microsoft windows applications are not supported on os x?

[Mads]

on my new macbook pro every time i try to install something i cannot because i get this message. ex: frostwire, facebook video calling, netflix
how can I install these? please help!

[Gerald s]

you need to check the programs websites for osx installers , the ones you tried where for windows os

[ELfaGeek]

"how can I install these?"

You can't! OS X Apps almost always end in ".dmg". But:

FrostWire was taken down by the Feds over a year ago, so don't waste your time looking for the OS X version of it. And, FaceBook and NetFlix are both Online Services, so there's no download required, just sign up and pay any money they ask for (NetFlix = $ 8 / mth).

[TheGuyNumber4]

Windows applications are ".exe" files, also called "Executables", Mac OS X applications are ".app" files, AKA "Applications". Mac OS X will not run executables, and Windows will not run applications, the only work around for OS X is to download "Wine", or "WineBottler", which allows OS X to run executables, but sometimes it won't work anyways, and depending on which route you take for installing Wine, can take anywhere from 10 minutes to 5+ hours. Or you can install Windows by getting a install DVD and running it with BootCamp inside OS X. Windows cannot run OS X applications unless you "Hackintosh" your PC, which is a very long and annoying process. And more than half the time doesn't work at all.

A better video/music downloading/converting software would be MP3Rocket, crazy fast downloads, but you need Wine. If you do decide to go the Wine way, try WineBottler, it's easy to use. Just select your installer executable and press go. It'll "Bottle" it and create a .app to use on your Mac OS X, then you install it.

[SilverTonguedDevil]

Wow! Many partial answers. Here is the whole deal....
-- The perfect solution is to find a "Mac" version of the software you need. That isn't always possible. The most popular apps, such as MS Office, Photoshop, Firefox, etc. are made for OS X, but plenty others are not. You could find a similar app instead--example: for Windows Movie Maker, use iMovie.
-- Mac OS is not Windows, so it only runs Mac applications ("application" is a synonym for "program").
-- To save yourself pulling out your hair, stop trying to download all these Windows installers / apps. None of them will ever work in OS X.
-- To use Windows apps... guess what? Install Windows. Two ways to do that...
(1) Use BootCamp to create a hybrid partition, buy a Windows DVD, and install Windows. (NOTE: This is NOT running Windows inside of OS X.) Then you can choose at startup to either start in OS X or in Windows. When in Windows, you can use Windows apps----unless they are only for XP or something old like that.
(2) Use a virtual machine, such as Parallels Desktop, VMWare Fusion, or VirtualBox. (NOTE: This IS running Windows inside of OS X.) The disadvantage is it doesn't fully control hardware in Windows, so it is not great for playing games.
-- WineBottler rarely works. It is an app that wraps a Windows app inside an OS X application bundle to facilitate launching the Windows app while using OS X, and without spending the money on a Windows install DVD. Oh, excitement! It's FREE! But like I said, only a few Windows apps really will work with it, so it is a real hit-and-miss thing.

Nit-picky definitions: For the most part, "executible" means anything that "runs" on a computer, so it doesn't have to have an EXE ending, just as a "movie" doesn't have to have the MOV ending. Without getting too geeky, executable, app, application, and program are synonyms--all the same idea.

"OS X Apps almost always end in ".dmg"
No, DMG is a type of image file that serves as a package for containment and security in transit (such as for downloading). It is similar to ISO, a way to put a group of files together--with the added advantage of compression. For Windows, the file that actually runs is always the one ending in EXE, but that could be how it is downloaded or it could be in an ISO or ZIP archive. When the EXE file is offered alone for downloading, it is more open to hacking in transit. An ISO or ZIP is better protection for a download, but we never have seen much effort to protect anything about Windows. OS X apps ends in .app, but that itself is a type of bundle, just as an exe file can be either a simple executable or a type of package (usually an installer) that has several files inside, including a simple executable. Inside any .app bundle is a MacOS directory with a simple UNIX executable inside. EXAMPLE: TextEdit.app has this pathway inside...
TextEdit.app/Contents/MacOS/TextEdit
The UNIX executable has no extension, so it is just "TextEdit". The other files in the .app bundle are used by the UNIX executable, such as resources and files that provide details for how it should appear or how the menus are arranged.