Mac apps
To show Windows users that there are a lot of apps for the Mac platform and that a lot of those are most of the time better than the Windows equivalent, and mostly free also, i’ll sum up some of my favourites.
The best instant messenger in the world. Connects to all the popupar IM networks, including AIM/ICQ, MSN, Yahoo!, Rendezvous, and Jabber. Very customizable with custom dock icons, message styles, contact lists and emoticons.
Uses libgaim, the core part of Gaim.
Compressing files becomes a breeze with Cleanarchiver. Simply choose a compression format and drag the files you want to compress to the application window. For the extracting part, the latest version of StuffIt Expander works just fine.
Got several MySQL databases on a server on the web or you run a MySQL server locally? Tired of cursing at PHPMyAdmin? Try CocoaMySQL. All the functions of PHPMyAdmin in a neat and tidy Cocoa interface.
Sure. Fetch is nice. But it isn’t free, is it? Meet Cyberduck, an open-source (S)FTP client. “Built from the ground up with usability in mind”, it makes FTP’ing as easy as dragging and dropping files on the right place.
You still beat Chess at the “Losers” level? Try Frozen-Bubble for Mac OS X and beat my score of 45 levels. Completely written in Perl for Linux, ported to Mac OS X.
No need to explain. iTunes is the best music player and music library.
If you like fancy skins, you might want to try Audion 3. Once the most popular music player for Mac, now moved to the background because of the success of iTunes.
Were your Windows using friends drooling when they saw Microsoft Office:Mac’s Powerpoint make Microsoft Office’s Powerpoint look like it was made by a bunch of coding monkey’s? Wait until you see what they’ll do when they see Keynote…
One of Apple’s latest incarnations is Keynote. An extremely intuitive and appealing presentation application. High quality multi-layered images, amazingly looking themes and easy to create diagrams, spreadsheets, and more.
Don’t forget to check out the cool 3D transition effects!
An intelligent wardriver’s friend.
Automatically detects all available 802.11b and 802.11g wireless networks. Also has the ability to locate them by means of GPS.
Mac RSS with Style. A basic but stylish RSS reader. A very handy feature are “Smart Groups”. Now you can create custom RSS feeds that combine items from other feeds that meet certain conditions you define.
Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac
Sometimes the inevitable happens: you need access to your Windows pc, but you’re to lazy to run upstairs. Caution though, it’s a Microsoft app, so occasional unexplainable crashes may occur. You have been warned.
A stylish and very customisable virtual desktop app.
The VideoLAN client for Mac OS X.
Plays network streams, DVD’s, VCD’s, DivX, XviD, and many more video formats.
Fevertje op 23 december 2004 om 21u08:
Once I get my laptop (I’m thinking about buying one, it will be an iBook if I buy one), I’ll be sure to try some of the software you recommend here. Thanks for the info!
Robin op 23 december 2004 om 21u35:
[1] Cool, you won’t regret!