Yesterday’s post was part one: What to Put on a New Firefox Install. After you get that on your Mac, there are 9 more Free programs you’ll want to throw on.
Acrobat Reader - A program for viewing PDF files (duh?)
Adium is a free instant messaging application for Mac OS X that can connect to AIM, MSN, Jabber, Yahoo, and more. After loading, make sure to turn off that dreadful duck quacking sound or you’ll probably end up launching your new computer right out the window. Other than that, though, it’s a great program.
Cyberduck is an FTP and SFTP Browser for Mac OS X. It works great and it’s something you’ll clearly need as a web developer.
Smultron is a free text editor For Mac OS X which is both powerful and easy to use.
Skype allows users to make telephone calls over the Internet to other Skype users free of charge and to landlines and cell phones for a fee.
NeoOffice is a full-featured set of office applications (including word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, drawing, and database programs. Is it as Good as MS Office? No. Is it good enough? Yes, it is.
Azureus is the most popular BitTorrent client
Instant Handbrake is a stripped-down, iPod/PSP-dedicated version of HandBrake, called “Instant HandBrake”. It lets you create iPod-compatible MPEG-4 or H.264 files, or PSP-compatible MPEG-4 files. The default is to automatically crop the picture to fill the screen (4:3 on the iPod, 16:9 on the PSP), or you can choose to keep the original format.
VLC Media Player I never have a codex problem because I use VLC - The Best Video Player.
Those 10 Freebees and Photoshop just went on my shinny new Mac Book Air. I’m far from the most l33t Mac enthusiast: my first Macs were the Mac Book Pros last year and I’ve just finished weaning myself off Windows in the past 3 months. So if you feel like I’ve missed something crucial, the comment section is the place to set the record straight.
6 Responses to “First 10 Programs To Install on a New Mac - All For Free”
Why would you install Adobe Acrobat on your Mac when your Mac can read PDF’s already out of the box? viewer/ preview works a treat for me.
I’d suggest Filezilla over Cyberduck, but only because I’ve had problems with dropouts with Cyberduck for some reason
Try to edit larger quantity of files with Cyberduck. It’s often unresponsive and it’s quite easy to move a file accidentally to a folder next to it. I appreciate it’s free, but Transmit is a better choice. Not ideal, but better, if you have to be a productive web developer. ;>
Quadz, what’s with the sub-par posts lately?
Regarding above, there’s a couple bloated programs you’d want to get rid of:
Acrobat is entirely useless. Apple’s Preview.app (default for pdfs in OS X) is 5000x faster, and since you’re using a MB Air, you also have quickview installed — just click on a pdf / mp3 / jpg / doc / etc and hit spacebar.
Azureus is also bloated, Transmission.app is a good alternative (kind of the OS X equivalent of utorrent)
Otherwise it’s a decent list
Quicksilver, a free application launcher, is definitely missing on your list.
“Quadz, what’s with the sub-par posts lately?”
I’ve been swamped and I’m traveling right now.
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Some other useful programs I have run across.. I made the switch myself in November.
CocoaMySQL - handy for dealing with my local install of Mysql (free)
Chicken of the VNC - lets me VNC into my Win boxes fast and easily (free)
Password Gorilla - manages and encrypts all my passwords (free)
TextMate - best editor (besides notepad++ of course) I have used. This is the ultimate editor for any programmer - since thats who it was built for ($$ but worth it)
Transmission - BT client but not near as heavy or bloated as Az
iStats Menu - beef up your menu bar with some useful stats not to mention the calendar function alone is worth installing it (http://www.islayer.com/)
cheers
X-Chat Aqua - best osx IRC client I could find