Chapter 5: Applications That You’ve (Probably) Gotta Have

In This Chapter

Using Microsoft Office for Mac 2011

Using disk repair applications

Editing images

Editing digital video

Using Internet applications

Burning discs with Toast

Running Windows with Parallels Desktop

Adding third-party utilities

Playing games with OS X

In Chapter 1 of this minibook, I present you with an overview of the most popular hardware that you can add to your Mac — and where there’s hardware, software can’t be far behind. (Somebody famous said that — I think it was Mark Twain.)

And as I talk about in Book I, Chapter 1, a new Mac comes with a full suite of software tools right out of the box. You get Internet connectivity, disk repair, a digital audio and video player, image editing and cataloging, digital video editing, and — depending on the price that you paid or the Mac model configuration that you bought — even a complete set of productivity applications. However, if you’re willing to pay for additional features and a manual (at least what passes for a manual in the manufacturer’s opinion), you can make all these tasks easier and accomplish them in even shorter time.

Read on for an overview of the most popular third-party software applications for OS X: what everyone’s using, how much they cost, and why they’re (usually) better. However, before you drop a wad of cash on a fancy new application (or even an expensive upgrade to an existing application), remember yet another of Mark’s Maxims:

If an application you already have does everything you really need — and you like the way it works — you don’t have to buy a new application. Honest and truly.

The Trundling Microsoft Mammoth

Yes, I know I’ve been poking fun at Microsoft for much of this book — you have to admit, it’s a pretty good target in the Apple world — but His Gatesness and the rest of Microsoft did pull PC owners out of the character-based world of DOS, and I’ll be the first to say that they do get things right on a regular basis. (Witness my bestselling book PCs All-in-One For Dummies, recently revised for a fifth edition!)

For example, I’ve always been more impressed with Microsoft Office than I’ve been with Microsoft Windows. (At least Windows 7 and the upcoming Windows 8 are steps in the right direction, but they still have a long way to go to match OS X.) Office has long been the productivity suite of choice in the Windows world, and it’s also been a popular favorite for even longer on the Macintosh side. Perhaps this is a good spot to remind everyone that Excel originated on the Mac!

A lot of hard work was put into the latest Mac version of Microsoft Office, and it shows. Office 2011 for Mac more closely mirrors the design of the PC version of Office (as you can see by Microsoft Word for Mac in Figure 5-1), but it still includes everything you’d demand from a native OS X application (such as Pages from iWork, which is Apple’s competing office productivity suite).

However, as with OS X itself, Office 2011 for Mac isn’t just an attractive exterior. Consider some of the advantages of Office 2011:

Perfect document compatibility with the Windows version of Office: You can both read and write documents with transparent ease, no matter which platform gets the file. Documents can be shared between platforms on the same network.

Mirrored commands: Office 2010 and Office for Mac 2011 have very similar menu items, dialogs, and settings, thus making OS X instantly familiar to anyone who’s used Office on a Windows PC.

Support for native Aqua features: This includes transparent graphics within your documents, input and confirmation sheets, and palettes for formatting.

Tons of templates, samples, and support files: Microsoft doesn’t scrimp on ready-to-use documents and templates, as well as additional fonts, clip art, and web samples.

Outlook: Office for Mac 2011 now includes a version of Outlook that’s very similar to the Windows version in scope and power. It combines most of the same features that you’ll find in the Apple Mail, Calendar, and Contacts applications. (Read about Apple Mail in Book V, Chapter 2; read about Calendar in Book I, Chapter 8; read about Contacts in Book I, Chapter 7.)

Besides Outlook, Office for Mac 2011 includes four applications:

Word: The word processing application that rules the planet

Excel: The leading spreadsheet application

Messenger: Microsoft’s answer to Messages, an instant messaging program compatible with the Windows version of Messenger

PowerPoint: A favorite presentation development application

The Office for Mac 2011 suite costs about $150 at the time of this writing. You might save a few dollars if you buy it online from a web store such as MacMall (www.macmall.com ).

Your OS X Toolbox: TechTool Pro

My favorite native OS X disk repair application is TechTool Pro from Micromat (www.micromat.com ).

