Alex King suggested Launchbar over Quicksilver and I have never looked back. VMWare is much faster than Parallels due its ability to handle duo-core, istats is a great menubar app to track everything that is going on with your computer, and to make your MBP looks snazzy – check out Gelaskins http://www.gelaskins.com.

I'm curious – why are you running VMWare? I generally think of this as server software.

via email – http://myskitch.com/invites/KAAALPAAP

Okay, here goes:

I use:
* Quicksilver – http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/ - This is so much an integral part of my workflow, I get annoyed when I use someone else's computer that doesn't have it installed.
* Flip4Mac – http://www.flip4mac.com/ - play wmv files in quicktime
* Growl – http://growl.info/ - system notifications
* Synergy – http://wincent.com/a/products/synergy-classic/ - iTunes control in your menu bar
* Adium – http://www.adiumx.com/ - chat client, video support coming soon
* Adobe CS3
* BBEdit – http://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/ - because I'm old school and like just using a text editor for anything that I write (including this list)
* Ecto – http://infinite-sushi.com/software/ecto/ - blog posting software
* Eudora – again, I'm old school. This is the way I roll… and I have a 15 year mail archive. (yes, i know it's been open-sourced and slowly being ported to the present)
* iWork 08 – While I have Office, all of the iWork apps are a nicer experience. Office is supposed to be revised in early 2008.
* Linotype FontExplorer – http://www.linotype.com/fontexplorerX - traditionally better than OS X's built in font mgmt tools, although I don't know if that's still true in Leopard
* NetNewsWire – http://www.newsgator.com/Individuals/NetNewsWire/…- you should have a built in bias for this
* Parallels – http://www.parallels.com/en/products/desktop/ - (although I think I'd go for Fusion at this point)
* Saft – http://haoli.dnsalias.com/Saft/index.html - nice addition to safari's abilities
* SlimBatteryMonitor – http://www.orange-carb.org/SBM/ - takes up less room in the menu bar
* SuperDuper! – http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuper…- critical disk cloning utility. Use it conjunction with these external drive enclosures – http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Co…(which draw power from the bus and don't need a separate power supply)
* The Unarchiver – http://wakaba.c3.cx/s/apps/unarchiver.html - more capable unarchiving tool than what's built into os x
* Transmission – http://transmission.m0k.org/ - the best torrent client on a max (although xtorrent is a good second)
* Visual Hub – http://www.techspansion.com/visualhub/ - video format conversion tool
* VLC – http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ - plays more video formats than quicktime (even with flip4mac), make it a little nicer with the Makeover kit at http://macrabbit.com/goodies/
* VPN Tracker – http://www.equinux.com/us/products/vpntracker/ind…- vpn client, not yet updated for leopard
* WeatherPop – http://weatherpop.com/ - unobtrusive weather in the menu bar

I'm glad I have:
* Acquisition – http://www.acquisitionp2p.com/ - p2p for the mac
* AppFresh – http://metaquark.de/appfresh/ - keep apps up to date
* AudioHijackPro – http://www.rogueamoeba.com/audiohijackpro/ - audio recording tool
* Chicken of the VNC – http://sourceforge.net/projects/cotvnc/ - VNC client
* Cocktail – http://www.maintain.se/cocktail/index.php - useful system tool
* Coda – http://www.panic.com/coda/ - beautiful web dev app, although i just use a text editor
* CSSEdit – http://macrabbit.com/cssedit/ - brilliant and lovely css tool
* Disco – http://www.discoapp.com/ - nice disc burning tool
* Dupin – http://dougscripts.com/itunes/itinfo/dupin.php - helps managing mp3s in itunes
* ElectricSheep – http://electricsheep.org/ - beautiful screensaver
* Firefox
* Google Earth
* Google Sketchup
* Handbrake – http://handbrake.m0k.org/ - video extractor (DVDs and more)
* OmniGraffle – http://www.omnigroup.com/ - nice charting tool, similar to visio
* Stellarium – http://www.stellarium.org/ - great planetarium
* Tangerine – http://www.potionfactory.com/tangerine/ - playlist creation tool, very cool
* Tinkertool – http://www.bresink.com/osx/TinkerTool.html
* Yummy FTP – http://www.yummysoftware.com/

I like, but don't personally use that much:
* Bento – http://www.filemaker.com/products/bento/features….- Filemaker's new database product
* Midnight Inbox – http://www.midnightbeep.com/ - GTD app
* OmniFocus – http://www.omnigroup.com/ - another GTD app
* OmniOutliner – http://www.omnigroup.com/ - outliner
* OmniPlan – http://www.omnigroup.com/ - project mgmt
* The Filter – http://www.thefilter.com/ - itunes music companion

My Lenovo X61 Tablet has been great until Vista. While the problems were minor annoyances at first, in the past few weeks my X61 freezes and blue screens MUCH more frequently, and seems to suffer from almost constant indigestion. (Perhaps it was one of those clandestine Tuesday night Windows updates that's sent the thing haywire).

