A question to those of you who have an Intel-equipped Apple computer and Boot Camp to run Windows XP SP 2 (or a PowerPC-equipped computer with VirtualPC)…
I’m curious to know whether some of you have installed Windows-only app(s) that you can’t live without and use with Devonthink?
Why am I asking this? Because I’m waiting for the next step to Apple’s transition to the Pentium chip: the Power Mac (Mac Pro?). And I’ll probably install Windows XP. Or Windows Vista if it comes out one day
I mean, seriously, is there a Windows-only app for which you never found a Mac equivalent?
No It’s only the other way round. I dislike Apple as much as Microsoft as company - but MacOSX and Mac-Apps like DEVONthink/Mori/OmniOutliner are so much better than Windows and any Windows-Outlining-Application i tried.
Hope Linux will get better so i dont have to buy neither from Apple nor from Microsoft.
Wonderful, let’s imagine a world without Microsoft, Apple, and Google. Perhaps we would all be happy campers with something like Linux boxes. Get a grip and give creativity its due!
Google is OK if all I need to do is look up a download address for an application. Or check Google News. That’s about the extent of my use. For anything else I go to DEVONagent, which lets me do well-designed and powerful search queries. And I don’t want a Google desktop.
I try to avoid Microsoft like the plague.
And Apple often does things that I hate, like some of the networking stuff. But then they produce something like my MacBook Pro, which is an absolute delight.
Please don’t try to make me have to remember which variant of Linux I’m using at any moment. And don’t give Linux too much credit.
To paraphrase W. C. Fields, all things considered, I’d rather be in OS X.
I keep an old Win laptop around for just such programs, though ‘can’t live without’ isn’t the same as ‘there’s no mac version so I’m stuck’. For instance, I have a Sony digital recorder that uses a memory stick (yeah, big surprise there), but the digital ‘reader’ software to take that recording from the ms and create a file is Win only, so, as I said, I’m stuck with Win in that case. (It gets worse since my old system is W2K and the newest iteration of the digital recorder software is XP only.)
Most of my ‘win only’ programs are specialized niche software (sewing, for one) so it’s not so much ‘wow, what a fantastic Windows program!’ as it is ‘I’m stuck’.
My preference for Macs (and OS X) is primarily because Windows is so arcane. I’ve been around since the early days (my first computer was a CP/M machine) and can find my way around Windows but I much prefer focusing on the work so prefer Macs. (I just updated the laptop’s BIOS, so I still have a few chops. )
All of which is why within the next year or so, there’s a Mactel in my future. Maybe after Leopard comes out with its non-beta Boot Camp.
The only Windows app I can’t live without is X1 Technologies desktop search program. It did Boolean searches, NEAR searches and had NOT. It displayed the file names on a left panel (and other metadata one might choose) and on the right showed the search item in its context. I could find everything in a heartbeat and had almost stopped using Windows directories to find things. I still haven’t figured out why Spotlight excites Mac users. I do hope that Devonthink Pro will take up much of the slack left by X1, although I have to say that I am dreadfully slow at getting up to speed.
Take a look at the Boolean search operators in DEVONagent 2.x. You will see NEAR/x, BEFORE/x, AFTER/x and other “big machine” operators.
Take a look at EasyFind, a free search utility available for download at http://www.devon-technologies.com/download/index.html. Very powerful search operators for files, folders and/or content. It’s not indexed like Spotlight, but fills some gaps and will do interesting things.
Christian has noted that the “big set” of search operators is coming to a future release of DT Pro.
Bill,
Thank you. The EasyFind is useful. I have DevonAgent. At the moment, I’m still grappling with DevonThink, but I’m looking forward to DevonAgent (and version 2 with “big machine” searching.
Best,
Linn
Here’s a Windows-only program I wish I could use on my Power Mac G5: Writer’s Blocks.
There’s a video here. (Hope you can stand their cheesy music.)
It’s similar to SuperNotecard, but it’s more feature-rich. Tell me what you think.
It’s only the other way round. I dislike Apple as much as Microsoft as company - but MacOSX and Mac-Apps like DEVONthink/Mori/OmniOutliner are so much better than Windows and any Windows-Outlining-Application i tried.
But one could add Google to this list now too, IMHO.
(I just updated the laptop’s BIOS, so I still have a few chops. )