More than just about any other type of application, use a disk maintenance program built “from the ground up” for OS X. Never attempt to repair an OS X disk using an older repair utility that wasn’t designed for Mountain Lion.

With TechTool Pro 6 (as shown in Figure 5-2), you can thoroughly check a hard drive for both physical errors (such as faulty electronics or a bad sector on the disk surface) and logical errors (incorrect folder data and glitches in the file structure). The Disk Utility that’s included with OS X does a fine job of checking the latter, but it doesn’t perform the physical testing — and TechTool Pro does both.

I should note, however, that TechTool Pro doesn’t take care of viruses. For that kind of protection, pick up a copy of VirusBarrier X6 (www.intego.com ) or the excellent freeware application ClamXav 2 (www.clamxav.com ) to thwart viral attacks.

TechTool Pro also takes care of disk optimization, which is a feature that’s been conspicuously absent from OS X ever since the beginning. As I explain in Book I, Chapter 9, defragmenting your disk will result in better performance and a faster system overall.

TechTool Pro 6, which will set you back about $100, comes on a self-booting DVD-ROM, so if your Mac has an optical drive, you can easily fix your startup volume by booting your system from the TechTool Pro installation disc.

Image Editing for the Masses

The only one true King of the Retouching Hill in OS X, Adobe Photoshop (www.adobe.com/products/photoshop ) has been the digital-image editing favorite of Mac owners for many years now. As does Office for Mac 2011, the latest version of Photoshop (CS6) takes full advantage of the Aqua standard.

You can find more three-pound Photoshop books on the shelf than politicians in trouble, so it’s no surprise that I can’t provide you with a sweeping list of its features in this section. However, here’s a summary of what you can expect from Adobe’s crown jewel:

Superior editing: The most sophisticated image editing possible for a digital photograph. If you can accomplish an image-editing task in software, it’s very likely that Photoshop can do it. You can even combine and splice parts of different images to produce a new work of art or perhaps distort and liquefy an image to produce a new look.

Image retouching tools: These help you rescue images with problems, such as overexposure and color imbalance. (You can also use tools such as the Healing brush to erase imperfections in the photograph’s subject.)

Plug-ins: Photoshop has been a standard for plug-in functionality since it first appeared. If you need features that aren’t in the application out of the box, you can add them through third-party plug-ins.

Web posting: Prepare images for use on the web.

Painting tools: Use these gems to simulate different types of inks, paints, and brushes on different types of media.

Although Photoshop is a hefty $699 for the full package, Adobe has also created a kid brother, Photoshop Elements 11, which sells for a mere $99. Designed for the novice or intermediate-level photographer, Elements has most of the functionality of the full package that you’re likely to need. Elements can also automate the most common image-editing tasks, as well as providing one of the most comprehensive Help systems I’ve ever used.

The Morass of Digital Video

Two types of applications make up the DV market: digital video editing (in which you create a movie) and DVD mastering (in which you take that movie and create a DVD movie). You can find a number of great applications on the market in both these categories, all at different price points and different levels of complexity. The offerings from Apple include

iMovie: I cover this easy-to-use video editing iApp in Book III, Chapter 4. A good choice for any novice, it’s bundled for free with today’s new Mac models, and you get it as part of the iLife suite.

Final Cut Pro X: You’d assume Final Cut Pro X to be a first-rate DV editing package for OS X — and you wouldn’t get any argument from me. At $299 (and available on the App Store), it offers far more features and power than iMovie, yet it’s still easy to use. Sassy.

Yes, It’s Really Called “Toast”

Time to turn your attention to a subject near and dear to my heart: recording data CDs, audio CDs, and DVDs on the Macintosh. Of course, OS X can burn basic data CDs that you can share with your Windows and Unix friends without any add-on software. If you have a Mac equipped with a SuperDrive, you can create standard, cross-platform data DVDs, too. But what if you need an exotic format, such as CD Extra, that allows data and digital audio tracks to co-exist peacefully on one disc? Or perhaps you need a self-booting disc, or you just got a Blu-ray external recorder?

