Most people expect the basics: “All I need is a a good web browser, email client, and word processor.” Little by little, you get the itch to use your computer for more and more things. “I want to use my Mac for taking notes. I want to get rid of all this paper in my office and have it on my Mac. I hate Microsoft Word and need something just for print.” Given these three things, you know there has to be a bundle to maintain a practical workflow right? Well that’s why we have the Mariner Software Bundle.

The Bundle

AppSumo’s Mariner Software Bundle features three great apps at a big discount: Mariner Write, Mariner MacJournal, and Mariner Paperless at a 29% discount, meaning everything can be yours for $99 instead of $140. With forty bucks shaved off the top, it’s already a pretty tempting purchase, but what exactly can these apps do for you? Glad you asked.

Mariner Write: With big thick buttons and an editing interface that brings me back to the younger days of Mac, Mariner Write was made to counter the dense ribbon interface that clutters Microsoft Word. Mariner Write comes bundled with scripts so you can easily jump to a specific paragraph in our document, export your writings as a PDF, and find your document in the Finder if you can’t remember where you saved it. All of the functions you’d expect are there: You can build custom styles, add tables (which are easy to work with), and change your line spacing right from the toolbar. But what really makes Mariner Write simple to use is a streamlined menubar that gives you quick access to things like striking through text and formatting bullet lists: unlike those other word processors, Mariner Write doesn’t bury any of the options available to you.

Mariner MacJournal: MacJournal sounds like an app that useful for just maintaining a diary, but it’s great for just about anything really. Take notes, plan a trip, drop images and add audio notes into entries so you can bundle all of your thoughts into one container that can be taken with you via the companion iPad or iPhone apps. When you’re feeling like writing a blog entry, MacJournal can take your text and put it on the web thanks to WordPress or TypePad integration. If that wasn’t enough, your archive of information is findable via a calendar so you can search for entries via date.

Mariner Paperless: Here’s the big question: you’ve got a bunch of paper on your desk, and you want to get it into your computer — what do you do? Easy: Paperless. It’s basically a big container with powerful OCR functions built in so it can recognize form fields from receipts, statements, and bills, then allows you to easy organize all of that stuff in one place.  Here’s the thing: Paperless is powerful in that you can recall documents by date, by type, by name, by whatever and you can organize your stuff into their own collections so it never gets lost in the Finder or your Documents folder. Stop building a hierarchy of folders: just scan everything into Paperless and get your office spic-and-span.

The Giveaway

So now that you know what this stuff is, let’s talking about the giveaway. First we want to thank AppSumo for offering us ten bundles to giveaway to our readers. AppSumo is an excellent site for anyone interested in startups, web tech, and productivity, offering daily deals that are often too good to pass up. If you’re an entrepreneur or you’re interested in starting a web company, sign up for AppSumo and let them give your inbox a shot.

We’re giving away ten copies of the Mariner Software Bundle to lucky readers (a $140 value discounted at $99 for a limited time), and this giveaway is only going to last until Sunday at midnight. You’ve got to follow the rules below for your chance to win — good luck!

• We have ten copies of the Mariner Bundle to give away.
• To enter the giveaway, tweet the following message before 11:59 PM EST (July 31st): Win a copy of the Mariner Software Bundle on @macstoriesnet via @appsumo http://mcstr.net/pop0yN
• We will search Twitter.com for tweets and retweets and randomly pick up the winners.
• Make sure to follow @macstoriesnet on Twitter so we can get in touch with you once the giveaway is over.
• If you want to increase your odds of winning, you can also leave a comment to this post. In your comment, please leave a link back to your Twitter profile or tweet so we can contact you — remember you have to be following @macstoriesnet!
• Winners will be contacted via a Twitter DM on Monday afternoon.