• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Mac Software Availibility

N

NulloModo

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Dec 16, 2002
Messages
4,602
Heya,

What is the state of software for the Mac these days? I have always thought they were cool, and would like to get one to mess with, but the big thing always holding me back is that the availiblity of software options seems very small compared to windows.

First of all, I hate paying for software, and refuse to do it if there is any option not to (i.e. I use freeware or Gnu licensed stuff whenever I can, OpenOffice instead of Microsoft Office, The Gimp instead of Photoshop, freeware zip/rar/etc utilities, all that). Are there options for good freeware office, photo editing, illustration, and general utilities on the Mac?

Media content is also a big deal for me. I want to be able to make (legal) backups of my DVD movies and my CD-based games, does the Mac have a (again, preferably free) set of programs to rip a DVD movie and burn it onto another disc, or do a clone-cd style bit for bit copy of a legally owned copy protected disc? How about P2P programs, are they generally accessible on a mac, or do you have to deal with iTunes (blech)?

Games aren't a priority to me, I prefer to game on a console anyway, but I do like being able to just download a program for free to do whatever I like on PC, and I don't want to give this up on Mac. If I got a Mac, would I have to?
 
All of these options are available on the Mac.

For instance, most X-Windows utilities/Application are easily re-compiled (or even distributed in binary form) for Mac OSX, either in the native Aqua interface or for the many X managers for OS X.


There are even very professional apps that are freely distributed for Mac. (Jahshaka comes to mind)

There are also very cheap amazing apps. iLife comes to mind. Possibly the best bundled MM software to date.
 
NulloModo said:
Heya,

What is the state of software for the Mac these days? I have always thought they were cool, and would like to get one to mess with, but the big thing always holding me back is that the availiblity of software options seems very small compared to windows.

First of all, I hate paying for software, and refuse to do it if there is any option not to (i.e. I use freeware or Gnu licensed stuff whenever I can, OpenOffice instead of Microsoft Office, The Gimp instead of Photoshop, freeware zip/rar/etc utilities, all that). Are there options for good freeware office, photo editing, illustration, and general utilities on the Mac?

Media content is also a big deal for me. I want to be able to make (legal) backups of my DVD movies and my CD-based games, does the Mac have a (again, preferably free) set of programs to rip a DVD movie and burn it onto another disc, or do a clone-cd style bit for bit copy of a legally owned copy protected disc? How about P2P programs, are they generally accessible on a mac, or do you have to deal with iTunes (blech)?

Games aren't a priority to me, I prefer to game on a console anyway, but I do like being able to just download a program for free to do whatever I like on PC, and I don't want to give this up on Mac. If I got a Mac, would I have to?
Click to expand...

you mention making backups of things and then P2P in the same post and it makes me wonder.... :rolleyes:
 
How about P2P programs, are they generally accessible on a mac, or do you have to deal with iTunes (blech)?
Click to expand...
This does not make sense. A P2P program cannot play and organize music in a good manner. I've used P2P programs to download music and then organized it in iTunes. (It was legal to download here in Sweden up until july 1st this summer.) The two aren't really mutually exclusive. Either way, P2P is hush-hush around here, for obvious reasons. Also, iTunes fucking rules when it comes to music players/organizers. Huh? :confused:

Anyway, what makes the Macintosh software community so extremely good as it is, is mostly shareware. Shareware costs money, for the most part. Sure, there are a lot of applications where you don't technically have to pay (just dismiss the reminder), but there really is a lot of awesome shareware that you want to pay for.


There are also very cheap amazing apps. iLife comes to mind. Possibly the best bundled MM software to date.
Click to expand...
It's also possible that fish live in water. ;)
 
OpenOffice (NeoOffice) and The GIMP are available for Mac; for free video stuff I'd check out ffmpegX (in combination with OS X's Disk Utility), it's a pretty powerful tool that supports a wide array of formats, all drag-n-drop.
 
Markt435 - You know as well as I do that the 'legal backup' disclaimer is just people covering their asses 99% of the time (of course, I am in that other 1% :cool: ).

Black Morty - Eh, I didn't realize iTunes organized as well, but that is cool to know (not that I would ever really use that feature... all of my MP3s are just loose in random folders all over my computer, I hate dealing with playlists or programs that try to put it all in one place, I like to hunt for a song and stumble upon something else cool to listen to on the way).
 
Abysmal said:
OpenOffice (NeoOffice) and The GIMP are available for Mac; for free video stuff I'd check out ffmpegX (in combination with OS X's Disk Utility), it's a pretty powerful tool that supports a wide array of formats, all drag-n-drop.
Click to expand...

Awesome, thanks for the info there, that takes care of a lot of my needs right off the bat.
 
NulloModo said:
Black Morty - Eh, I didn't realize iTunes organized as well, but that is cool to know (not that I would ever really use that feature... all of my MP3s are just loose in random folders all over my computer, I hate dealing with playlists or programs that try to put it all in one place, I like to hunt for a song and stumble upon something else cool to listen to on the way).
Click to expand...
:eek:

:eek: :eek:
 
Media content is also a big deal for me. I want to be able to make (legal) backups of my DVD movies and my CD-based games, does the Mac have a (again, preferably free) set of programs to rip a DVD movie and burn it onto another disc, or do a clone-cd style bit for bit copy of a legally owned copy protected disc? How about P2P programs, are they generally accessible on a mac, or do you have to deal with iTunes (blech)?
Click to expand...

Software that comes to mind for DVD ripping on a Mac is a program called, Mac the Ripper (Its free too) - http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/22715

ffmpegX is a good program for converting any type of video file (However, it is shareware) - http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/15473

Roxio Popcorn is good for making 'exact' byte for byte copys of CD's, however it is not free.

NTI Dragon Burn is a favorite to use for burning just about anything, all though it is not free - http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/19061
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top