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My Apple-Centric Life
After a series of unsuccessful attempts to recover the contents of my laptop’s internal hard drive I realized it was necessary to replace it and start fresh. Once I was finished installing Leopard and going through a series of software updates I began to install all of my favorite applications. It was towards the end of this process that I noticed something very interesting--I have a Apple-centric life.
In fact I noticed that the only major application suite that I own outside of Apple-land is Adobe’s CS3 Design Premium. What’s more is that when it comes down to it, out of the entire Design Premium package I primarily use Photoshop and Acrobat and rarely use the rest of the suite.
I do have a few favorite third party apps loaded on my machine which I could probably live without, but prefer not to. These include TextMate, Transmit, Versions and Toast as well as a handful of Aperture plugins. On occasion I will install something new to try it out, but these four apps and my plugins are the only players that have found a permanent home on my machine.
So, what Apple software do I use? Well, most of it. If you go to the Apple website and click “Mac” you can scroll across the entire Apple software product line and see for yourself.
Obviously I am a big fan of Aperture. I use Aperture nearly every day and it is a cornerstone of my creative workflow. But, I also love Final Cut Studio, which I have been using more and more these days. Within Final Cut Studio I have been using Final Cut Pro, Soundtrack Pro to edit my audio and Compressor to export my sequences in various formats.
I have also been playing with Logic Pro these days, and trying to learn how to create music on the computer. This is something fairly new to me, but I have always loved playing the guitar and a few other instruments, so I am really excited to see what I can do with Logic Pro. Perhaps I will start incorporating my own sounds into my multimedia projects.
For office tasks I turn to the iWork suite. I sort of ditched Microsoft Office a while back when I realized that iWork was just as good for the types of tasks I do. It’s much less expensive and has a smaller footprint on my machine. In fact, I prefer making Keynote presentations to Powerpoint, and the integration with Aperture is just great.
I used to enjoy playing with the iLife apps, and I still have them on my machine, but these days I seem to be using the professional apps instead. However, iDVD is still very useful to me as it’s one of the easiest ways to author a DVD that I have found. It’s much simpler than DVD Studio Pro, and usually gets the job done in much less time.
Sometimes I wonder if I am being too narrow-minded in my choice of software. But, the thing is, the software that I am currently using is extremely powerful, intuitive and cutting edge. They let me get my work done and give me the creative freedom to work in a style that suits me.
I am curious what other people are using. Do you rely mostly on third-party apps, or are you an Apple-centric person like myself?
Same here. I use Aperture everyday ( with photoshop flavoring occasionally )
For other software I have and love Rapidweaver, for my website and blog and iRatchet for invoicing etc.
I deleted MS office after the demo ran out and have recently bought pages and numbers as part of iWork. Yet to really put them through thier paces tho.
One bit of software I've discovered recently is Motion Pictures HD - part of Toast 8 I think - that is a really nice program although a bit buggy, I'm now creating really pro slideshows for clients with no effort.
Absolutely agree. In fact, life would be one big void without Apple.
I remember an article a long time back about how many hours a day were spent -happily- with Apple hardware and software.
Since then I expect the iPhone has increased that percentage even more for al of of people!
Yeap... Same here... just a few third party utilities but I have come to trust Apple software as much as I trust the hardware.
I just had an internal drive failure, too. I had MS on my old drive, but I did not reinstall it on the new external - I use iwork and I much prefer it.
I use Aperture almost every day, too.
For the sort of tasks you're doing, iLife may well be enough, but if your requirements are more heavy duty then it's about as underpowered as Elements compared with the full Photoshop. While I have some trust in Apple, in other areas it makes sense not to over-commit, so I've always loathed Aperture's vault concept and dislike how Aperture locks adjustment parameters into the database rather than giving you the chance to write it out to XMP sidecars or back into a DNG. If I buy another brand of computer - because that's all Apple is - then I don't want my old computer's manufacturer to be making it difficult to take my work with me. Importing by reference, and using 3rd party backups, at least helps avoid being an Apple junkie.
Just to correct a typo, I meant iWork, not iLife - if your requirements are more heavy duty, then compared with MS Office it's about as underpowered as....
For a videocast I'm working on I use Final Cut, and Aperture for photography. I also got iWork, but mainly just to be able to open spreadsheets and powerpoint files wothout having to install microsoft software on my mac. I rarely actually work with it.
But I'm more of a writer than anything else, so I do rely on third party software. Fort short articles, I use WriteRoom, longer projects are done with Scrivener.
Also I use VoodooPad as a notepad and DEVONthink for organizing all sorts of information. Plus I have become quite dependend on TextExpander.
So I work quite a lot with third party products, but in my day-to-day I wouldn't even know where to begin without Apple. I have two Macs and an iPhone, and everything just integrates seemlessly. Telephone numbers, adresses, appointments, notes, music, just everything is with me where ever I go. Up until a little over two years ago I was a frustrated Windows user, and since then I've been much more productive, and also much more relaxed.
I used to be a complete Microsoft guy... it was Photography that got me involved with Apple and wow! I freaking love it! I am now a total Apple guy. So far, I am so impressed with my MacBook Pro, Apple software and Mac OS X.
I'm an Aperture newbie, I've got both Lightroom 2 and Aperture. So far Aperture is now my main app but wish it included some features that Lightroom 2 has.