In keeping with Alex Payne’s “Software I Paid For” post, I’m doing my own. While his focuses on software he no longer uses, I’m going to try and remember the apps I bought over the year, and if I regret the purchase.
Desktop:
Office 2008. Scrivener is still my heavy-lifting writing program, but Word 2008 gets a lot of use for academic writing. The built-in citation manager alone was worth the price. However, I paid $70 for it via academic pricing, so it was worth at least that. No regrets.
Spore. I bought it, and couldn’t get through the cell stage without wanting to poke myself in the eye. Deep regret.
Wrath of the Lich King. Fantastic job by Blizzard. Only regret is time lost to it.
Parallels Desktop Upgrade (3.0). At least, I think I got this in 2008. I don’t use my Mac for the day job anymore. I bought it due to their promise of better 3D support, which it failed to deliver. Moderate regret.
CrossOver Games. I bought this before they had their one-day free promo. It lets me run LOTRO and D&D Online on my Macbook, and does a good job at it. No regrets.
Delicious Library 2. I’m trying to get more organized with my media library. Delicious Library lets me throw an XLS file of my books on my iPhone, which is handy when I go into a used bookstore and can’t remember if I have that book or not. No regrets.
Pixelmator. I think I got this last year as part of Macheist. It’s pretty much been the Photoshop replacement I was hoping it would be. It gets less use now that I’m not fudging with graphics for WoW Insider/Massively. No regrets.
iPhone Apps
Bejeweled 2. Fantastic game that’s great for those moments where I’m parked on the couch waiting for my wife to get ready. Quick loading and mindless play. No regrets.
Chess Classics. I don’t play this as much as I’d like, but I have no regrets.
Cro-Mag Rally. Only played one race. Deep regret.
FileMagnet. Handy for the infrequent times I need to get a file onto the phone. No regrets.
MLB At Bat. I’m not a big baseball fan, but this is the app I use to show off what the iPhone can do. Plus, it’s handy for those times I actually give a shit what the score of the Sox game is. No regrets.
Spore Origins. I’ve played it more than he OS X version. It’s not bad, and kinda fun. Moderate Regret.
Scrabble. My wife loves scrabble and this is great for when we’re waiting on food or for a movie to start. No regrets.
Texas Hold’em. Like Spore, I don’t play it much, but it’s pretty good. No regrets.
Twitterific Premium. I’m using Twinkle more now, and I don’t like how it doesn’t start at the top of the list. Deep regret.
X-Plane 9. Another one I don’t play much and the controls are a little hard to get used to, but I don’t have any regrets.
I have more regrets about my iPhone purchases than I do desktop purchases, but I think that’s due to the ease of impulse buying. On the desktop, I’m more likely to do serious research and try the demo before I feed in my credit card. Being able to grab a $1-5 app on the iTunes store is sometimes hard to resist. I’ve gotten better at resisting this siren’s call, though.
Mark Crump 