8.1 app recommendations coming from a Mac?


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I'm giving up battling with OSX at work and moving over to Windows 8.1, the only issue is i have a very specific workflow on OSX, so i'm hoping i'll find suitable replacements for Windows.

 

Below is a list of what i use on OSX and what i could use on 8.1.. please offer recommendations over my suggestions if something better is available...

 

 

Browser - Internet Explorer (from Safari) - no specific requirement here, i believe i can use iCloud control panel to pull in bookmarks?

 

Mail Client - Outlook (from Airmail) - don't particularly have an issue with Outlook, but is there anything more intuitive available?

 

Twitter - ????? (from Tweetbot)

 

Media Player - ????? (from iTunes)

 

Note taking - ??????? (from Clear) - love this, is there something similar available?

 

Terminal/Command line - ????? (from Terminal)

 

Zipped files (rar) - WINRAR? (from Unarchiver)

 

Calendar - Outlook? (from Fantastical)

 

Disk Burning - ???? (from Burn) - something simple, no bloatware

 

Photo Organising - ????? (from iPhoto) 

 

More specific..

 

FTP Client - ????? (from Transmit)

 

Code Editor - Sublime Text 2

 

CSS Pre-processor / web dev tools - Mixture (from CodeKit) - any other suggestions for good apps for web developers?

 

Markdown Editor - ????? (from iA Writer)

 

Many thanks for any suggestions :)

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Code Editor -> Code Writer (http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-US/app/code-writer/5149f454-94a7-40bc-90ef-eafd38355079)

Calendar -> built-in Calendar app or Outlook
 

Mail -> built-in Mail app.

Note taking -> OneNote :-) (both the desktop as the Metro app) http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/app/f022389f-f3a6-417e-ad23-704fbdf57117

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Let me try - since I'm trying out Windows 8.1 myself - though on a home pc.

 

Burn - BurnAware Free http://www.burnaware.com/features/

 

Burn - Lifehacker recommends ImgBurn - I've tried both and ImgBurn is probably the better choice - just throwing two outthere.

 

Browser - Firefox - personally I find the font rendering better in Firefox than Google Chrome - Extensions for iCloud is available for both browsers. Google Chrome has the whole syncing things going for them so that's that.

 

Email - Postbox http://www.posbox-inc.com/ 

 

Musicplayer - ZunePlayer or Musicbee

 

Zip and RAR + others - WinRAR (can be customized to have a nice looking toolbar and document icons)

 

FTP - Cyberduck http://cyberduck.io/

 

Also - good information here http://lifehacker.com/384545/superior-alternatives-to-crappy-windows-software 

 

The above-mentioned software is some I've tried personally or am going to try - Cyberduck being that one.

 

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Good shout with postbox, i already have a licence for this i used it for a short while on my mac, i didn't realise there is a windows client, same with Cyberduck.

 

That code editor looks nice as well.

 

Thanks guys :)

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Terminal - Found a better Console app here(according to a finding on the internet) http://sourceforge.net/projects/console/

 

Terminal - Poderosa is apparently another app that some love http://sourceforge.net/projects/poderosa/files/beta/ (Note the beta tag - it's on hiatus it seems) 

Main site - http://poderosa.sourceforge.net/ 

 

Picture organization - Tried one myself called Xnview that is quite nice (also recommended by Lifehacker - I originally found the app here via Neowin's Software page)

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Mediaplayer: JRiver Media Center - appr. $40,=

 

Zip: Winrar, 7Zip - free

 

CD/DVD burn: InfraRecorder - free

 

FTP: FileZilla - free

 

Terminal: Command Prompt or Powershell in Windows, PuTTy - free

 

Media Player: Windows Media Player, Media Player Classic Home Cinema, VLC Player - free

 

Photos: Picasa, Windows Live Photo Gallery - free or if you're a big photographer: Adobe Lightroom

 

Code Editor: Sublime Text 2 Win version

 

CSS Pre-processor / web dev tools - Mixture Win version

 

For a lot of your tools there are Windows versions available from the same people :-)

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I've enjoyed the capability of Outlook for e-mail. Likewise, I avoided using OneNote for several years only to later discover that it's really a gem since while it presents a pretty barebones front-end, looking through the settings uncovers some pretty powerful capabilities (searching audio files, password-protecting notes, etc).

