I Use More Software on my Mac

I'm not quite sure why, but I'm finding I use more applications on a daily or weekly basis than I ever did on my Windows computers.

On a Windows machine, I generally used Notepad, Word, Source Safe, Eclipse, Firefox and iTunes. Sometimes I would have to fire up Putty or an FTP client, but generally my software world was limited to my browser and an editor.

But on my Mac, I consistently use a variety of applications. I use Coda as my tool of choice for working with my PHP files. I use Textmate for quick text notes. I use Quicksilver to launch programs. I use NetNewsWire to read my RSS feeds. I use MacGourmet to track my recipes. I use Skype cause my boss makes me. I use Mail.app instead of using Gmail's web interface. I use OmniFocus to manage my many to-dos. I use Parallels to let me run Visual Source Safe. I use Safari for general web browsing. I use Firefox to debug Ajax problems. And, I use iTunes and iPhoto to interface with my iPhone.

I'm not sure what it is about the Mac that makes me more prone to collect data and to ditch web apps in favor of desktop apps. Heck, I'm even tracking what I eat and how much I exercise on my laptop. This sudden obsession with data has one bad side effect. Now that I enjoy maintaining data on my computer, backups have become important. In my Windows days, I never hesitated to dump any data I had and reformat my hard drive. Now, I find myself saving iTunes libraries, MacGourmet recipes, and OmniFocus projects and tasks.

Also, I find I'm buying a lot more software for my Mac than I did for Windows. There are plenty of free, open-source programs for OS X, but I've fallen in love with some beautifully designed and simple to use shareware. This is almost making me want to learn Cocoa so I can take a crack at creating my own applications. Perhaps after the iPhone SDK comes out.