My top ten must-have Mac OSX applications
A fellow Webweaver is “switching” from PC to Mac, and asked the Mac users on our email list which Mac software we consider to be must-haves — aside from what is already pre-installed. So as a follow-up to the Apple Mail post, I decided to compile a list of (some of) my favourites.
- Quicksilver (application launcher and much more. Saves me oodles of time and is always the first thing I install on a new system)
- SpamSieve (it’s super-accurate, and, when used in conjunction with Dockless, I never even know it’s there)
- Studiometry (I totally depend on this for my project management and billing — I love it!)
- Transmit (powerful FTP client — the DockSend function is a huge time-saver)
- Adium (multi-protocol IM client… I’ve tried ’em all but Adium is by far the most mature)
- Hogwasher (newsgroup reader — a few quirks but offers convenient features no other OSX newsgroup reader currently offers)
- NetNewsWire (a newsfeed reader I really love. I just about live in this proggy)
- Growl (notification utility)
- CiphSafe (password manager)
- MailUnreadStatusBar (a menubar icon displays the number of unread emails in Apple Mail — in any folder/s, not just the Inbox)
As previously mentioned, I’m a software junkie and it is really hard to narrow the list down to just ten items. (So I cheated a bit and snuck Dockless in there with SpamSieve. 😉 But I couldn’t work out how to sneak any more in!) I also left out such software as Dreamweaver, Fireworks and StyleMaster, as they are not exclusive to Mac OSX.
Technorati Tags:
Quicksilver, SpamSieve, Studiometry, Transmit, Adium, Hogwasher, NetNewsWire, Growl, CiphSafe, MailUnreadStatusBar, Dockless, Apple Mail, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, StyleMaster, Mac OSX, OSX, applications, software junkie
April 1st, 2006 at 9:24 pm
[…] Stumbled over this list from Unheardword which add some applications (and links!) to my list. […]
April 14th, 2006 at 4:30 pm
You really need to take a look at Windows – Text editors such as TextPad make the life of a web page designer very easy. FileZilla is a very good FTP client. etc. etc. While I probably share your dislike for all things “Microsoft” you can’t beat market share – 95% market share probably means 95% of developers are working on that platform.
Regards,
Peter
PS: I got over my “Mac adiction” many years ago. Microsoft might be bastards, but Apple just pretend not to be.
April 14th, 2006 at 4:50 pm
Hi Peter,
I worked full time on Windows, with OSX at home, until a year ago when I left to run my own business, and I know well what Windows is like, and I worked with many of the webdev applications. Some are quite good, I agree. I just prefer OSX and its applications. (I don’t know TextPad, but Transmit runs circles around FileZilla.)
Personal choice. To each their own, etc etc. 🙂
(Indeed, I have a Windows machine here too, but only use it for testing.)
But… if it’s many years since you looked at Macs, you’d probably love to have a look at OSX which is radically different to OS9 and below. I would not have “switched” to OS9, but OSX is different altogether. Admittedly, for the first couple of days I hated it and thought I’d made the most expensive mistake of my life — but now, obviously, I’ve changed my mind. 🙂
In any case, I wasn’t intending to bag Microsoft, just to share my favourite OSX apps. 🙂