Original post :21 May 2009 - updated 13 February 2010, 9 October 2010
I have several macs both at home and at work, and I keep asking myself all the time the same questions when I have to re-install a Mac. What software do I really use all the time and that I'd reinstall ? So here goes my personal list, feel free to add any piece that I should have added. Optional software in italic as well. I'm not adding standard software provided with OS X.
Internet
- Adium: multi-chat IM tool -> deprecated as I only use Skype, facebook chat and Gchat. maybe sometime again
- Cyberduck : ftp client (see also Transmit)
- Eventbox: flickr, twitter, facebook client -> It's now called Socialite.
- Firefox : my favourite browser with tons of stuff from userscripts.org. Testing out Chrome now as an alternative.
- Google Earth : best cartography of the world
- Skype : chat and VoIP
Multimedia - photography
- Apple Aperture : manage and edit your photos professionally (use this for pix taken with my Canon EOS 5D Mark II) - I use Aperture version 3 that has all the great features of iPhoto.
- Apple iPhoto'09 : manage my old picture collection (over 80,000 of them...) -> deprecated by Aperture 3
- Cooliris : see your pix and videos in a nice 3D environment
- Duplicate Annihilator: remove iPhoto duplicates -> deprecated. Need to find a similar tool for Aperture
- DxO Optics Pro 6: correct chromatic and optical aberrations on your pictures
- Flickr Uploadr : upload pix to Flickr
- iPhotoBuddy: manage multiple libraries in iPhoto easily -> deprecated
- Photomatix Pro : create HDR pictures
- Doubletake : create panoramic pictures (Hugin is a nice contender)
- PhotoBook : a desktop Facebook picture browser
- facebook exporter for Aperture: plugin -> deprecated
- gmail exporter for Aperture : plugin -> deprecated
- Flickr lite exporter for Aperture: plugin -> deprecated
Multimedia - video
- Apple iMovie'09 : video editing
- DivX Player : exactly that ;)
- Flip4Mac : read wmv videos on mac
- handbrake : rip your own DVDs onto a MP4 on your mac ;)
- minitube: watch youtube in a nice offline program. Great to create playlists
- MPEG Streamclip : video converter
- Perian : all the missing video and audio codecs for your mac
- Turbo.264 : compress videos into mp4 with an external USB key from El Gato
- VideoMonkey: video encoder and transcoder. replaces iSquint (not available anymore), also FFMpegX
- VideoSpec : understand the codecs and settings of a video file
- VLC : universal video reader
- boxee: organise all your content
- hulu desktop : access USA catch-up TV
- Zattoo: watch TV online -> it's a paying system now. deprecated
Multimedia - audio
- Audacity : open source MP3 and sound editor
- Audio Hijack Pro : record the audio output of any application... (Wiretap Studio Pro also ;)
- Spotify : online library of music
Personal Productivity
- 1-Password: password management
- Adobe PDF Viewer: read PDF files
- Blue Phone Elite: manage your phones (SMS, backup, etc.) with bluetooth - I don't use it anymore as I've switched to iPhone
- DropBox : share hard disk with someone else online
- Evernote: take notes (i use mainly textedit now... although I like this app)
- Gmail notifier : shows emails unread in title bar - optional
- MailPlane : cocoa frontend to google's Gmail (also check Postbox, great mail client)
- Microsoft Office 2008 (the standard. Neoffice is an alternative) - Version 2011 is coming up
- Paparazzi : little tool to grab an HTML page
- PDF SAM : split PDF into separate pages
- SnapZ Pro : screenshot and screencam
- Teleport: manage several computers and screens with just one keyboard and mouse
- VueScan : scanner software
System management
- Fugu : ssh client
- growl: manage all notifications in a single place
- KISMac : detect and work with wireless networks
- Launch2net : tool to manage 3G key modem
- OmniDiskSweeper : clean up your hard disk by looking for large files (check also DiskInventoryX) -> deprecated now by Drive Genius 2
- Drive Genius 2: system management tools including Defrag and Drive Slim
- Data Rescue 3: undelete files
- Drive Warrior 4: rebuild directories
- Onyx : tweek some secret OSX settings
- Parallels : emulator for WinXP, Windows 7 and Ubuntu on your mac
- SMC Fan Control: control the temperature of your mac
- SuperDuper! : full backup of your mac (see also
- unRarX : uncompress .rar files
- ChickenVNC : VNC client (see also JollyFastVNC)
- xTorrent : P2P client (seems Acquisition and Transmission are other favourites) - I'm now using mainly Transmission
- AppFresh : keep all apps updated
Development
- Coda : text editor
- textmate : text editor (some swear by macVIM)
- MAMP : install PHP, Apache and MySQL on your mac - I don't code, took it off
Update: optional
- Bookpedia / DVDpedia : software to manage your home library - Delicious Library seems a great altenative
- xPad : a better text editor than textedit
- TuneUp: re-label your MP3 music - great, but paid version
- Senuti : backup your iPod or get music off it ;) (check also iPodRip)
- Mojo: share and download music with/from your friends...
- The Gimp : great free picture processing tool
- TorrentDam : search the torrent... (check also iSwipe)
- OmniDazzle: enhance your screenshots and presentations
- iWatchTV : track your favourite shows online
- Tor : surf the web anonymously
- MacTubes: youtube video player
- CoolaToola: backup to a DV tape
- FileJuicer: extract images from almost any document
- LittleSnitch: little software router to control what app talks to servers on the net...
- MenuMeters: stats on your menu bar
- Celtx: media pre-production workflow tool
- Burn: manage CD and DVD burning
- SuperCal : display calibration
- iDefrag: optimize that hard disk (check also Disk Genius) - deprecated, I bought Disk Genius
- DeepVacuum: download a site offline (check CocoaWGET too)
- iTerm : better terminal app
- Locomotive: self-contained package for Ruby on Rails development
- Snapflow: turn videos into pictures
- AppCleaner : cleanly uninstall stuff
- SecureFiles: create an encrypted virtual disk