There’s one clear choice: When you’re ready to seriously burn, you’re ready for Roxio Toast Titanium (www.roxio.com ), the CD and DVD recording choice for millions of Mac owners. (No snickering about the name, please.) Figure 5-3 illustrates this powerhouse of an application, which is an elegant design that’s both simple to use and perfectly Aqua. Files, folders, and digital audio tracks that you want to record are simply dropped into the application window.

As for exotic formats, here’s a list of some types of discs you can record with Toast:

Standard data CDs and DVDs

Standard audio CDs

Video CDs

Super Video CDs

MP3 discs (which store MP3 audio tracks)

Discs recorded from an image file

Mac volumes

Hybrid PC/Mac discs

ISO 9660 discs

Multisession discs

CD Extra discs

Toast works with both internal and external CD, DVD, and Blu-ray recorders, taking advantage of the latest features on today’s drives. You can also copy existing discs, using one or multiple drives.

Toast is quite affordable at $80. You can buy it directly from the Roxio online store.

If You Positively Have to Run Windows . . .

Here’s where Mac power users usually start grinning from ear to ear like Santa’s elves on the day after Christmas, because — get this — many of the great Unwashed Windows Horde still actually think that you can’t run Windows on a Macintosh! Can you believe that? Obviously, they haven’t heard of Boot Camp, which is built into Mountain Lion (and covered in Book VIII, Chapter 1). But what if you don’t want to reboot to switch operating systems? What if you need to share data between both Mac and PC applications running simultaneously? Well, that’s where Parallels Desktop from Parallels (www.parallels.com ) comes in, which is without a doubt one of the coolest applications ever written for the Mac.

No, my friend, your eyes aren’t deceiving you — you’re indeed looking at Windows 8 running along with OS X, in blissful cohabitation, on my Mac Pro in Figure 5-4. Parallels Desktop (which requires OS X) provides a near-perfect PC environment for any version of Windows from 95 all the way up to Windows 8. Literally, Windows has no idea that it’s not running on a typical piece of PC iron.

Parallels Desktop simulates everything necessary for you to get the full functionality out of Windows. For example, this jewel automatically (and transparently) handles your Windows Internet connection, network tasks, and CD and DVD access. You can run full-screen or run Windows in a window (pun joyfully intended).

As if that weren’t enough, you can also run multiple operating systems. So if you need Red Hat Linux, Ubuntu, or Windows 2000 along with your Windows 8 system, no problem — all it takes is the install disc for those operating systems and the hard drive space to hold ’em. Outstanding!

Naturally, performance is an issue — and, to be honest, Parallels Desktop isn’t for the PC gamer, even with the newest Macs and their super-duper GeForce and Radeon video cards. Because today’s most demanding PC games push an actual PC to the limit, they just run too sluggishly on a Mac emulating a PC — they do run, just slowly. (Also, virtually all of today’s blockbuster PC games are also being ported to OS X, so why not just run the Mac version?) If I must run a Windows game on my Mac, I almost always use Boot Camp to boot directly into Windows, which allows my system to devote all its resources to the game at hand.

However, when it comes to just about any other type of application, Parallels Desktop running on a late-model Intel-based Mac can deliver performance equal to a typical Intel PC. The more memory that your Mac has, the more you can give your virtual PC, so it also pays to have 8GB or more of RAM. I use this application with niche Windows programs that have never appeared on the Mac as well as native Mac versions of all other applications. Again, you don’t need to use Mac to run the Windows version of Photoshop CS6 because Photoshop CS6 is also available as a native application for the Mac.

If you’re tired of the undeserved taunts from your clueless Windows friends — you know, the ones who say that you can’t run both Mac and Windows programs at the same time — head to your browser and order a copy of Parallels Desktop. The program is a very affordable $80, but don’t forget that you have to supply your own copy of Windows.

For a free taste of virtual computing, try VirtualBox at www.virtualbox.org .

All Hail FileMaker Pro

If databases are the name of your game, you’ve already been using FileMaker Pro for years (on both Mac and Windows, more than likely). For the uninitiated, FileMaker Pro (www.filemaker.com ) is the premier database creation, editing, and maintenance application for OS X. It comes with dozens of ready-made database templates for business, home, and education use, or you can construct your own database in surprisingly short order. If you use AppleScript, you’ll also be glad to hear that FileMaker Pro is a highly scriptable application.

