“The first difficulty in creating such a list is knowing what doesn’t belong and why,” McElfresh writes. “The second difficulty in creating an all Apple, Microsoft, and Adobe list is prioritizing—which apps had or have the greatest impact. Frankly, prioritizing was the most difficult of the two tasks.”
The top 14 apps from Apple, Microsoft, and Adobe:
14 – Final Cut Pro
13 – Fireworks and Dreamweaver
12 – Filemaker Pro
11 – Terminal
10 – iPhoto
9 – Illustrator
8 – QuickTime
7 – Safari
6 – Flash
5 – PageMaker
4 – Microsoft Word
3 – Microsoft Excel
2 – Photoshop
1 – iTunes
Explanations here.
The top 14 apps not from Apple, Microsoft, and Adobe:
14 – Transmission
13 – 1Password
12 – NetNewsWire
11 – Stuffit
10 – Handbrake
9 – Transmit
8 – Skype
7 – BBEdit
6 – Firefox
5 – SuperDuper! & Carbon Copy Cloner
4 – Quicken
3 – WebKit
2 – Flip4Mac
1 – Parallels, VMware Fusion, & Boot Camp
Explanations here.
MacDailyNews Take: Eudora, Netscape Navigator, GraphicConverter… It’s tough to make a list like this, but Flip4Mac at #2? Wha?
What a about sendIT, TextWrangler, Adium?
A few years ago Quark but now InDesign. As for Word you’ve got to be joking.
Perian?!?!? HellOOOOOO?!?
No way! Not of all time….. Is this person a 5-10 year Mac user? How ’bout to start these 2 classic OS 9 jewels…. From Cassady & Green, Conflict Catcher and Sound Jam (Aka iTunes)?
>>>Comment from: WTFrank!
Without Pagemaker desktop publishing would have died. Without Desktop publishing, the Mac would have died. Print Houses and Designers kept the platform alive during the dark years.
You’re 100% on the money.
Flip4Mac? – NO. Much as like the most recent iteration of Microsoft’s many attempts at coming up with a decent media format, which is what Flip4Mac actually IS FOR, this doesn’t belong on this list at all. If Microsoft would stop trying to make the world proprietary, we could do with out Flip4Mac entirely.
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Concept: Dump Flip4Mac and put GraphicConverter on the list instead. It is a Mac essential at a very nice price. THANK YOU Thorsten Lemke!
Transmission – I so agree. Much as I liked the bells and whistles of Azureus and after the long hours of climbing its steep learning curve, once it got metamorphosed into Vuze, I rapidly lost interest. Transmission is an incredible and nicely working, secure and simple replacement for mere mortals. BRAVO to the Transmission project group, Stranded Design and Nilok Productions!
😀
Transmit? I never have understood the allure of this FTP app. It used to be a POS. It got better. It costs $34. Instead I joyfully and reliably use CyberDuck for free. So HUH?!
As for the idea of putting Netscape on the list: In its early days it was a godsend. And let’s face it: Netscape created and set the standard for the World Wide Web from which we still benefit today. But the browser developed a very nagging and long standing memory leak that turned it into a POS that I despised. Microsoft’s warz with Netscape also ruined its fortunes. Thankfully, Mozilla picked up the pieces and we have the far superior descendent FireFox et al., which DOES belong on the list. BRAVO Mozilla Project!
You can’t put Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel on the list without paying homage to the earlier applications that Microsoft ripped off and destroyed on the Mac platform:
Thank you WordPerfect!
Thank you VisiCalc!
Thank you Lotus 1-2-3!
Oh and PageMaker was originally by Aldus, bought by Adobe. Thank you Aldus!
‘Chris’ mentioned PostScript. Well, it’s not an app. It’s a format. But it did REVOLUTIONIZE the computer world. Big thank you to the then wonderful world of Adobe. If only they could return to that spirit and skill again! (Hint: Fire the Marketing-As-Management Morons at Adobe! Return to being entrepreneurial!)
flappo mentioned VLC. YES! Can’t live without it.
Earlier this year it looked like VLC was gonna die on the Mac platform. But a handful of brilliant and devoted developers stepped in and donated their time to revive it from near morbidity. THANK YOU to the Mac VLC project team! And THANK YOU to the Lunettes (aka ‘Glasses’) project team who are working on the son-of-VLC exclusively for Mac!
No reason for Word and Excel to be there. Pages and Numbers for me. Yes I know that the M$ versions have more functionality but for 98% of users the Apple versions are much faster and work just as well. Oh yeah, and a lot cheaper too.
Ask fifty people and you’ll get fifty different lists.
This is another one of those ME. ME! ME!!! topics.
The most important applications are the “A” apps, like alpha and omega. The “A” apps are MacPaint, MacWrite, MacDraw… More 1.1 (ThinkTank), PageMaker , ReadySetGo, Reflex (even buggy, it was the first relationnal database software), File (before FileMaker), and some other Great Apps that paved the way for today’s Apps. So nice, simple, powerfull like More 1.1 never appeared again.
The most important applications are the great “A” applications that paved the way for today’s ones, like in an alpha and omega list. The “A” apps were innovative like MacPaint, MacWrite, MacDraw, More 1.1 (ThinkTank), PageMaker , ReadySetGo, Reflex (even buggy, it was the first relationnal database software), File (before FileMaker), Multiplan for the Mac (before Excel) and some other.
So nice, simple to use, powerfull like More 1.1 never appeared again.
reading the apps listed shows how deep the Mac culture level is.
those listing Word and Excel lists copies or ameliorations. MacWrite and Multiplan for the Mac were original. Only one came from Ms.
Many other are to be considered, HyperTalk, HyperCard, RedRider/White Knight, QT, etc.
Don’t forget ClickToFlash.
No mention of iWork??? The package of applications that really began to loosen the bonds of MS???
As others have noted, Hypercard. Followed by the original two applications that came bundled with the introductory Macintosh, MacWrite and MacPaint.
So, my two cents would have:
1. Hypercard
…
daylight
…
x. MacWrite
x+1. MacPaint
and the list continues hereon…
Ron McElfresh must be a young guy or “new” Mac user of just 10 years or so. Hypercard clearly should have made the list.
I’d add ResEdit and Hypercard to that list, myself.
How did Metrowerks Codewarrior not make the list?
I would nominate HyperCard, Macromedia Director and Digidesign Sound Designer as three tools that defined the early digital multimedia era.
Adobe??? WTF???
They are not worthy to be on the same list ad Apple products, or any list for that matter.
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