A software is what you use to carry out a task. There are all sorts of softwares, for all sorts of tasks. 

Word-processing packages : i most known one is “Word” from Microsoft, which unfortunately is very expensive, for it is sold with three other softwares, Excel, Power Point and Entourage ; the whole is called “Office”, and can be downloaded from :

You also have a word-processing package given with the Mac OS X operating system, called Text Edit, very useful when you do not need too sophisticated details. You find it in the Applications folder, but you can also open it by typing its icon in the “Keyboard and Mouse bis” scanning panel, last row, first key of the second column. With the Mac OS X operating system, you also have the “Stickies”, which are sorts of reminders. You also find it in the Applications folder, but it is faster to type its icon in the “Keyboard and Mouse bis” scanning panel, last row, last key of the first column. 

Browsers : are softwares to go on internet. The one given with the Mac OS X operating system is Safari. You open it either by the Application folder, either by its icon in the Dock (it has the shape of a compass), but the fastest way is to type its icon in the “Keyboard and Mouse bis” scanning panel, last row, second key of the second column. But there are plenty of other Browsers, the most current is “Netscape”. It is free and you can download it from :

Mails : there is a very good mail software given with the Mac OS X operating system, called Mail. You find it in the Application folder, and its icon, a stamp, is in the Dock, but the fastest way is to type its icon in the “Keyboard and Mouse bis” scanning panel, last row, first column, second key. But there are lots of mail softwares, like the one attached to the Netscape browser, that has the great advantage to be free. With “Office” (sold with “Word”), you have “Entourage” which is supposed to put capitals at each beginning of phrases, but as it does not work each time, I do not use it. The most known one is “Eudora”. It is free and can be downloaded from :

Reading : the most known reading software, and that you cannot avoid (because it is the only one empowered to read pdf files), is Acrobat Reader. It is free and can be downloaded from :

if you need to transform files in pdf files (for example after having scanned a book), you have to buy Adobe Acrobat, that you can download from :

Pictures : to look at photos, you have two softwares with the Mac OS X operating system, Preview and iPhoto. With iPhoto you can reframe and touch up a photo, but if you want to make sophisticated work on a photo, or draw with your computer, you need a software as Photoshop, unfortunately very expensive, that can be downloaded from :

to edit videos, you have iMovie in your computer, but for more sophisticated work, you need a software as Final Cut Pro that can be downloaded from the Apple web site, also very expensive.

Music : with Mac OS X operating system, you have iTunes, which allows to keep, classify and download all sorts of music, compressed in MP3 or not. I do not know other music softwares, for iTunes is more than enough for me.

CD burning : if your computer does not print, you can buy a CD burner, that you connect to your computer, with the Toast Titanium software, it is very simple.

There are plenty of other softwares for all sorts of tasks, I only know very few, but in your Application folder, you can try to understand what they do.

Note : generally when a software is installed on a computer, we rather speak of application.