Right out of the box, you can use FileMaker Pro to create

Business databases and forms for inventory, personnel, purchase orders, and product catalogs

Home databases for budgeting, recipes, music CDs, DVD movies, family medical records, and event planning

Education databases for student records, expense reports, field trip planning, book and multimedia libraries, and class scheduling

In FileMaker Pro 12, you can add images and multimedia to your database, and you can quickly and easily publish your databases on your website by using one of the built-in theme designs. In fact, visitors to your website can update your database online, if you like. FileMaker Pro can also allow multiple users to share data across your network, no matter whether they’re running the Mac or Windows version. You can even run scripts automatically based on user input and extract data directly from websites.

At $299, FileMaker Pro 12 is one of the least expensive — and most powerful — applications that you can buy for the Big X.

Utilities That Rock

The next stop on this Cavalcade of Software is an assortment of the absolute best you’ve-got-to-get-this utility applications. Sooner or later, you’re likely going to buy (or register) these utilities because you’ll use them every day.

StuffIt

In the Windows world, the zip archive is the king of archiving formats. A zip archive contains one or more compressed files that you can uncompress whenever you need them. Folks store files in archives to save space on their hard drives; archiving is also a neat way to package an entire folder’s worth of files in a single convenient file, which you can attach to an e-mail message or send via File Transfer Protocol (FTP). OS X includes built-in support for zip files.

Manage your archives with StuffIt Deluxe, from Smith Micro Software (http://mysmithmicro.com ). StuffIt Deluxe can both archive and unarchive .sit files (the common name for StuffIt archives) as well as zip archives from your Windows friends. You can also encrypt the contents of a StuffIt archive for those “sensitive” transfers. The application runs $50 at the Smith Micro Software online store.

BBEdit

Although we all know and love OS X as a graphical operating system, folks still need a powerful text editor for creating and modifying text files. For example, software developers and webmasters still use text editors daily to write applications or apply a quick fix to the HyperText Markup Language (HTML) that makes up a web page. (I use a text editor to make minor changes to my website, MLC Books Online, without firing up a horrendous web design application. Talk about overkill!)

At first, you might think of TextEdit, which is the free application that ships with OS X. It’s not a bad editor, either, with features that far surpass Notepad in the Windows environment. However, serious text and code editing requires a more powerful tool, and the text editor of choice for Mac owners is universally considered to be BBEdit, from Bare Bones Software (www.barebones.com ). Figure 5-5 shows a document open within BBEdit 10.1.

Bare Bones Software pulls no punches in describing BBEdit — its advertising still proclaims, “It doesn’t suck.” Gotta give Bare Bones credit; this incredibly popular editor includes features such as

Support for DOS/Windows, Mac, and Unix text files: Yes, differences do exist among the platforms, even with a so-called pure text file.

Works with text files over 2GB in size: Try that with TextEdit. Hmm. . . . On second thought, please don’t.

HTML tools for web design: These tools include syntax checking and browser preview.

grep pattern-based, multifile search and replace: In nonprogrammer/non-Unix English, that means a very sophisticated search-and-replace function that can span more than one text file.

Syntax coloring: Use this to help you quickly locate commands and qualifiers in programming languages.

Built-in FTP transfer commands: No need to launch a separate FTP application: You can send your files right from within BBEdit.

You can even expand the functionality of BBEdit with plug-ins, many of which are free extensions written by programmers and developers specifically for languages such as C/C++, Java/JavaScript, Perl, and Pascal.

BBEdit 10.1 is available from the Bare Bones Software site for $50.

Real Studio

The final application that I want to mention really isn’t a utility as such; however, you can use it to write your own software, so I guess that it should qualify. As an ex-COBOL programmer, reluctant Visual Basic shareware developer, and recalcitrant dBASE coder, I can tell you that Real Studio (from REAL Software) is definitely the easiest visual drag-and-drop programming environment that I’ve ever used on a personal computer. If you want to develop your own productivity applications, OS X utilities, or — dare I say it? your own game! — award-winning Real Studio is the way to go.

