My recent infatuation with all things Mac has been taken to new levels since I was able to convince my IT department to replace my crappy Dell with a shiny new Macbook Pro. Hot!

Now 80% of my work on any given day is 'in the cloud' developing for Salesforce.com using a browser, so I wasn't overly concerned with the transition. That being said there is still some software that I depend on.So I decided to post a list of the Mac equivalents for other Salesforce Developers using OSX.

• Salesforce DataLoader for Windows = LexiLoader for OSX – This is a unofficial release maintained by Simon Fell, a top developer at Salesforce. Please vote on Salesforce Ideas to make this an offical supported release. Note that if you use OSX (10.5) you'll have to install version 16 not the latest version which only seems to support Snow Leopard (10.6)
• Apex Explorer for Windows = SoqlX Explorer for OSX – Another gift from Simon Fell. It actually is better than the official release.
• Outlook Connect for Salesforce = Maildrop for Mac OS – Perfect match to Entourage. Again, from you know who. 
• Eclipse IDE Win32 = Eclipse IDE MacOS – Install the Mac version of this open source IDE and then follow the instructions for adding Force.com to Eclipse. Psst. Look at the screenshots. Its a Mac. Probably Simon Fell's Mac. 
• Salesforce Migration Tool (aka Ant) – Java executable so it's technically platform agnostic. Remember when Java was going to make all software platform agnostic. Still waiting on that and my flying car. Anyhow, installing ant on a Mac is explained in great detail at http://www.asceticmonk.com/blog/?p=388

So what didn't make the cut?

• Force.com Excel Connector – In my opinion, a superior tool to the Data Loader for the purpose of quickly querying and updating Salesforce records. I used it extensively for cleaning up data during migrations. Alas, the geniuses at Redmond decided not to support VB Macros in Excel 2008 for Mac. Seriously? Why would you release a product on one platform that is missing a major piece of functionality readily available on the other. Oh, maybe you're trying to build a monopoly and undercut use of the other platform. Ok, then. Nevermind. This may have been a non starter anyway since the Connector relies on the Office Toolkit which is only for Windows. Tried the Mac version of Mass Update Anything, but the UI is all screwed up. Looks like the version is from 2007, so it might not be compatible with Leopard.
• Notepad++ – Using TextWrangler but not loving it. Might try TextMate. 
• SnagIt and Camtasia – I make a lot of screen captures and videos for training. Using Snap Pro X because that was recommended by my IT dept, but it feels like a downgrade. It doesn't have an editor for adding callouts, screen zooms, etc. Might try the Mac beta of SnagIt and see if I can make a case for Camtasia for Mac.
• Internet Explorer – Don't laugh. I need to see how VisualForce pages I develop look in IE, especially since I use Firefox exclusively. Also, the web-based app I use to log my billable hours … wait for it … only runs in IE! My advise; if you're a company with a web-based product that only runs on IE, start laying people off. IE's market share is around 60% and declining . As they lose market share so will you. In geek speak that means; IF(eggs > 1 && baskets == 1) THEN FAIL