The Best Software Selection Is on the Mac

We Mac users are significantly more spoiled than users of any other platform. We have the best selection of quality applications of any OS. Sure, Windows creams us for quantity, but the best, most popular, industry standard applications are in most cases available on the Mac, AutoCAD being the glaring omission.

Linux users on the other hand, seem starved of those commercial applications, as demonstrated by Novell who is running a survey asking people what applications they would like to see ported to Linux. It is providing some interesting results from a Mac perspective.

The top 10 applications (after 31 days of voting) and reported by Desktop Linux, were as follows (with a “Y” or an “N” to indicate if it is available on Macs):
1. Photoshop Y
2. AutoCAD N
3. Dreamweaver Y
4. iTunes Y
5. Macromedia Studio Y
6. Flash Y
7. Quicken Y
8. Visio N
9. Quickbooks Y
10. Lotus Notes Y

So, according to the Apple Product Guide and a little Internet research, the only applications on that top 10 not available on the Mac are AutoCAD and Visio. Throw onto the available list other popular applications such as Microsoft Office, MYOB, OmniPage, Illustrator and InDesign as well as Mac only applications such as Final Cut, Shake and Logic and Macs have almost blanket coverage. Tell me again why we need Windows?

Why not use alternatives?
It could be argued: “So what? If application X isn’t available on my platform - there are suitable alternatives.” The truth goes deeper though. People being strange beings who like familiarity, want to use exactly the same application. Not something compatible. Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols on Publish.com theorizes on why Linux users still want Photoshop despite having the more than capable replacement in GIMP. He summed it up perfectly in one simple sentence:

Photoshop is simply “The” application that professionals use.

It’s the same with AutoCAD, MS Office, Flash and several others. Some applications are standards and a lot of organizations simply won’t use anything else. Do you think GIMP, OpenOffice and Scribus on your CV will get you a job over a person with Photoshop, MS Office and InDesign on their’s? Rarely.

What applications do you want on Mac?
If you did this survey with Mac users, AutoCAD would be close to #1, but what else would be on the list? Here’s some for starters, including a couple of corporate ones from my past tacked on the end:

MS-Access
MS-Publisher (Bag it you may, but there’s many, many Windows folks who swear by it.)
MS-Visio
Dragon Naturally Speaking
AutoCAD
Various games
Lotus Domino (the server side of Lotus Notes)
Trim Context

So why not switch?
Now of course, all of this raises a question that the Linux folks may discover is hard to answer, if they ever get any of those applications. If they’ve got the software, why aren’t people switching? The Linux folk may just find that they hit the same wall as Apple. There’s many reasons for this, but primary among them is corporate resistance to change. I managed to successfully use a Mac most of the time in my last job, so it is possible.

But for the home user, and the small to medium business, it’s quite feasible to successfully switch to Mac. It is a little like moving from Australia to the USA or vice versa: there is a cost involved and a few new things and idiosyncrasies to learn, but once you get over the hump, it’s smooth sailing and - certainly in the case of switching to Macs - well worth it.

Software envy
Finally, with applications such as iMovie, iDVD, Garageband, iPhoto, Pages, Keynote, DevonTHINK, iCal, Logic, Final Cut Studio, Shake and many others, it’s quite possible that there’s more software for the Mac than Windows folks wish they had; and more traditional Windows software for the Mac than Mac software for Windows users.

We Mac users really do have the best software options of any platform.

So who’s envying whose software?