Development in Real Studio is as simple as designing the application window by first simply adding controls, text, and multimedia wherever you like. Then just fill in the blanks, such as by setting variables and specifying what happens when the controls are triggered, which you do by using a new implementation of the tried-and-true BASIC language. Of course, some programming knowledge is required, but far less than you’d need with Visual Basic. And the results look as good as anything you can accomplish in those so-called real programming languages.

Check out these features:

Cross-platform support so that you can write your program once and compile it for Linux, OS X, and Windows. Code it once; then release three versions with no extra work. This is a very superb thing.

Support for all sorts of multimedia, including QuickTime.

Ability to animate and rotate text and objects, or tap the 3-D power of OpenGL graphics.

Capability to allow printing, network, and Internet communications within your application.

Automation of Microsoft Office applications and connection of your Real Studio application to business databases (such as FileMaker Pro).

Completely royalty-free applications, so you can give them away or release them as shareware.

Real Studio has been such a popular development tool on the Macintosh for so many years that dozens of user-supported websites and mailing lists have sprung up, offering all sorts of plug-ins, tutorials, and sample code for you to use in your own projects.

I recommend the Personal Edition of Real Studio for programming novices. It’s $99, and you can order it from www.realsoftware.com .

At Least One Game

To be completely accurate, OS X already comes with at least one game — a very good version of chess, which I cover in the next section — but the Macintosh has never been considered a true gaming platform by most computer owners. Until recently, many popular Windows games were never ported (or converted) for the Mac, and only the most expensive Mac models had the one important component that determines the quality of today’s games: a first-rate, 3-D video card.

However, within the last four or five years, all that has changed dramatically. All of today’s Mac models feature muscle car–quality video cards that use the NVIDIA GeForce or ATI Radeon chipsets; they can handle the most complex 3-D graphics with ease. Match that with the renewed popularity of the Macintosh as a home computer and the performance of the current crop of Intel-based processors, and — wham! Suddenly you’ve got the best game developers in the business — id Software (www.idsoftware.com ) and Blizzard (www.blizzard.com ), to name two — releasing Macintosh versions of their newest games concurrently with the Windows versions.

For the gamer in you, allow me to take you on a tour of the best of the new generation of entertainment.

OS X Chess

No mercenaries, no rail guns, and no cities to raze — but chess is still the world’s most popular game, and OS X even includes a little 3-D as well. Figure 5-6 illustrates the Chess application at play; you’ll find it in your Applications folder.

The game features speech recognition, move hints, take back (or undo) for your last move, and a 2-D or 3-D board. You can also list your games in text form and print them or save games in progress. Maybe it’s not a complete set of bells and whistles as commercial chess games offer, but the price is right, and the play can be quite challenging (and a bit slower) when you set it at the higher skill levels.

World of WarCraft

I end this chapter with Blizzard’s best: the online megahit that is World of WarCraft. This MMORPG (short for massive multiplayer online role-playing game) is yet another wrinkle in the popular WarCraft game series. World of WarCraft puts the character you create in the boots of human princes, Orc battle generals, undead champions, trolls, gnomes, and elfin lords — in fact, you can create multiple characters and play them as you choose. My recommendation: Stick with the Undead, my friend.

Combat, however, is only half the job. By finishing quests and killing various nasties, you earn experience, upgrade your armor and weapons, and build a reputation with various groups throughout the land. You can take to the air, buy goods from mercenaries, and even hone your skills with a trade like leatherworking or enchanting. Spells abound, and you can join a guild and chat with the new friends you make online. I’ve played for years now, and I’m still excited by this incredible game.

Control is by both keyboard and mouse; the game is easy to understand, but you’ll always find someone to kick your posterior in battlegrounds or dungeons over the Internet.

You’ll pay about $50 online for World of WarCraft, and then you’ll be charged a set fee for each month’s subscription . . . and it’ll be worth every single penny you spend. (Remember, this is a program you’d buy on your own; it doesn’t come with your Mac or with Mountain Lion.) For all the details and some great desktop backgrounds, check the official site at www.blizzard.com .

I’m also a huge pinball fan, and I can heartily recommend the wonderful pinball games available from LittleWing (www.littlewingpinball.com ) — you can try the games in demo mode for free! (Don’t forget to check the compatibility notes for any LittleWing game before you download it because some of those games run only on Macs running older versions of OS X.)