Over the past couple of years, many of my friends have started using a Mac. I often find I’m recommending software to them. Sometimes it’s because they ask; sometimes it’s because I’m so enthusiastic about a program I just have to tell them.
The single most indispensible utility for me is LaunchBar. I use it to find applications, people and music. It’s a great complement to Spotlight. LaunchBar is the first piece of software I install on any Mac.
Other stuff I like:
Internet tools
- Instant Messaging (AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Jabber) in one: Adium
- (S)FTP Transmit
- P2P Acquisition
- BitTorrent Tomato Torrent
- If you’re a web developer, you need at least two browsers. Firefox is my second browser.
Productivity tools
- BBEdit is where I do my heavy lifting. (TextWrangler, its sibling, is free.)
- SubEthaEdit is a great collaborative text editor
- PCalc is a very nice calculator.
- OmniOutliner tracks my to-do lists.
System utilities
- Pseudo is handy for dealing with software that uses shitty installers.
- DiskWarrior will save your disk.
- Growl
Media
- Delicious Library tracks your books, movies, and CDs.
- VLC plays pretty much any audio or video file.
- DiVX is a great video code, cramming lots of data into very little space.
The latest version of BitTorrent (official) is a LOT better and also much better than the last Tomato Torrent I used. –simon