I'm eager to hear how you find the migration, particularly after your earlier post “Why I'm Installing Vista On All My Computers.” If all goes well, perhaps I'll do the same at the end of the year.

Marc Andreessen probably has the most comprehensive list around for a new convert. He wrote it all up here:

http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/06/the_ideal_os_x_.ht…

This is an awesome list. If you go with Mail, check out Mail Act-On: http://www.indev.ca/MailActOn.html

OmniFocus is the best realization of GTD I've seen so far.

I personally hate MS Office (including Entourage) because it's not optimized for Intel, or at least the version I got stuck with isn't. I use NeoOffice whenever possible.

This is an awesome list. If you go with Mail, check out Mail Act-On: http://www.indev.ca/MailActOn.html

OmniFocus is the best realization of GTD I've seen so far.

I personally hate MS Office (including Entourage) because it's not optimized for Intel, or at least the version I got stuck with isn't. I use NeoOffice whenever possible.

All of these are good lists. The ones I could not live without:

Adium
Quicksilver
Firefox (can't use google docs in safari)

Funny, I did this same thing a couple of weeks ago…although I didn't destroy my Windows laptop. Here's the stuff I'm using, as a recent Windows convert:

Safari 3 (built into Leopard) – I used to hate Safari, but IMHO they totally nailed it in this version. Totally rocks, so I don't need no steeenking Firefox.

NetNewsWire – of course.

iWork 08 – I've been fighting hard trying not to use Office 2004, and the iwork apps have made this pretty seamless.

Mail and iCal – we're an Exchange shop, so all my stuff was there. Since I didn't love Entourage 2004, I've been using Mail (connected to Exchange), and iCal and Address Book. Never really got address book working the way it should with Exchange, but I just synced it from my iPhone and use it as a master now. And iCal is a bit of a hassle using with a whole office that's using Outlook/Exchange, but I've got it down to the minimum pain possible now I think. I like it – for example, searching in Mail is super-fast.

VMWare Fusion – I hardly ever use it, but it totally works.

Verizon EVDO – didn't even have to install the Verizon software, the Expresscard support is built in. Super cool.

Photoshop and Lightroom – for my photography stuff.

Adium – I like iChat better, but adium talks to MSN.

Twitterific.

I think that's most of what I use on a daily basis…but I've gotten some good ideas from this post!

In an earlier comment, I described my similar frustrations with Vista and a ThinkPad. Since that comment I've tinkered and tinkered, and found uninstalling Google Browser Sync pretty much solves my system stability 100 fold. I miss browser sync, but if the only other option is moving to a Mac without Outlook 2007, I'd rather go browser sync-less.

I just have Skype and that's it!

I did exactly the same about 18 months ago, I switched from Windows to Mac… and never regret the day.
Anyway, here's my short list: NeoOffice (instead of Office) have been using it since my switch and never had a problem with opening docs that come from Win users or vice-versa. If you are working in heavy Windows environment, just make sure that you change the default file format to .DOC. It kind of annoys people if you send OpenOffice formatted documents .
Keynote (comes installed as trial software), great effects and intuitive to use for presentations. Slide transitions with the 'cube' effect always lead to "Can I do this in Powerpoint? Nope".
Cyberduck (free) or Transmit (license) for FTP.
MarcoPolo (free): great tool to change settings depending on location (it can recognize SSIDs and change printer settings, drives etc based on wifi network detection)
VMWare: for those cases where you need to use Windows (most of the times this means where you are being forced to use Internet Explorer, because banks etc. write apps with ActiveX components)
SpanningSync: great tool to synchronize Google Calendar with iCal.
AppFresh: for a centralized update of different applications

I am pretty sure that after the initial learning curve, you will become just as much a Mac enthusiast as many of us.

Hey Brad,

Congrats on the new MBP. I know you won't regret the move. Especially with some of the new features in Leopard. Here are my recommendations:

1. Mail – I'm assuming you need exchange calendar integration. If not, just use Mail.app… it's a great mail application with great search capabilities. Sound like Thunderbird might be a good option for this as well but haven't used it. If you do need exchange integration then there are a number of choices:
1a. Use entourage if i) you are using imap/exchange (not pop3) and ii) you don't need advanced searching… if you need to search on anything other than the from, to, or subject then this isn't an option for you. On the other hand, Mac Office 2008 should be out eventually and will hopefully improve on this. Otherwise, I've found entourage to be stable and has good exchange calendaring integration. Many people might disagree with this last statement
1b. Use Mail.app with groupcal for exchange cal intgrtn if you use pop3. If Thunderbird has exchange calendaring integration then then that may be the better option. I'm going to check that out myself. Mail.app's exchange/imap support performs really poorly which is why I would only use it for pop3. I'm planning on moving to this configuration away from entourage if the next version of entourage isn't alot better. I know a couple of people who are happy with this config.

2. As mentioned in above posts Adium, Quicksilver, and Fusion are great. I would go with Fusion for VM since I think they'll surpass parallels with functionality quickly. Right now they're about equal although Fusion performs a bit better and has multiple nic and PAE support (both of which you probably won't need).