I've played around with Powershell over the last few days, and I highly recommend learning it if you're a heavy scripter. It's not bash, so if you're going to take it seriously, don't come in with an expectation of a 1:1 copy (though some commands are mapped to familiar Unix aliases). That said, it's a powerful tool.

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Mediaplayer: VLC player

 

Zip: Winrar, 7Zip

 

CD/DVD burn: DVD Flick/Imgburn

 

FTP: FileZilla - free

 

Terminal: Command Prompt or Powershell in Windows

 

Photos: Windows Photo Viewer

 

Code Editor: Notepad

 

CSS Pre-processor / web dev tools - Adobe Suite CC 

All free. (except the last one which is also free, but we wont get into that) ;)

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I'm giving up battling with OSX at work and moving over to Windows 8.1, the only issue is i have a very specific workflow on OSX, so i'm hoping i'll find suitable replacements for Windows.

 

Below is a list of what i use on OSX and what i could use on 8.1.. please offer recommendations over my suggestions if something better is available...

 

 

Browser - Internet Explorer (from Safari) - no specific requirement here, i believe i can use iCloud control panel to pull in bookmarks?

 

Mail Client - Outlook (from Airmail) - don't particularly have an issue with Outlook, but is there anything more intuitive available?

 

Twitter - ????? (from Tweetbot)

 

Media Player - ????? (from iTunes)

 

Note taking - ??????? (from Clear) - love this, is there something similar available?

 

Terminal/Command line - ????? (from Terminal)

 

Zipped files (rar) - WINRAR? (from Unarchiver)

 

Calendar - Outlook? (from Fantastical)

 

Disk Burning - ???? (from Burn) - something simple, no bloatware

 

Photo Organising - ????? (from iPhoto) 

 

More specific..

 

FTP Client - ????? (from Transmit)

 

Code Editor - Sublime Text 2

 

CSS Pre-processor / web dev tools - Mixture (from CodeKit) - any other suggestions for good apps for web developers?

 

Markdown Editor - ????? (from iA Writer)

 

Many thanks for any suggestions :)

 

Moving from OS X to Windows 8 myself, I found these to be my favorites:

 

Browser - Chrome/Chromium - looks and feels the most like Safari

 

Media Player - Winamp for audio and VLC for video

 

Terminal/Command line - Windows PowerShell, which is built into Windows 8 and will be very familiar to anyone who uses Terminal

 

Zipped files (rar) - 7-Zip, no question. Free, open source and non bloatware unlike Winzip or Winrar.

 

Disk Burning - IMGBurn

 

FTP Client - Cyberduck

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Browser - Chrome + iCloud Extension if you need safari syncing (or just use chrome on iOS too)

Media Player - iTunes or Foobar2k for Audio, PotPlayer for Video

Note taking/Lists - OneNote & Wunderlist

Terminal/Command line - Install Git (it has cygwin with most useful packages) and use Git Bash

Zipped files (rar) - 7-Zip

Disk Burning - The one built into Windows, or ImgBurn

FTP Client - Cyberduck or Filezilla

Code Editor - Sublime Text 2

CSS Pre-processor - Koala or Prepros

Markdown Editor - MarkdownPad, texts.io or an online one like dillinger

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What are you looking to do inside the terminal? If you want a UNIX style environment like in OSX give Cygwin a go. I use it everyday at work because we're primarily UNIX based.

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Browser: You don't have to use IE.  There are a ton of browsers for Windows, including Safari.  Personally I prefer Firefox.

 

Mail client: The built-in mail app is actually really good (I think).  But if you don't like the "metro" apps you might check out the mail program in the (free) Windows Essentials 2012 suite.

 

Twitter: There's an official Twitter app, but again, if you don't like the "metro" apps, well... actually I don't do the Twitter thing much so I use Trillian, which is primarily an IM program.

