so my whole family just switched over to mac after years of talking about it, and did it with style… my dad simply up and bought 3 macbooks, one macbookpro, and a power mac (still coming)
my question to all you mac users—what good programs are out there for mac, all my usual programs cant switch over
I thought this would be a thread about macdonalds hamburgers. 
Holy crap not only is that alot of mac’s, but its alot of expensive macs. how the hell can you afford that!?
By all the money they’ll save not buying PC games. 
Alright enough cracking jokes… I own mostly macs… there is only one fuctional PC in our house and it’s my dads work laptop there are 12 computers oin this house 10 of which are macintosh… those computers are not all that expensive macbooks and macbook pros are new and expensive although not too expensive and powermacs are relativley old… in regards to the original question, what kind of programs are you using that aren’t switchable… and what kinds of things do you wish to continue using or what do youy want to do with you mac… they take a few days to get used to the user interface but once you get it the are INCREDIBLY easy to use.
The Mac folks can make jokes about Windows till the cows come home, but can’t take a few jabs at their own OS. 
The software situation on the Mac is getting better. For example Garmin is now developing software for OS X so you can use their GPS units with a Mac. Before it was Windows only which would lock you into Windows if you wanted to use their GPS (or almost any other GPS receiver).
What are the sources for Mac software? Where do you go for shareware, freeware, opens source, various utilities, and the like? I know where to get everything for Windows. I know where to get things for Linux. But I don’t know where you go for OS X.
What are the popular commercial apps for regular home use on a Mac?
What are the popular free apps for regular home use on a Mac?
I’m just curious and Da Doofus is also looking for the same info.
Other than having to buy Microsoft Office (which even Microsoft admits is a better app running under Mac OSX). Macs come pre-loaded with all your typical home use apps. Safari (or firefox), iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, etc.
As for Garmin software they have this thing called Virtual PC, or on the new Macs Bootcamp so you can still run windows for use with those random odd software that hasn’t been ported.
you can make jabs at macs I don’t care I just stated that I was going to be serious now… I buy most of my software at Apple Certified dealers like the Apple Store, or the Mac store, I also know of a few places that I don’t know if they are a chain of stores or just a local business my shareware I get is usually bought off the internet and my freewware is downloaded as well. It’s almost the same with windows right? Commercial software is bought from places like Best Buy, Fry’s, Circut City, ect. and Freeware and shareware are obtained via the internet. Popular software is something I would have to look into the software on you mac just depends on what you want to be able to do with it.
Is there a central location for cataloging the available freeware and shareware? Even better, is there a location that rates and reviews and suggests Mac freeware and shareware?
Download.com has a Mac section, but other than that I don’t know of any Mac friendly download locations.
those are the two I can remember off the top of my head. It just takes a little work on google.
Mac Office is a gift form the gods 
Macs aren’t expensive. If you value your time, remember when you turn on your Mac, for the most part, you will then do what you turned it on for. If you have a PC you’ll have to do lots of periodic maintenance. And buy a bunch of not-included software to make it safe to use online. I am reminded of this as I prepare to move up to a 24" iMac, on which I will also run WinXP.
The new Mac Pro is a little expensive, but remember it has a pair of dual processors.
Good software? You didn’t ask what for, so I’ll offer my favorite: iView MediaPro. If you don’t want to work with iPhoto, that’s a great way to catalog and organize all your digital media. iPhoto wants to keep all versions of all your media in one basket, which doesn’t work for the volume of my photo collection, including original and edited versions, etc. Photoshop runs a little slow on the Intel-based Macs, until the Universal version of the program comes out. This may happen in early January, but the current CS2 version will run a little slow. I’m not worried about this because my new iMac will be so much faster than my 1.3 Ghz Powerbook, it should about even out. Plus I have the Windows version of CS2 so I can use that if I have to.
Are you talking about Microsoft Office for the Mac (I have it)? There are also non-Microsoft, even free options out there, but none are as feature-packed as the Microsoft stuff. Yes, I use Word, Entourage and Excel. My preferred browser on the Mac is Firefox.
I also recommend versiontracker.com as a place to look for Mac software. Beyond that, I get many of my recommendations from my subscription to Macworld Magazine. I like that one much better than Mac Addict.
my favorite mac prgrams are Soundtrack (awesome music making program i just got) and Final cut pro for my uni movies
Well i know that simpsons hit & run work on a Mac hahaha 
Well i know that simpsons hit & run game work on a Mac hahaha
I subscribe to Mac Addict, Mac World, Apple Magazine, and a few others that I can’t rememeber the titles of because I haven’t renewed my subscription for them in a while. If we are listing favorite programs now I like Photoshop, iMovie, iDvd, GarageBand, and Handbrake those are only some of the most used aplications on my mac mini, on my G4 Tower, I use MPEG2 Works, GarageSale, and Final Cut Pro, in conjunction with the programs I use on my Mac mini. I don’t tend to play games too much on my computer now, I have better things to do.
I use Open Source on my Macbook as much as I can… FLOSS and freeware… I’m a poor student
I actually bought the Mac after being a hardcore Linux user for 5 years, so most of my progs are OSX ports.
So:
Adium (Messenger client)
Firefox
Thunderbird
OpenOffice
The GIMP
VLC (Video Lan Client media player)
MPlayer OSX (Media player)
Almost everything else I use regularly came with the mac. This summer I’m going to invest in a larger harddrive, and go back to dual booting. 60G drive was just too small for everything I want to do in OSX and Linux, but I actually prefer Linux over OSX.
Yuck!