I have heard this question, and I asked it myself when I first made the switch to Mac OS X. Windows users are used to having to “install” and “uninstall” programs. With OS X, it is usually as easy as downloading the application that you would like to install, then opening the zipped folder and dragging the application to your “applications” folder in finder. To uninstall the application, simply drag the application to the trash. There will be files left in the library that tell OS X that an application has been present before (like when you uninstall a trial application, then try to install it again). To get rid of all of the library entries, you can use a utility like appDelete (version 1.1.1 is free, the newest version asks you to pay after a few deletes). Another utility to delete applications is appzapper.
I know that this seems pretty basic for people that have used Mac OS for anytime, but for a brand new user, it can be helpful. Let me know if anything on this site has helped you.
Nov 29