Section Two for the Pro-Gear series will cover the software I use in order to get my work done.
Since my new computer is a Macbook Pro as I discussed on Pro Gear - Hardware, many of my software are now Mac-Based software. It was quite a transition coming over here since my hard drive on my HP Pavilion blew up and I was forced to switch computers fast. I will categorize my software mainly into three categories - backbone, administration, and design & development.
Backbone
Backbone software would mean what I run all my stuff on, mainly operating systems, and whatever it takes to keep the OS running smoothly. Obviously I have the newest version of OSX Leopard, which is an amazing operating system accompanied with cool features like Cover Flow, Stacks, Time Machine, and more. For more details on the OSX Leopard, check out this video tour of the OSX.
Apart from the Leopard, I have VMWare installed, which allows me to run Windows XP on my Macbook Pro as well. This helps for testing purposes, opening files sent to me by clients in native Office 2003 environment rather than the shaky Office for Mac environment. Mainly it is used for testing websites on IE7.
My Macbook Pro also has AppZapper installed, which is a great app for cleanly removing applications I do not need anymore. For browsing, I generally use Safari for its fast speed and cleanliness, but for web development I use Firefox with some plug-ins that are absolutely critical for fast web development and troubleshooting.
On my spare Toshiba laptop, I also run Windows XP, and this is used as a desktop. My Toshiba Laptop runs IE6 in order for testing certain websites, although compatibility for IE6 is slowly becoming more of an extra than a mandatory part of web development contracts.
Administration
Administration software would include word processing, data handling, accounting and what not.
iWork ‘08 is my primary document processing software. It’s like Microsoft Office except it works on a Mac, and it works damn fast. It includes Pages (Microsoft Word equivalent), Keynote (Microsoft Powerppoint Equivalent, and Numbers (Microsoft Excel Equivalent). Together they make a very powerful administrative software group for everyday office purposes.
Quickbooks Pro 2007 for Mac is my choice for accounting. I’ve gone through demos of nearly 10 different accounting software. Quickbooks Pro was by far the best choice for professional accounting and tax preparation. Yes, even though it is not officially a tax software, it can do tax preparation for you by categorizing expenses and tracking them in detail, in a very easy way. The second best choice for accounting software is Microsoft Money. Some people might feel repulsed at the fact that it’s Microsoft, but trust me, if I were on a Windows based computer, I’d go with Microsoft Money any day.
Mail, Address Book, iCal are the main email/contact/calendar clients included with the Mac OSX, and it is the best way to go, as it synchronizes well with all the other parts of your computer. My advice usually for these is to stick with whatever the OS Vendor gave you. Likewise, if you’re using Microsoft Windows, you should be using Microsoft Office for your email/organization/word processing and all of that.
I also use a Web Based CRM for managing tasks and schedules between myself, my employees, and my associates. SugarCRM is my choice, and you can read more about why I use Sugar CRM. The only problem with most CRMs is that they only offer synchronization with Microsoft Outlook. My personal tasks and reminders are in iCal, while my professional calendar is kept in my CRM. I open my CRM at the beginning of each day to check what I’m facing that day.
Tomorrow I will post about the development and design production software I use, which are software such as