3. DiskWarrior – deleted file recovery and damage disk recovery. Works like a charm. My external firewire disk had some issues and the built in disk utility couldn't fix it… diskwarrior did.

4. Adobe Lightroom – if you want more digital photography functionality than iPhoto.

5. Some productivity tips…
3a. Hot Corners configured with expose actions – one of my favorites. I have a lot of windows open at any time and flip between/get to my desktop/back to an app with a flick of the wrist. It's the main reason I'm more productive on OSX than windows. Warning though… anyone watching over your shoulder might get dizzy.
3b. Zoom – in the universal access sys pref enable zoom. tired of small tube videos? this lets you zoom in on the screen.
3c. Get a bluetooth mighty mouse and keyboard. Very slick mouse.Saves your usb ports for other things. I use the middle button for the dashboard…
3d. Dashboard – great way to get to a quick calendar, calculator, weather, or currency exchange applet.
3e. Use the "Location" feature. Very useful if you're moving around offices w/different proxy settings and/or vpn network settings.

I'd be happy to help you out next time I'm in town too!

I'm in agreement with James. Quicksilver and Adium will be the two most important programs that you use. Especially Quicksilver, after learning it and using it, you will find that working on a PC is laborious.

Transmission (bittorrent client), Handbrake (DVD encoding), Adium (IM) and CyberDuck (ftp). Oh, and Delicious Library is the most gorgeous application ever written.

You probably won't regret the move. I'd add my praise for Quicksilver — much better for launching apps with your keys rather that the mouse. iWork'08 is great, but you'll probably want Office if you deal with lots of Word documents as there are things Pages (the word processor in iWork) just doesn't handle and by default it opens .doc files as a "copy" so you can't just make a change and save it.

Adium is good for an IM client particularly since it has built-in support for "Off The Record" an encrypted connection. I use Adium for GoogleTalk/Jabber and iChat for AIM (mainly to video chat with my daughter at BC).

Since you'll have Leopard, you might not need a separate VNC client, but I've heard that VMware Fusion is much better than Parallels.

The wake/sleep function is great — like someone already said, you almost never have to shut the thing down. In a bit over 18 months, I've probably rebooted only a dozen times or so — you'll never get that on Windows.

Try Quicksilver for application launching (and more). Takes a little getting used to, but it will change how you use your Mac: http://blacktree.com/

Adium for IM: http://adiumx.com/

Personally, I prefer using the Camino broswer rather than Firefox (big CPU hog) or Safari 3 (fast but doesn't do everything I want it to.)

OK, I'm replying to myself only to associate my real name since OpenID grabbed my nickname instead.

Wow, what a great list of Mac resources and supportive comments from converts. Bookmarking this one…

I'm in almost the same situation — 2 times in the last 3 weeks I almost threw my Thinkpad out the window. So, despite working for IBM for the first 17 years of my career and having had at least 5 Thinkpads, my new Macbook arrives on Wednesday. Thanks, Brad, for posting this. The comments will be a big help to me as I "leave the dark side of the force".

Funny, I did this same thing a couple of weeks ago…although I didn't destroy my Windows laptop. Here's the stuff I'm using, as a recent Windows convert:

Safari 3 (built into Leopard) – I used to hate Safari, but IMHO they totally nailed it in this version. Totally rocks, so I don't need no steeenking Firefox.

NetNewsWire – of course.

iWork 08 – I've been fighting hard trying not to use Office 2004, and the iwork apps have made this pretty seamless.

Mail and iCal – we're an Exchange shop, so all my stuff was there. Since I didn't love Entourage 2004, I've been using Mail (connected to Exchange), and iCal and Address Book. Never really got address book working the way it should with Exchange, but I just synced it from my iPhone and use it as a master now. And iCal is a bit of a hassle using with a whole office that's using Outlook/Exchange, but I've got it down to the minimum pain possible now I think. I like it – for example, searching in Mail is super-fast.

VMWare Fusion – I hardly ever use it, but it totally works.

Verizon EVDO – didn't even have to install the Verizon software, the Expresscard support is built in. Super cool.

Photoshop and Lightroom – for my photography stuff.

Adium – I like iChat better, but adium talks to MSN.

Twitterific.

I think that's most of what I use on a daily basis…but I've gotten some good ideas from this post!

Let's see, most often I use:

Adium for instant messaging
Mail.app for mail
Camino for browsing (Firefox is a crashtastic memory hog)
TextMate, not free but a great text editor, love it
Cyberduck for FTP
iTerm as a replacement for Terminal.app
Chicken of the VNC to control my other computers from my laptop
Vine Server as the VNC server on my other computers
Omnigraffle for wireframing
Transmission for BitTorrent
Twitterific for Twittering
VLC for video playing
WriteRoom when I just want to concentrate on a single file
Little Snitch to watch outgoing connections
Flickr Uploader for, well, it's obvious

All of these are good lists. The ones I could not live without:

Adium
Quicksilver
Firefox (can't use google docs in safari)