[pvonk]

Being an academic, I do a lot of writing. My main word processors are (the new 2008) Word, Pages (weaning myself off Word, but Pages doesn't come close to it in certain critical areas for me), and Circus Ponies Notebook (for lectures which are then exported to HTML). I rely heavily on OmniGraffle Pro for all my diagrams which I then cut and paste to Notebook.

I have used OmniOutliner when I need a quick outline of something, and of course Omni Focus to keep track of all my tasks.

Someone mentioned Scrivener above - I've had the urge to write a book, and after trying out many "authors" word processors, I keep coming back to Scrivener.

Like you, I started with DOS then Windows beginning with the original IBM PC-1. After close to 25 years on that platform, I made the switch to a Mac and haven't looked back. It was like falling in love all over again. BTW I use Mac Mail and iCal - suits me fine. As someone else said, lots of other apps have hooks into the Apple main apps and that is a real plus.