 

Media player: You can still use iTunes.  I use SPlayer or Media Player Classic - Home Cinema for videos and Winamp, Zune, Helium Music Manager or the Xbox Music app for music, depending on my mood.

 

Note taking: I have no experience with Clear, but I use OneNote (the app, not the desktop program; my needs are pretty basic).  Evernote and Springpad are also very good.

 

Terminal:  Well, that would be the built-in classic command prompt.  Windows commands are different than linux/unix commands, though, so there will be some learning to be done there.

 

Zipped files: +1 for Winrar, it's really superb (although you may want to install one of the (many) free themes.

 

Calendar: Again, I actually prefer the built-in app.  Don't really have a non-metro alternative for this, I mostly do any Calendar entries on my Windows phone.  The calendar is tied to your Microsoft account, so you can access it (along with mail, OneNote, SkyDrive) with any web browser, too.  If you'd prefer to use a Google account, Google has a program, too, I believe.

 

Disc Burning: I use the VSO suite: BlindWrite and Copy To.  If you want to convert videos to DVDs then also ConvertXtoDVD.

 

FTP Client: I use Filezilla.

 

Photo Organizing: I actually do that manually; I haven't found a great program for it yet.

 

Code Editor: I just use Wordpad, but there are tons of free text editors out there geared towards people who do a lot of coding.  I hear Notepad++ is pretty good.

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Adobe Lightroom is pretty good for a photo editor

ftp client i would choose filezilla

disc burning: use the built in burner for isos others i haven't really tested or used code editor sublime 

music i use itunes since you are coming from a mac its easier to to import what you already have

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There is no Safari (anymore) for Windows, of all browsers, that's the last you should recommend on Windows. Anyway, Internet Explorer is a great browser, especialy when you want to have your settings synced between Windows installations.

Browser: You don't have to use IE.  There are a ton of browsers for Windows, including Safari.  Personally I prefer Firefox.

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There is no Safari (anymore) for Windows, of all browsers, that's the last you should recommend on Windows. Anyway, Internet Explorer is a great browser, especialy when you want to have your settings synced between Windows installations.

I didn't realize because I never used it.

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I've gone with Chrome+iCloud extension to pull in bookmarks

Also gone with iTunes, which seems logical since most of my music is purchased though that

Cyberduck, Sublime Text 2 for coding

I tried Postbox for email but quickly remembered why i stopped used it on my mac and switched to Outlook 2013 which seems much better so far.

 

Overall i'm enjoying the switch, Windows still shines in the work place, i love OSX but will admit the way it handles networks is a horror show.

 

It looks like Wunderlist for notes and lists, 7-zip for archives.

 

i'd still like a non metro twitter app.

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I'm giving up battling with OSX at work and moving over to Windows 8.1, the only issue is i have a very specific workflow on OSX, so i'm hoping i'll find suitable replacements for Windows.

 

Below is a list of what i use on OSX and what i could use on 8.1.. please offer recommendations over my suggestions if something better is available...

 

 

Browser - Internet Explorer (from Safari) - no specific requirement here, i believe i can use iCloud control panel to pull in bookmarks?

 

Mail Client - Outlook (from Airmail) - don't particularly have an issue with Outlook, but is there anything more intuitive available?

 

Twitter - ????? (from Tweetbot)

 

Media Player - ????? (from iTunes)

 

Note taking - ??????? (from Clear) - love this, is there something similar available?

 

Terminal/Command line - ????? (from Terminal)

 

Zipped files (rar) - WINRAR? (from Unarchiver)

 

Calendar - Outlook? (from Fantastical)

 

Disk Burning - ???? (from Burn) - something simple, no bloatware

 

Photo Organising - ????? (from iPhoto) 

 

More specific..

 

FTP Client - ????? (from Transmit)

 

Code Editor - Sublime Text 2

 

CSS Pre-processor / web dev tools - Mixture (from CodeKit) - any other suggestions for good apps for web developers?

