A friend of mine just bought an iMac and asked me for some Mac OS X application recommendations, providing as good an opportunity as ever to create a new permanent weblog article to maintain a list of favorite applications. The must-haves (the ones I use most) are marked in bold.
- Acquisition. P2P client.
- Adium. Multi-protocol instant messaging client.
- Bookit. Maintain bookmark synchronization among several browsers, and .Mac.
- Chronosync. File/folder synchronization.
- Cocoalicious. Manage Del.icio.us bookmarks.
- CocoaMySQL. Manage MySQL databases.
- Cronnix. GUI to the UNIX cron scheduling utility.
- DayLite. Customer Relation Management.
- DEVONthink. Information manager.
- DropDMG. Create archives.
- ecto. Weblog management.
- iView Media Pro. Catalog and manage media files.
- MailDrop. Sending mass emails.
- NetNewsWire. RSS news reader.
- Nisus Writer Express. Word processing.
- OmniGraffle Pro. Drawing/illustion.
- OmniOutliner Pro. Outlining/brainstorming.
- pCalc. RPN calculator.
- Podner. Convert movies to iPod format.
- QuickBooks. Business accounting.
- Quicken. Personal finance.
- Quicksilver. Launcher, and much, MUCH more.
- RPG. Password generator.
- Skype. VoIP telephony.
- SpamSieve. Spam killer plugin for Apple Mail (and others).
- SplashID. Encrypted password storage and recall.
- SSHKeychain. SSH key management.
- Synchronize Pro! . File/folder synchronization. Bootable backups.
- SuperDuper. Create bootable backups and mirrors.
- TextMate. Text editor.
- Textpander. Wonderful text snippets.
- Timbuktu. Remote control a Mac. (Perfect for taking care of Mom.)
- Toast Titanium. Create CDs/DVDs, process video/audio.
- Transmit. FTP/SFTP client.
- URLwell. Temporary bookmark storage.
- VLC. video player.
- VueScan. Scanner software.
- WhatSize. Manage disk usage.
- WorkStrip. Workspace management.
- X-Chat Aqua. IRC client.
- xScope. Screen dimension inspection tool.
- You Control Desktops. Multiple desktops.
The place where I track application updates is VersionTracker.com.
Hey, just curious: you used to be a Life Balance afficionado; has it dropped out of your workflow?
Thanks, Matt; I’d be interested in learning more about that. LB has slowly been falling out of my workflow, as well, primarily due to the fact that there’s no simple way to transfer data from external sources (no clipping service, etc.). I’ve been looking into KGTD ; if you haven’t already, you may want to take a look, as well…
I have Quicken.
Stefan, yes, for the moment my entire GTD process now centers around two applications: DEVONthink Pro, and OmniOutliner. I plan to write a GTD update article about this, including my OmniOutliner planner file for download and why I’ve stopped using Life Balance, in the near future.
Stefan, yes, getting information efficiently into LB was also a problem for me. I’ve seen KGTD, but for the core of GTD, I still prefer DEVONthink. I’m mainly using OmniOutliner for planning. (More on that later…)
Sweet list! Thanks so much for sharing – there were quite a few gems in here that I never knew about.
Just after you publish the llist, I thanked you by email. The list was my survival kit as new Mac user and still use it!!! I save this list as my reference and sent it to other lost new users who have really appreciated. Thanks again!
Great list! I too bought OmniGraffle and DropDMG. They are nice tools!
However, I’m surprised there is no Password Manager on your list. I can’t imagine navigating all these websites without a true password manager, AutoFiller, and password generator built directly into my browser. Before you say “Safari/Firefox already have…”, let me state that I constantly switch between Safari, Firefox, Flock, and Camino.
1Passwd uses the Keychain and integrates with Safari, Firefox, Flock, and Camino. By using the keychain you can have one secure, centralized area for managing (and backing up) your logins.
Please try 1Passwd and I’m sure you will add it to this list đŸ™‚