Everyone needs a planetarium program. I started out with My Stars when I had my Dob, but now that I run a Celestron C11 too, I run Cartes du Ceil so I can control my scope from the same program. I would still recommend My Stars to a newbie with a non-computerized scope.
With a Dobsoinian mounted scope I needed something that could easily get me Alt Az coordinates for an object. And preferably track it in the sky. I found nothing that did this to my satisfaction, so I wrote Astro Helper.
I finished off my suite with NexRemote and NexStar Observer's List. Even if you don't have a Celestron scope I suggest trying out NSOL as a object suggester. If you have a Celestron Scope it will command the scope to any object to double click. NexRemote lets me steer my scope with a wireless joystick. That is so great in the dark where cables can really get you in trouble.
