Top 10 OSX apps after 3 weeks

Posted on Tuesday, July 11, 2006 @ 20:52 CET

This is the third week with my MacBook Pro and its been great. I've found several apps that have made life easier, so in the spirit of Letterman here is my Top 10 list:

1. QuickSilver

QuickSilver simply changed the way I use my Mac. The ability to simply use the keyboard for over 50% of the tasks I need to do no matter what application I'm in is absolutely great. And that percentage rises every day as I get to know QuickSilver better. Check out this cheatsheet (PDF), and you can find a more in-depth manual here (PDF).

Before switching to the light/dark (?) side, I used Colibri on Windows. Colibri is excellent and is highly recommended for Windows users, but it is merely a launcher with a few extras. QuickSilver is another beast entirely. A powerful beast.

2. Parallels

Being able to run Windows XP from within OSX is ~~unparalleled~~ wonderful since most of my day at work is spent within the confines of FlashDevelop. I've said before that when this gets ported to OSX, bye-bye Windows. Well, except for testing stuff in Internet Explorer. And FlexBuilder, but that should be coming soon.

3. VirtueDesktops

Sets up as many virtual desktops as you may need. Set them up horizontally or in a 2x2 matrix or however you prefer. I normally use 3-4 desktops. A "scrap" one for miscallenous, one with Mail running full screen, one for browsing and one running Parallels. Also fun to use with SmacBook Pro.

4. Adium

Probably the best IM client I've used to date, and I've used a bunch (ICQ, AIM, Yahoo!, MSN, GTalk, iChat, Trillian).

Why? Because it integrates all those networks (and more) together into one client, and works perfectly. No more running 2-3 IM clients because friends use certain networks.

It supports AIM, Jabber, MSN, Yahoo! (including Japan), .Mac, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, GTalk, ICQ, Sametime, Novell GroupWise, SIP and Zephyr. Thats 13 networks. In one client. Love it.

5. ImageWell

Used it for a couple days and I'm already hooked. Simply a wonderful tool for quickly manipulating images and sending them off to the web server. Before I'd use Photoshop (talk about overkill) to scale/resize/rotate/color-correct images and then upload them via FTP with FlashFXP (Win) or Transmit (OSX). Now I can do it in one simple app and be done in the time it takes Photoshop to launch.

6. OmniOutliner

Powerful outliner that feels simple. You don't have to use all the extras but they're there if you need them. I loved and still use Dave Winer's OPML Editor on Windows, but Omni just feels smoother on the Mac. Smoothness good.

7. Transmit

Excellent FTP client. Does one job and does it well.

8. Transmission

Excellent BitTorrent client. Tried Tomato first, but I prefer the simplicity of Transmission.

9. Mail

Sure it comes with OSX but personally I find it blows all other mail clients out of the water (that I've used). That means you Thunderbird (randomly buggy IMAP support and slow-as-all-hell searching annoyed me) and Outlook (bloated hog with worse IMAP support). In addition to having Spotlight index my mail, this thing is fast.

10. iTunes

Again, comes with OSX/iLife but the first thing that suprised me was how much faster and smoother it runs on the Mac. The Windows version (although great and I'm still a fan) pales in comparison.

- paulo