willotoons' recommended mac os x apps
Anniversary Edition! It's officially been 1 year that I've been a mac user! woohoo!A lot of you were reading when I first started making the decision to switch from the pc. And then when I made the decision, and then got it, had some serious troubles, a slight learning curve, but overall was very happy.
Well, recently a friend of mine, and print designer, was telling me about how badly she needed to upgrade off her old mac (OS 9 still! *gasp!* :p), and was saying she was going to get a G5. And I was like "wha!?", as I feel like it's just so damn sweet to have the portability of the Powerbook G4! And truly, unless you're doing massive video or 3D rendering, it's just as powerful as the desktops we've been using the last couple years, which was why I was finally ready to go laptop. Not to mention powerbook - because they're awesome! So she went for it & is now the proud owner of a 15 inch like me! woohoo!
Anyway - she's getting all her programs set up & stuff, and that's always fun (albeit, time consuming!) - but for her, it's ESPECIALLY fun because she's finally upgraded to OSX and there's SO MANY cool programs for it! So I started compiling a list of my favorite apps for her.. and realized, in the spirit of TGIF, I should just post them here. :)
Over the past year, I've posted about mac apps with more detailed descriptions - but for a quick list, here's my favorites (as of right now) that I would recommend to any mac user:
- Quicksilver - Simply a must have. Your entire computer is at your fingertips! See Merlin's QS tips to get even more out of it!
- Adium - great chat app for all 3: Y!, AIM & MSN. Plus, you know a chat app is cool when your dock icon can be a Domo-kun and you can use sound effects from Napoleon Dynamite. :)
- Default Folder - comes in handy, as the fact that open & save windows don't let you rename and move files inherently on the mac is just STUPID! As you can see, it's one of my biggest gripes about the mac. It just makes NO SENSE! Default folder makes this a bit more bearable for me, but still not as good as the PC.
- Cyberduck (FTP program) Cyberducky, you're the one!
- iBiz (formerly iWork) - I've been using this for my business pretty much from day 1... I love it!
- iScrobbler - reports what I'm listening to in iTunes (works with other apps too!)
- MacJanitor - good to have to keep things clean & orderly!
- MacStumbler - if you're a laptop user, this will come in handy *someday*
- ToDo X - this is my favorite application! :) You can even download this little widget to get your to do list on your iPod!
- SpamSieve - great for sorting out the spam!
- wClock - I almost forgot this one because it runs so seamlessly.. but I wouldn't want to live w/o it!
- Synergy - Controls iTunes from the menu bar
- LittleSnitch - don't let your apps report to the big guys without you knowing it!
- PathFinder - this is very cool. The "drop stack" is great, but I really liked the built in image viewer (that tiger promises to have, apparently), and the way it shows where you're at like cookie crumb navigation. I just couldn't plunk down the money just yet...
- A Better Finder Rename - this comes in REALLY handy if you need to do some random batch rename on files. I downloaded the trial and it works like a charm!
- AutoHide - this is very cool, as it keeps things clean and tidy for you. However, it's a tad buggy when it comes to certain password pop up windows & such.. although there are work-arounds... but you have to know about them otherwise you'll go nuts because the only way to shut it off is to open the activity monitor! Spirited Away is a similar little app that hides programs that aren't being used after a certain amount of time... and you can set apps you never want it to hide... so I might try that now.
- Carbon Copy Cloner - a great way to easily make backups. I just got Retrospect Backup 6.0 though, and am going to try that out (after I call tech support because I'm afraid it's going to wipe out everything on my external drive, so I'm playin it safe!)