 

Markdown Editor - ????? (from iA Writer)

 

Many thanks for any suggestions :)

 

Browser - I prefer Firefox, but Safari is available for Windows as well.

 

Mail - I use the Metro Mail app for quick viewing and responding, and Thunderbird for management, cleanup and "heaving lifting". Both access my email accounts with IMAP, so the changes are synced between programs and between computers.

 

Media Player - VLC, or if you want a Media Center experience XBMC.

 

Terminal - Win8 has Powershell, or the traditional cmd command line. For most basic stuff cmd will do just fine.

 

Calendar - I use the Calendar app - syncs between by 3 computers and Windows phone.

 

Photo organizing - I just use File Manager, the Pictures library and meaningful folder names.

 

FTP - Filezilla

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I'm giving up battling with OSX at work and moving over to Windows 8.1, the only issue is i have a very specific workflow on OSX, so i'm hoping i'll find suitable replacements for Windows.

 

Below is a list of what i use on OSX and what i could use on 8.1.. please offer recommendations over my suggestions if something better is available...

 

 

Browser - Internet Explorer (from Safari) - no specific requirement here, i believe i can use iCloud control panel to pull in bookmarks?

 

  Yes, you can

 

Mail Client - Outlook (from Airmail) - don't particularly have an issue with Outlook, but is there anything more intuitive available?

 

  There are a lot of third party options but Outlook 2013 is probably the best around. If you only have very simple needs, the built-in Windows 8.1 client might suit your needs. I personally use both - Outlook for my work emails and the built-in for my personal account.

 

  There is also a nice client that comes with Windows Essentials 2012 (former Windows Live Mail) - it is a desktop client which is less feature rich than Outlook but more advanced than the Windows 8.1 one.

 

Twitter - ????? (from Tweetbot)

 

  There is an official Twitter client for Windows 8.1 and a lot of third party alternatives (TweetDeck, Metro Twit, etc)

 

Media Player - ????? (from iTunes)

 

  iTunes works quite well on Windows 8 - otherwise there is Foobar2000, MediaMonkey, etc or even the built-in Xbox music app which isn't so great though but it might work for you

 

Note taking - ??????? (from Clear) - love this, is there something similar available?

 

  Office OneNote 2013 is very good and there is also Evernote (my favorite) - I use both myself - OneNote for business and Evernote for everything else

 

Terminal/Command line - ????? (from Terminal)

 

  There is the Windows Command Prompt and PowerShell (which is amazing). There are also a lot of third party terminals for Windows from Cygwin (if you need Linux/Unix) to PuTTY (for SSH and such)

 

Zipped files (rar) - WINRAR? (from Unarchiver)

 

  7-Zip is great and there is also PearZip

 

Calendar - Outlook? (from Fantastical)

 

  The Outlook calendar is pretty good. There is also the built-in Windows 8.1 calendar which might or might not work for you (it is pretty simple but it does work)

 

Disk Burning - ???? (from Burn) - something simple, no bloatware

 

  I use ImgBurn - it is very simple (and doesn't look very modern) but it works very well and is super light

 

Photo Organising - ????? (from iPhoto) 

 

  You can use Picasa or download Windows Essentials 2012

 

More specific..

 

FTP Client - ????? (from Transmit)

 

  I use FileZilla - works great

 

Code Editor - Sublime Text 2

 

  You can continue using Sublime Text 2 - it works great on Windows

 

CSS Pre-processor / web dev tools - Mixture (from CodeKit) - any other suggestions for good apps for web developers?

 

  What languages do you use most? I use Visual Studio + Web Essentials plug-in myself but I'm a .NET developer. Frankly other than Visual Studio and Sublime I don't have much recent experience with anything else.

 

Markdown Editor - ????? (from iA Writer)

 

  Quick Google search revealed MarkdownPad - looks like a simple editor but I don't mess with Markdown so can't recommend anything first hand

 

Many thanks for any suggestions :)

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Any alternatives to Quicksilver/Alfred ?

Launchy is probably the most popular alternative. It's free and has good extensibility and skinning options. Another option would be AppRocket/Skylight, which have also been around for a while.

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