This is a list of software for
Mac OS X that I consider "must-have". The software on this list is software that I use frequently, but the list should be considered dynamic in nature, it may change at anytime. You will not see an email application or an RSS reader. I use
Gmail and
Google Reader and do not expect that to change anytime soon.
Internet and communications
Adium
Adium X is the best multi-protocol instant messenger client, and supports the major transports, such as AIM, ICQ, MSN, Jabber, Yahoo, and more. The interface is very nice and the software is free.
Firefox
I have used Firefox, well since it was called something else. Firefox has a handful of extensions that keep me using the browser, it is a good web browser but minus the specific extensions I could happily use Safari as well.
Cyberduck
Cyberduck is an open-source FTP and SFTP (SSH Secure File Transfer) client and browser. I use Cyberduck for secure copying, but rarely for FTP.
Filezilla
For flat out FTP I use Filezilla, because the application is available for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X. I can use the same application on any operating system I use. Hopefully one day they will add Secure Copy to this application. The single window view of both remote and local machines is the reason I prefer Filezilla over Cyberduck.
VLC
VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, ...) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. I used it on OS X and Linux and it even streamed Alex's ogg vorbis stream on the Mac when all others failed.
Audacity
Audacity is a free, open source software for recording and editing sounds in Mac OS X, Linux and other operating systems. I use this application to record my side of the podcasts, which I then export to FLAC format. FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec, an audio format similar to MP3, but lossless, meaning that audio is compressed in FLAC without any loss in quality.
Flickr Uploadr
The Flickr Uploadr provided free from
Flickr is all I need to get my photos to Flickr. I drag and drop from iPhoto to the Flickr Uploadr where I can apply tags, descriptions and even create sets or add photos to existing sets.
Gimp
GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed program for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.
Productivity
NeoOffice
NeoOffice is a Mac-only port of OpenOffice.Org. It is a free and excellent office suite that meets all my office suite needs, and enables you to work with Microsoft generated office documents too.
BuffSched
Buffsched is a command line scheduling application I wrote in shell script and is currently compatiable with Mac OS X, Linux, AIX, Solaris and HP-UX. A simple text file holds all your scheduled appointments and ignores any entries that are not in the BuffSched format. This is so you can keep a todo list, an address book and any other information you deem useful in the text file. I carry mine on a thumb drive so I can access and change my schedule at work and at home.
Chicken of the VNC
Chicken of the VNC is a free VNC client application that allows you to remotely control the desktop of other machines. I use it to access my Linux machines.
Porticus
If you are a UNIX geek like me, you have likely heard of or use
MacPorts. Porticus is a graphical front-end to MacPorts, and it is a breeze to use.
TextWrangler
TextWrangler is a free as in beer text editor aimed at coders and sysadmins. But where TextWrangler really shines is the command-line interface/wrappers, and some of the
regexp features. I am so familiar with
vi on the command line that I still mostly use that. But I cannot argue that TextWrangler is impressive and useful on the Mac.
VMware Fusion
I purchased VMware Fusion during the beta phase. There most likely will always be a reason why I might need to run Windows for something, with VMware Fusion I can do that.
