No Software For OS X?

It's true, we don't have a zillion wordprocessors or quirky shareware as the Wintel world does. But we have 99% of what matters (and some they don't have). The Mac user experience compensates hughly for the remaining 1%.
As for games, we have all the important games. If you wan't more, or you're a serious gamer, you buy a PS2 or an XBox anyway.

Actually, the Mac has great shareware. Always has. The advent of MacOS X has also brought a lot more great freeware to the platform, as well. People worry about not being able to buy Mac software on $20 CDs at Office Depot. However, we can download stuff off the 'net that is far superior to most of the commercial Windows junk.

Eh, serious gamer?

I play a casual game from time to time. Mostly old ones, like Quake 3 and Warcraft 3. But from the days of console gaming, I miss some stuff. Serious car games. Where are they?

Colin McRae Rally would be nice. Trackmania. A couple.

Is FarCry coming?

But as for shareware, I think we're fine. I, at least, have nothing to complain about. :-)

Here's a software sub-question: what word processors exist for OS X besides Mellel, Nisus Writer, Appleworks and MS Word? And of those four, does anyone have comments about the quality of the first two? I'm particularly interested in style and page formatting control.

This is the best answer to your question that's I've come across:

Quote: "90% or more of the applications which are running most of the time on most personal computers are much better on a Mac, which has fewer of each type of application but often the best in category. More elegant, more functional, and especially more intuitive. Even Microsoft's programs are generally better on a Mac. Not faster . . . better."

says it all really

Do viruses count as software?

If so lack of this software for the Mac OS X stops people thinking of buying Mac.

The software I miss the most on OS X is Delphi.

Also, most cell phones come today with software for configuring, backup, SMS/MMS prepating/sending. There's never any software for the Macintosh, it's always Windows only (granted, some functionality is provided by iSync).

Same goes for memory sticks that offer extra functions (encryption, password protection etc.)

There's no Mac software for configuring my satellite receiver.

CD/DVD extras are also almost always Windows only (ok, this is not a specific software that I'm missing, but I wanted to mention it anyway).

Access for Mac would be nice (but only because I have to use it professionally).

The mac doesn't have Worms 2 or the Age of Mythology Expansion Pack (which is a very good thing for my productivity).

Doesn't have DeLorme Street Atlas grr. Hey DeLorme you idiots I would buy your stuff but I guess I'll be a Route 66 customer from now on! And they're way cheaper, granted their software is bare bones. I'd love a OS X Topo or Street Atlas. Ah well. Maybe someday when the market share gets back to 10%. Anyone know if the overall market share is growing, and if so to how much?

For professional users, Softimage XSI and Maya Unlimited to name a couple. Granted Maya Complete accounts for a good chunk of Maya sales, unlimited is still missing.

For the most part though, we have a lot of great applications.

specifically for Mac OS X is the keyword here Obviously there is a certain lack of software designed for the 6 year old. I don't know, IF this is an issue in U.S., but outside U.S. it is quite an issue. Indeed.
I don't know whom to blame, apple? kid game developers? Off top of my head i merely know 4 games devoted for X, on the other hand there are tons over tons of software designed for Win.XP. And no there is not only WinCrap kid software, though!

best

There are a lot of unique and great softwares available for Mac that are NOT available for Windows. And they are quite striking. And now that Mac is UNIX there are even more examples.

If more people complained to manufacturers and refused to buy products that don't have configuration software for Mac, it would soon appear.

If I'm having a bad day, nothing cheers me up better than going into a high-end electronics store, having a salesman spend a lot of time demonstrating lots of expensive gear and then telling him/her that I'm going to look elsewhere because I won't be able to configure any of that gear from my Mac.

I also send at least 1 letter a week to some manufacturer informing them of my decision not to buy their product because their software is not available for Mac.

Well you it seems many of you are misinformed their are tons of software for Mac OS X. goto versiontracker.com also Made4Mac . As for games for mac check out ID software and MacPlay and Aspry. As for Maya Unlimited your right there is no mac version but you can get the plugins for complete and get the same functionality. Take note that there is also mac only software out there.

