Useful programs for MacOS X

I've been using MacOS X since November 2007. It's not perfect, of course, but I'd say that I have since developed a passion for Apple products. They know how to make stuff. Below is the list of useful software that I've found to be useful while on MacOS X. I hope some of my friends who convert will find this useful. The list will be (hopefully) updated as time goes. Recommendations are welcome.

Development

Well, this is what I do most of the time. I highly recommend to install Apple Developer Tools (available as additional DVD with Leopard, or free download from Apple). It contains GCC, Python, and Ruby (with RoR) amongst other things.

• TextMate – the ultimate editor. Shareware (€50), but it's worth it.
• VIM – I just don't want to lose my skills.
• NeoOffice – OpenOffice ported to MacOS X. I'm pretty sure original OpenOffice works on MacOS X, but this one has more Mac-like interface. However, I have my own opinion about OpenOffice (hence NeoOffice too) in general, and it's not good.
• CSSEdit – advanced CSS editor; live preview, version control (so-called milestones) etc. Not free, got it as part of MacHeist.

Network

• Safari – default browser in MacOS X. WebKit has nightly builds which work nice as well.
• Firefox 3 – the new Firefox is pretty cool on MacOS X. While I had to use Camino before Firefox 3, new versions are really good.
• Camino – see prev.
• Adium – the ultimate instant messaging client. Uses some of Gaim (Pidgin) code. Don't forget to replace the dock icon.
• Skype (Beta) – I try to run beta versions, they are stable and have all kinds of cool features. Again, in my opinion, Linux version of Skype is so much nicer than Windows version, and Mac version is somewhere in between.
• NewsFire – my current RSS reader. Used Vienna (FOSS) and NewsGator before. Interesting that NewsFire and NewsGator were shareware initially, but are both free downloads now.
• Transmission – the BitTorrent client. Also have a look at Clutch, a web-interface to Transmission.
• Colloquy – IRC client. I was never really into IRC, and esp. on Mac.
• Cyberduck – it is a shame FTP is still alive in some places. Still, if you need it, Cyberduck doesn't suck too much. Works with SCP too.
• SiteSucker – download websites. However, wget is often enough for all downloading needs.
• Speed Download 4 – I believe this one is for donwloading stuff too.

Media

• Perian – codec pack for QuickTime. Now a lot of people will tell you that VLC is great, and indeed it is, but I still find Perian rather useful, e.g. for Front Row.
• VLC – video/audio player. Multi-platform, supports every format you'll ever need.
• MPlayer – video/audio player. I was surprised to find that MPlayer has great (read: natively looking) user interface on MacOS
• Pixelmator – cheap (read: cheaper than Photoshop) image editor. Pretty good, has some innovative features. Got it with MacHeist.
• CoverSutra – iTunes control. There are many free alternatives, but I got this with MacHeist and enjoy it a lot, esp. the Spotlight-like-music-searh-dropdown.
• Handbrake – video/audio recoding.
• MPEG Streamclip – video/audio recoding.
• xACT – audio recoding.
• Senuti – copy songs from iPod to your Mac.
• Snapz Pro X – screencasting/screenshotting application. Looks arcane but works perfectly.

Utilities

• MacPorts – ports. There are many alternatives like Fink and DarwinPorts, haven't tried them yet.
• sshfs – virtual SSH-based filesystem on top of MacFUSE.
• AppZapper – when dragging application to Trash is not enough, i.e. removes all configuration files.
• Awaken – alarm clock. Sadly, haven't used this since got it with MacHeist.
• Battery Health Monitor
• Chmox – CHM (Windows HTML Help) viewer.
• Task Paper – this TODO list manager was good reason alone to buy MacHeist.
• RescueTime – ran by YC-funded startup, provides tools to monitor your application usage.
• Remote Desktop Connection – RDP client for Mac, by Microsoft.
• CoRD – a better (and non-Microsoft) RDP client. Some people say this one rocks, but I just don't care.
• DjView – DjVu viewer.
• Google Notifier – notifies of new Gmail messages.
• GrandPerspective – a visual approach to answer the question “what the heck takes so much space on my disk?”.
• Graphviz – minimalist interface to Graphviz, for laying out graphs. Outdated.
• MacTracker – specifications of all Apple products.
• OnyX – customize some hidden MacOS X settings.
• Q – QEMU port.
• RealPlayer – to watch lectures from MIT OCW, nothing else.
• Stellarium – virtual sky.
• svnX – stand-alone application for managing Subversion working copies, repositories. I wouldn't recommend installing SCPlugin for Finder or things like that as they have caused system instabilities for me. However, I would say overall that I've been using only svn (command line) for a few years now. YMMV.
• UnRarX – extracts RAR files.

Dashboard Widgets

• iStat Pro – the only really good system monitoring widget I could find.

back