Mac Applications That Should Be On Windows

>> Saturday 26 June 2010

It is good to see microsoft coming up with a better solution than Windows Vista. Yes the latest version of their operating system, Windows 7. Windows 7 is far more better than the older version. The way it supports machines with less configuration is something microsoft can be applauded for. A mac user would miss a few important applications in the Windows OS. Here is a simple suggestion to include a few application, which can bring pleasure to any pc user.


1. QUICKSILVER

Apple can boast itself on how great the OS X and the hardware are, but Quicksilver is an application which makes the OS impressive. Sure, Windows has plenty of application launchers, but this deceptively powerful application for keyboard shortcut lovers puts almost any action you'd want to quickly perform on your Mac at your fingertips, and we'd kill to see a solid, stable, and functional alternative for Windows.
 
2. MAC ON WINDOWS VIRTUALIZATION

It is  not Microsoft's fault that there's no good way to run OS X or OS X applications seamlessly on your PC in the same way Mac users can run Windows operating systems and applications within OS X, but that doesn't change the fact that if you could do so, it would definitely help many pc users. 





3. PREVIEW
 
OS X's default image viewer, Preview, is lightning fast, opens nearly any image file you throw at it from PDF to JPG to TIFF and well beyond and on top of it all, provides a relatively impressive advanced feature set. And while there are plenty of solid PDF tools for Windows, we'd kill for something as simple and lightweight as Preview, built into Windows 7, that also supported, say, quickly viewing a folder's worth of images.






4. CYBERDUCK

When you go looking for a solid free FTP client for Windows, you generally end up using FileZilla. And while FileZilla is certainly functional, it doesn't have close to the impressively broad range of functionality and user-friendly good looks of Cyberduck.








5. ADIUM

Adium is an open source, multi-protocol chat application that's actually based on Pidgin, a chat app for Windows and Linux. The difference: Adium is about a thousand times more attractive, configurable, and fun to use.








6. GROWL

It is not exactly fair to put Growl into this category, particularly because at least two projects (Growl for Windows and Snarl) have tried really hard to gain traction on Windows systems, but unfortunately neither seem to have caught on in a really significant way. This likely has something to do with the fact that Windows has its own (weak) notification system built in out of the box, while OS X does not. As a result, users and developers interested in a nice, unified notification system have incentive to use Growl. Still, we'd kill for a Growl on Windows that works as well and enjoys the near universal adoption Growl for Mac does.

7. FLUID
Fluid is a site-specific browser (SSB) that creates a standalone desktop application from any web site effectively turning your favorite webapps into desktop applications. That may not sound all that impressive, especially since Windows users have the Mozilla-built Prism, but Fluid's robust support for user scripts and ability to hook into the Dock system notification tools like Growl put it head and shoulders above Prism in our experience.

8. SKITCH


We usually take screen shots of the screen for various purposes. It can be for any academic activity or some work related activity. In addition users rely on screenshots to keep a copy of any object they love. we have yet to find anything as simple, effective, and attractive as Skitch. Where most screenshot applications have extremely ugly call-outs, Skitch pays close attention to the way screenshot annotations look, so you're actually proud to share the attractive screenshot you just snagged. Another important feature, Skitch supports one-click screenshot sharing online.









9. GARAGEBAND


Windows has no great, free audio recording and editing application that can hold a candle to GarageBand. Sure, there's Audacity, the open-source audio editing app we know and love, but it's not user friendly, and it certainly does not have the range of GarageBand. While GarageBand technically is not free, since you do have to pay for updates to iLife, GarageBand ships for free on new Macs by default.




 10. NETNEWSWIRE

Most blog readers prefer to read their RSS feeds using Google Reader, and Reader is a great webapp, but if you'd prefer an offline-friendly, desktop alternative, we would rather have something like NetNewsWire than any other desktop newsreader we have used on Windows.

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