There are definitely some areas that OS X lacks almost any software in. We've had a few people come through and ask if there's anything like consumer home design software for the Mac. Aside from Microspot Interiors, there really isn't. The Mac also lacks on the other end of the 3D world, where some *very* high end CAD/CAM software isn't available for Macs either (or not Mac-ready might be a better phrase as they are often unix wares, not even Windows versions). There's a ton of stuff that comes close though and a bunch of things are available in the prosumer and creative pro markets (usually geared towards architects and industrial designers).

Most if not all mainstream genres are pretty well-covered though, and the Mac certainly has plenty of choices for creative needs in general. Games and business /financial softwares are more limited, but the few options Mac have in these areas are often pretty good.

Macs do have their share of crap too, just that it tends not to float to the top. Exceptions being things like Quicken that are buoyed by their popularity on the Windows side and therefore deemed "important" for the viability of Macs in some environments.

"Real computers are NOT designed for fun and games, but are designed for productivity, like Macs."

-Me

I understand that there are 3rd party tools that give you similar functionality as Maya Unlimited. The problem is that, most of those solutions are different as far as their approach goes. They do not SEAMLESSLY integrate with Maya. Granted some of those tools, including Shave & Haircut and Syflex, are a lot faster and better than Alias' solution, for those that are trying to learn, 3rd part solutions is a weird way to go about it.

I love my Macs and use them everyday, but there are still a few reasons for keeping my Optetron workstation around, granted those reasons are getting less and less.

foad, check out the development version of abiword, originally a Gnome/GTK app being ported to OSX. Note that it is 'devel'.

http://www.abisource.com/download/development.phtml

Oh my god, - the worst thing is, you mean what you say, hm? What you are saying is: 6 year old should get a PC, because kids do not tend to operate a computer in a productive manner. Did i get that right?

mac is missing two VERY VERY important...CRITICALLY important programs:

AutoCAD
3d Studio Max

Otherwise, architects would be all over the mac...though many prefer the mac and keep a pc just for autoCAD work

okay, i feel i need to say something here. first, you're right, autocad has an enormous marketshare and mindshare in the architect community. but having been trained in autocad r14 long ago when it was all the rage, i have no clue why people use the software. if you think word is counterintuitive, try using what is supposed to be a drafting tool where almost every customizing function is buried in a dialog box. there were some late evenings int he computer labs where i just wanted to punch the screen.

personally, i just want someone to come out with an autocad competitor that's 514% better, and is cross-compatible with autocad files. THAT is what mac os x really needs.

i completely agree. i was looking at the situation a little one-dimensionally. but who will make this tool? people around here use form*Z, but that is hardly an autocad replacement and doesn't do much at all very well.

I do envy the mac office users, the new apple version (office 2004?) has a notebook /w tabs feature.
Us windoze goobers have to pay $99 (student price via efollet) for that, it is a sand-alone app called "one note" gee, the names of new office apps are getting really retarded but i digress; why is the mac version of a Microsoft product superior to the same app on their own windoze platform?

Sorry but M$ is screwing its own user base, and no one even notices, just imagine if apple, say launchet a new version of itunes on windows without updateing the mac version, or chargeing for the mac update, you guys in the mac community would be storming 1 infanant loop.

All Endeavor products
Ariel
Access

Good CRM software. I do download the trial version of all those I can find, but most are flakey or require a degree in computer science to set up.

Well, as far as CAD and 3D, IMO 3D MAX and AutoCAD are the two worst apps out there for their respective purposes.

Form Z is stinky for drafting, and while you can get excellent models and renderings from it, it takes a lot of work. The presets suck. However, it has arguably the most tools at your disposal and certainly caters more to architects than character animators. But it's not a one stop shop for architects either.

AutoCAd is only important because it has a large share of the market. People seem to think it's a better solution, but honestly, aside from AutoDesk making life difficult for us by changing the DWG format arbitrarily, it's not worth having it most of the time. I mean it's really bad. I'd rather see MicroStation back on Macs. I'd condider it much more closely, while I would barely look at AutoCAD, just keeping it on a cheap PC box to one side.

