Chapter 9: Working with OS X's Own Applications
In This Chapter
How applications, utilities, and widgets differ
Understanding the Applications folder
OS X's built-in applications
OS X is much more than an operating system. It's chock-full of tools that let you do all sorts of things, from managing your address book to taking photographic snapshots. These tools come in four forms: applications, utilities, widgets, and services.
What distinguishes the four types of tools from each other comes down essentially to complexity. Technically, all four types are software programs. However, an application (which Apple is fond of calling an app) usually is software that you use to perform a task unrelated to managing your computer, such as surfing the web or playing DVDs. A utility usually is a tool to manage the computer itself, such as one that manages color profiles or formats disks. And a widget usually is a very simple program that gives you quick access to a feature, such as translating text or accessing weather information. Services are functions that you can use within your applications, such as converting text between the two forms of Chinese, searching text on the web, or taking a screen shot, as well as functions that OS provides for multiple applications to use in a common way, such as spell-checking and providing alerts.
But these are arbitrary distinctions, and Apple may have classified some tools differently in OS X than you might have. In the end, what really matters about ...
