Some Major Programmes WITH OS X Versions
These are programmes which do have excellent Mac versions, often with superior usability in their OS X incarnation.
Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, Powerpoint etc.
Free Real Player
Windows Media Player
MSN Messenger
AOL Instant Messanger (though Apple's own version of this, iChat is free with OS X and is vastly superior)
Mozilla Firefox: the best browser by far for Windows AND Mac
Some Programmes WITHOUT Mac Versions
A notable exception to the rule that programmes are normally available in Mac versions are the online tools brought out by Google and eBay, two very large online presences.
eBay have an excellent tool, Turbo Lister, which allows one to 'make-up' an auction on the local drive of your own computer, then upload the whole thing to eBay in one go. This has the advantage that moving from screen to screen of the listing is very much faster, especially if your Internet connection is slow.
This free utility is simply not available to Mac users, though there is something with similar functionality available online for a small charge.
Similarly, the excellent Desktop Search programme from Google is not available for OS X, though this won't worry users of the latest incarnation of OS X, 10.4 Tiger, as it comes complete with the superb system level search tool, Spotlight.
There is a Downside in Switching to Mac
The massive userbase of Windows machines does have advantages, chief among these is the variet of software titles available for the platform. A lot of these are available for Mac as well, but not all. It's rare to find a programme for Mac that doesn't have a Windows version, but occasionally you might come across a programme you like in Windows that there isn't a Mac version of.
If this programme is one you simply cannot live without, then of course a Mac is not for you.
The Third Best Reason to Switch
With OS X you aren't just buying an operating system!
The 'bundled' user applications included with a purchase of Mac OS X means that it's much more than just an operating system. The set of applications for creating and playing MP3 files, organising photos and videos, writing and sending emails, authoring and burning DVDs etc. etc. are top-class. What's more very little of this functionality appears in a Windows.
The Second Best reason to Switch
Probably the second-best reason to 'switch' to Mac if you're a Windows user is the stability of the 'platform'. A lot of the unexpected things that Windows computers do are, in my opinion, caused by poor integration of the software and hardware.
Apple OS X is only available for, and therefore only runs on Mac hardware. This results in a much more tightly integrated system. A much greater harmony between hardware and software.
The biggest single reason to use a Mac
Security!
It's often said that the main reason Apple Mac's are rarely if ever affected by malware (malicious software) is the relatively small user base, other's argue that it's the basic superiority of a Unix based operating system.
Whatever the reason though, the fact is that Mac OS X just is more secure, and that's ultimately all that matters to users. The reason WHY it's more secure is actually not important.