3D Max is also popular but isn't nearly as essential. Maya Complete is far better and even pretty good for architectural use. I remember when it was da shiznit, but that was almost ten years ago now. It's been overrun by other software that's more affordable, better designed, more extensible and non-procedural (or non-linear if you prefer) done by responsive developers.

ArchiCAD is as close to a one-stop shop in drafting and 3D as you'll find anywhere. Vectorworks' 3D isn't so great, though there are some aspets of it I just love (works more like Illustrator or Freehand in some basic, smart ways), but it's a very good 2D app. The list goes on on the high end and low end for architects. It's just aCAD that shakles people to PCs when, to me, it's not worth the torture. AutoDesk is the Quark of the AEC world.

As i understand it, Maya has basically abandoned their mac development, claiming it isn't profitable. It seems that Maya is more appropriate for hollywood-type stuff than modeling, but i could be wrong

I would find that a little hard to believe since they just released Version 6 a few weeks ago for the mac. Plus Pixar just made the switch to Mac only. I also hope they do not stop future development.

They won't, because they sell 1/4 of all Maya Complete boxes to Mac users.
And more would jump on the wagon if Alias would bring Maya Unlimited to the Mac. It would give large(r) companies a reason (more) to switch.

Maya isn't going anywhere on the Mac. As someone mentioned, Alias is making over a 1/4 of their money from the Mac platform. Alias is actually pretty devoted to Mac development. They just recently released SketchBook Pro for the Mac and from what I hear from my friends at Alias, it is doing pretty well.

Missing software?

Sigma Plot (the best data analysis software package I can think of).

WebLab Viewer Pro (a .pdb viewer for looking at protein structures).

Sculpt (another .pdb viewer for looking at biological molecules)

Numerous software packages that run confocol microscopes, imaging systems, laser systems, fluorsescenc equipment, patch clamp rigs.....etc. They are all made to run Windows because they can bundle cheap computers to run the equipment. They never port these programsover to OSX.

There is simply not as many scientific programs available for OSX as there is for Windows. I think that Apple needs to get more of these professional scientific programs over to OSX - not sure if you guyw know this but Apple's market share for scientsits at Univerisities is probably around 40% plus. If Apple wants to hold onto that, they better make some changes.

-Dr.Bimane

Apple seems to be aiming for the computational market instead of the controller market, for better or worse. Their Biotech Cluster is pretty kick ass... but it won't control your equipment. :/

I think that most of this is due to the braindead control hardware used in most scientific equipment: RS-232, straight serial, etc. USB and such are simply overkill in most cases. The older ports can still be found on most Wintel boxes sold, but not on a Mac.

What I'd love to see is a simple breakout box that offers USB, an array of older ports, and something like NI-DAC (National Instruments' controller software/hardware). It shouldn't be *THAT* hard for most general cases... but, of course, it'd be yet another purchase for a Mac user... *sigh*

ThousandStars3 - Look for Tex-Edit\tPlus (not TextEdit). Personally, I use QuarkXpress.

progmac - Someone has Autocad working in Virtual PC using WindowsNT (Nasty Thing) that runs as fast as his native 2 Ghz PC. Search on (http://www.macwindows.com/). Also read some reviews at architosh.com for alternative programs.


I never knew what shovelware meant until I was forced to use winblows. 100 versions of a program don't count when 99 of them suck badly.

The Mac is missing key engineering programs that would be perectly suited to running under OS.X, but many developers are not keen to spread. For example Dassault (makers of Solidworks) are according to Architosh 100% devoted to development for Windows.

PTC Pro/Engineer
Dassault Solidworks
IBM Catia
Rhino
AutoCAD

All missing from the Mac, and there is no incentive to make them as no engineering companies use Macs, and because the software isn't there they have no intention of buying them, and because they have no intention of buying them there is no software. Self perpetuating circle really. Also all these are held back by the lack of high end professional graphics cards for the Mac like the ATI Fire etc etc


Chris

Steve Jobs Announced Today at WWDC that Maya Unlimited is coming soon to the Mac. Yeah

I'l agree, and disagree on that one. If your a serious gamer buy a Console, and bare bone PC just for gaming. Good monitor, Good card, Fast processor. Spend about $1,500.00 or so, and your set. ($1,500.00 was a guestimate)