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General discussion

What are your "must have" apps?

Jun 1, 2007 3:36PM PDT

I'm new to Mac OS X and I could use your help. I was just wondering what are your "must have" apps? What are your favorite apps you will immediately install on a brand new mac for you to get comfortable?

Discussion is locked

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interesting question...
Jun 1, 2007 4:31PM PDT

1) iLife should already be installed - iMovie, iDVD, iTunes, iPhoto, Garageband... and all the other bundled applications and utilities.

2) Download and install NeoOffice. Free download or MS-Office compatible word processor, spreadsheet, presentation app... among other productivity capabilities.

3) Flip4Mac so QuickTime can deal with WMV files.

4) ClamX free download.

5) FireFox (in addition to Safari) for an alternative browser.

6) HandBrake to rip DVDs.

7) And I use Final Cut Studio, so I *think* that was the only additional package I actually had to buy.

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Sounds about right
Jun 1, 2007 11:16PM PDT

The amount of extra software that you install depends entirely on what you intend to do with the machine. Right out of the box, the machine is capable of doing just about everything that you want, without the need for extra stuff.

ILife, as mentioned, will deal with all your Photo, Movie(X 2) and Music( X 2) without any assistance from outside sources.

Flip4Mac is a nice have.

HandBrake for DVD's is really only effective if you have a Video capable iPod. IMO

Disk Warrior is a handy utility for your tool bag, as is TechTool Pro.

P

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Hmmm, don't forget...
Jun 2, 2007 8:07AM PDT

... VLC - for all the video's QT and Flip-4-mac refuse to play.

Mac the Ripper

SWF Movie Player

Fetch - for accessing FTP sites.

mi2 for html editing

I use SKYPE for voip services

Stuff It and Drop Stuff for zipped files

MacPar Delux for other RAR compressed files

Acrobat Reader

Graphic Converter

iProcrastinate - for keeping track of school dead lines and LINK


Work Timer - for keeping track of hours worked on a job LINK

PopCorn

Toast

GIMP - if you can't afford Photoshop.

Audacity - for things Garage band can't do.

oh yes... Mouse Locater LINK

All I can see in my apps folder right now. I ought to make a comprehensive list sometime soon.

grim

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Must have apps
Jun 4, 2007 8:09AM PDT

I have Aperture as I do a lot of Digital photos, Stuff it and ClamX.

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My apps
Jun 19, 2007 8:52AM PDT

I recommend Omni Outliner. It is a great outlining application. Very useful for planning and drafting things.

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Additional apps for new MAC user
Jun 25, 2007 6:42AM PDT

What about iWork as opposed to Microsoft Works?

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Please, don't even consider MS Works
Jun 25, 2007 10:30AM PDT

If nothing else, it is an oxymoron.
It doesn't work well in the Windows world and fortunately it does not appear to be available for OS X.
At least I didn't see it on their site.

P

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Microsoft Office
Jun 26, 2007 2:26AM PDT

My apologies. I meant to ask about Microsoft Office as opposed to MS Works.

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3rd party apps for Macs
Jun 28, 2007 11:04PM PDT

Why would you bother with MS Office when you can have OpenOffice.org for nothing?
I also like Abiword (word processer only) it's very quick to fire up.
And I'm surprised no-one has suggested Onyx for system maintenance

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some additions..
Jun 25, 2007 7:56AM PDT

- Gaim: combines all your instant messaging needs (if its not Skype you're using)

- TextWrangler: editor for programming & typesetting needs

- Cyberduck: GUI for sftp file transfer. can be quite buggy but easy to use.

- Celestia: not sth you need for living, but a really cool & free planetarium software.

all those are for free...the rest has been already mentioned somewhere. X11 & XCode tools are most important if you're into UNIX/programming - but thats included in the Apple software anyway.

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sorry that wasnt meant to say Gaim -
Jun 25, 2007 4:10PM PDT

but Adium. Gaim is the AIM part of that program but it also supports various other messaging services.

other cool apps to have are DesktopManager (lets you switch between multiple desktops), TinkerTool (configure desktop appearance and much more) and a must have for LINUX users: Fink/Fink Commander (GUI that automatically installs linux programs of your choice from source on your mac).

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Some Additions
Jun 26, 2007 2:28AM PDT

I was advised not to use Skype because of some potential virus or spyware issue. If the software you mentioned is free where can I download them? Thank you very much for your response.

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right here:
Jun 27, 2007 1:56AM PDT
http://www.adiumx.com/

like I mentioned though it does not support Skype, but pretty much every other messaging service I know.

basically all the software I mentioned can be found by simply typing the name into Google.

dan
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Right here
Jun 28, 2007 8:23PM PDT

Thank you very much.

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Really depends on what you are doing.
Jul 2, 2007 6:48AM PDT

You're probably going to want to get another internet browser in addition to Safari for that occasional page that won't load in it.

There is Firefox of course, but if you don't need all of the plugins I would perhaps reccomend Camino or Flock. Both are a little more "mac-like".

I particularly like Opera as well, althoug it often suffers from the same non-loading pages as Safari.

Not too much out there are must haves IMO. There are more specialty tools that come up as you might need them. Cyberduck is great, but if you don't do FTP then there is no point. Stuffit is good if you need it for extracting zrchives besides .zip. If you have a particular hobby there is almost always software for it. For example I really like to cook, so I am looking at recipe management software like MacGourmet.

If you need time/project management tools look into Quicksilver, Growl, iGTD, Journler, Yojimbo or Delicious Library. All very cool applications for managing information on your Mac.

Seashore or Gimp for image manipulation.

Your interests guide the must haves more then anything, because reall mac comes with most of the foundation tools you need from photo management to DVD creation to email.

Neooffice I think is fantastic for really doing reports and formal writing, but if you aren't in school anymore, or working in a field that requires that, then I think you might have more flexibility with iWork. Pages really offers some more creative formatting for your work, and if you are doing things like sending 4th of July invitations to friends, or making a garage sale flyer then the $70 spent on iWork is well worth it. It is much more a Page layout program then straight up word processor.

The only other must haves would be the Perian and Flip4Mac plugins which will enable Quicktime to play just about any media file. Get those installed and you won't have to worry about downloading any additional programs to play media.

Also Google Earth is always a blast to have and comes in more handy then you might think for finding businesses, resturants, driving directions or just interesting information.

I would reccomend checking out the following two sites
http://www.opensourcemac.org/

http://freewaremac.net/