Anyway, here’s a rundown of highly recommended applications for new Mac switchers.

Camino - next to Safari, Camino is one speed demon. This is often unheard of because Firefox is also available on the Mac. Based on the same browser engine as Firefox, Camino is lightweight and supports most, if not all, sites that Safari does not.

Flock - another derivative browser that stems from the same Firefox core. Flock extends browser functionality by adding a blog client, photo uploading, buddy management, etc. Basically, Flock is the browser for the Web 2.0 generation.

Firefox - if you are used to Firefox on that Winblows platform, at least you’ll feel at home with Firefox on the Mac.

Opera - another cross-platform browser that is lightning quick. The additional applications bundled with it, e.g., mail client, may turn you off since there is a decent mail client bundled with your Mac.

Transmit - the best file transfer available on the Mac today BUT it is not free. I am using this one and swear that it is definitely a worthy investment.

Cyberduck - a free FTP client to those who prefer using free applications instead of paying for Transmit.

Note: You can use the Terminal.app and invoke "ftp" or "scp", of course. :)

Azureus - a Bittorrent client for those times when you need to download a Linux ISO. This is a Java desktop client that is fast and powerful.

Speed Download - the ultimate download manager for your Mac. This is not free but works as advertised. This one allows me to organize my file downloads and heck, somehow, it even speeds up the downloads.

NeoOffice - your Mac may come with a trial version of Microsoft’s Office for the Mac but nothing beats an ISO-standards compliant, open source and free office productivity suite. NeoOffice is based on OpenOffice.org Office (which is also available on the Mac) but has the Mac Look-and-Feel as compared to the Mac-version of OpenOffice.org Office. Who needs proprietary file formats?

iWork - if you prefer to pay for a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation software that simply blows away the competition, iWork is for you. iWork bundles Keynote, a presentation tool; Pages, a document processor; and Numbers, a spreadsheet application. Download the trial and see for yourself before you decide to buy a copy.

TextMate - TextEdit comes bundled with your Mac but if you can afford to buy more software, get TextMate. This is one powerful editor for programmers, writers, web designers, etc. In fact, I am using it to write this article. :)

Skim - an open source PDF utility. The built-in Preview is a powerful viewer but simply lacks some features when it comes to handling PDFs. Skim complements it.

Skitch - a screenshot application that is fast becoming the standard. Currently on private beta, this application makes it super easy to capture a screen and immediately edit it. No need to capture and the open another application to edit it before you upload it to your photo sharing site. Skitch is a one-stop app. :)

Pixelmator or Acorn - these two imaging applications costs a fraction of the cost of Adobe Photoshop. If you are looking for imaging applications that takes advantage of Apple’s Core Image engine, these two are your best bet. They’re not free but definitely worth the purchase.

Gimp or Gimpshop - well, if you are an open source fan, then this one is the gold standard for imaging. Yes, it is available on the Mac as well! :)

Flickr Uploadr - if you have a Flickr photo-sharing account, get this free application that makes photo uploads easier. As it is, Safari is having problems with Flickr’s Flash-based browser upload tool but with this app, you will not need to worry about it anymore.

VisualHub - one of the most versatile video conversion tool available. I use this to convert videos for my iPod, iPhone and Nokia E61. I can practically throw almost any format and have it process it to a standards-compliant format. Unfortunately, this is not free.

iShowU - if you are doing screencasts, there is no better way to do it than iShowU. A USD20 utility that is powerful and flexible.

Screenix - until recently, iShowU is my tool of choice. However, Screenix is starting to lure me to its side. Costing the same as iShowU, Screenix adds more functions such as the ability to record audio from the application and not from the built-in mic, something done by iShowU. Anyway, time will tell.

VLC - who can beat a free and open source multimedia playback, streaming and transcoding application? VideoLAN or VLC is a cross-platform tool that replaces Quicktime as my default video playback tool.

Handbrake - just in case you prefer to rip those DVDs so you can transfer it to your iPod or iPhone, look no farther than this open source application.

AudioHijack Pro or WireTap - for those times that you simply want to record audio from your Mac. Sounds easy right? However, these two tools can isolate audio coming from an application and record it directly -- not from the built-in mic -- eliminating background noises that your mic captures. How cool is that? Unfortunately, these are not free as well.

Perian - a Quicktime plug-in that adds support for those file formats that Quicktime refuses to playback. Oh, it is free, too.

Adium - your only instant messaging client after iChat. :) Adium supports practically all IM protocols from AIM, Jabber, GTalk, MSN to Yahoo! Best of all, it is free!

Twitterrific - for the Twitter addict. This is the first Mac Twitter app that looks and feels like a Mac app. The current version is ad- supported but free. You may opt to pay and get the ads removed, though.

iGlasses - if you are fond of video conferencing using iChat (who can beat its four-way video conferencing?), iGlasses is a must-have. This plug-in cleans up the video before it gets sent to your peers. You better try it to see how good it is. It is not free but very well worth it! What makes it even better, if works in practically all applications that uses the built-in iSight.

Skype and Gizmo Project - for your VoIP needs. I have these two apps in my Mac. Skype for the proprietary peer-to-peer VoIP and GizmoProject for the SIP-compliant connections. Both are free but calling ordinary PSTN is not. :)

SpamSieve - a Mail.app plug-in to manage spam. A non-free application that does its job really, really well. This is an investment that you will not regret even if you have Google filtering your e-mail for you.

VMWare Fusion and Parallels Desktop for Mac - these two virtualization solutions allow you to run any x86 operating system as guest OS. Whilst choosing one over the other is simply a personal choice, I do have both -- just to get the best of both worlds. :D

CrossOver for Mac - if you only need to run a Winblows app or two, there is no need to install an entire Winblows version just to do that. CrossOver for Mac may be able to do it for you, i.e., run a Winblows app without Winblows. Check it out, will probably set you back a couple of USDs.

So there you have it. What are you waiting for? Check out these applications and make your Mac happy! And oh, welcome to the cult!