Top Mac Applications and Software - What They Are and Where to Get Them

If you've always been someone who has used PC, and have recently switched to Mac, you may be confused about which applications do what, and what their Windows equivalent applications were. Surprisingly, there are actually a lot of applications made for Mac that are much more functional and do much more than those that are made for PC. This article will name some of the best software, from many different categories, as well as what they do and where to get the downloads at. All of the software listed in this article is 100% free and easy to get, legal.

Adium

An instant messaging client. This application combines all of the best instant messengers into one convenient window, with many different styles and options to choose from. With a very graphical user interface, and user-friendly options, this is a very easy program both to use and set up. This application works with Facebook, AOL Instant Messenger, MSN, Yahoo Instant Messenger, ICQ, and Jabber. I believe there are others, but the other ones are not quite as popular. Very light, and easy to install.
http://adium.im/

Miro

Miro is a free video player, torrent machine, and Podcaster. I haven't gotten 100% used to this software, but it beats many other video players, and blows Bittorrent/Limewire/Utorrent out of the water in terms of torrenting. If you're someone who likes to torrent, watch a lot of videos, or podcasts, this is probably a very valuable, free application you should install on your Mac.
http://www.getmiro.com/

Miro Video Converter

Another set of Miro software, this video converter is great if you have an iPhone/iPod or other mobile media device that uses a video format other than what you may be downloading. This application has further uses than that, but there is no need to convert most video formats if you're using the Miro player, since it can play almost all major Video formats straight "out of the box".
http://www.mirovideoconverter.com/

Quicksilver

Quicksilver is a type of application launcher. If you are a windows user, you may not know what this is. This program basically displays and launches applications in a more efficient, easy, and graphical manner. I prefer to use it than standard ways, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes things to be visually pleasing, as well as be easy and quick. Once you get used to this application, you will not have it any other way.
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/14831/quicksilver

SeaShore

If you're a fan of Photoshop, but not a fan of the price, then this application is for you. This is essentially a free, dumbed down version of Photoshop. Great for editing your pictures that you take, down to cropping, color correction, path finding, etc. In terms of free photo editing software (which I can't believe that this is) it doesn't get much better than SeaShore. I would recommend this application to anyone who does photo editing.
http://seashore.sourceforge.net/The_Seashore_Project/Download.html

There are many other programs that will function perfect on Mac, many of which I'm sure you were familiar with on the PC platform. Some of these are: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, iTunes (duh, it was made for Macs), Skype, Limewire, and many more. Try looking for your old favorite Windows software, and see if it is compatible with Mac. A lot of the top software providers also support Mac. The applications listed above are just Mac-Exclusive applications that are amazing.