Camino or Opera? How about Quicksilver; a name that I see bubble up to the blog surface repeatedly? Parallels is fantastic too, but that gets me back to Windows apps and eats up my battery. The floor is yours; can you lend a mobile brother a hand? Share your "killer app" for Mac in the comments and be sure to tell me why I should try it.
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I’d say Final Cut. Although it doesn’t fit in the scope of what you’re talking about, a lot of people I know went Mac because of the ease of use to produce video.
I will vote for Parallel :) Their coherence mode is one of the best virtualization that I ever see so far.
The killer app on a mac is Boot-camp, since it allows you to run Windows natively! LOL!
[runs into a bunker against the napalm throwers]
Quicksilver. I truly believe that Quicksilver represents the future of human-computer interaction. I literally bought my Macbook for it, after writing a Quicksilver clone for Linux and realizing the true depth of how many plugins I’d need to write.
There are so many. I would start with a “thinking tool”, like an outliner, you have plenty to choose on the Mac platform. For a quick list, take a look here http://www.atpm.com/9.10/atpo.shtml
Also Quicksilver is a must.
Quicksilver. You absolutely must try it. I’d recommend starting slow, thoug, as its power can be a little overwhelming. Start with the clipboard history (by enabling the shelf plugin) and also turn on the “web search” stuff.. Then I’d just start by assigning a few hotkeys to iTunes and google search.
Now every time I go to a windows computer or a mac without Quicksilver I catch myself trying to invoke it, then I freeze, then I think “How do I get to X again and why does it take so long?”
The killer app is FUN.
http://mikecane.wordpress.com/2007/03/13/does-apple-hold-the-key-to-breaking-open-computing-everywhere/
Stop focusing on software. It’s the experience.
TextMate (http://macromates.com/) is the best text editor I have ever used. It’s a thousand times better then BBEdit and it does almost anything you want from editing Unix files to multi-folder php/ruby sites. I have even used it to edit AS 2.0 stuff but for that I prefer Eclipse with the FDT plug in. This really applies to web developers so your mileage may vary.
Honestly, I think OS X is the Killer App for a Mac! BTW great site, thanks for all the good advice you have given me…
I don’t have one for the mac but for the pc I would have to say that my killer app is video games. Video games are what got me into computers and keeps me interested. I am a computer programmer and the reason I am in this profession is because of video games.
So far, my commercial app of choice Final Cut Express HD. For $99 at the time of my purchase of the iMac, it has proven to be the coolest thing I own. But really? OS X is my Killer App. The FreeBSD core and terminal window give me access to all sorts of scripting, tools, and automation that would’ve taken years on a Windows box. Instead of loading the weather on a site, I pop open my Dashboard every day and get everything I need before I leave the house in one click.
Plus the Core2Duo 2.0 with 2 GB of RAM is fast. Really really fast.