What OS X Software Makes You Love Your Mac?

Fillado said:
Not sure if you're aware, but Leopard has a built-in VNC client. Just hit Command-K when the focus is on the Finder and type "vnc://*server*" :)
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\o/

I used to use Chicken of the VNC on previous versions of OS X but now I use the built in one.

Another useful network app is the Microsoft Remote Desktop one if you need it.
 
Is it me or does the built in VNC application (Screen Sharing) have no full-screen mode? A bizarre omission.
 
Hmm been using Pages today... initially I thought it was not much more than TextEdit.. but unlike Word 2003 it hides the detailed stuff until you want it.

Seriously tempted to get iWork now and dump NeoOffice.
 
The only trouble with Pages is that you have to convert your files before anyone can read them unless they have Pages. It's quite popular at my work though still and is of course fine when everyone has the same software installed.
 
SHARKTICUS said:
The only trouble with Pages is that you have to convert your files before anyone can read them unless they have Pages. It's quite popular at my work though still and is of course fine when everyone has the same software installed.
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Saving to Microsoft Office format isn't a chore though.
 
LordSplodge said:
Do it. iWork is great!
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Well I did it.. so I'm now running iWork.

I agree with the Word aspect, although Pages does have a word document and PDF option. I agree it's simpler compared to Office (and Visio) but I don't need 90% of office additions for my home use.
If I were to start using Pages for real office work then the drawing aspects would need to be better (as good as visio).
 
Safari 4 beta - very good browser, like the new tabs concept :)

iTunes - phenomenal music program

Last.fm - really useful music scrobbler/player. Put it on recommended and it's like a psychic, hostless radio station. Also has an iPhone version.

Airfoil - A cross-platform software implementation of AirTunes, for OS X, Windows, Linux and the iPhone.

Ableton Live - Really powerful music composition/performance tool.

Logic Pro 8 - One of the best DAWs I have ever used; far less complicated than Pro Tools or Cubase, whilst more intuitive and creative.

VDMX - A mind-blowingly cool, totally customisable and configurable visual performance tool. Accepts OSC commands, which can be useful ;)

Quartz Composer - A free very powerful tool used to create a multitude of things (I use it to create visuals, but it has many uses!)

Adium - Because who would use Messenger for Mac? Love it's customisability.

Skype - Don't really need to explain this one :P iPhone version too!

Mail.app - Never really got the hang of this until Hotmail enabled it to play nice in a pop3/smtp format. Very intuitive.

OpenOffice - Free alternative to Office or iWork (Though I do really like iWork.. might buy it!)

Address Book/iCal - love how this can sync with my iPhone, keeping all of my contacts and dates visible at home or out and about on my phone.

EventSync - ties into Facebook and copies your events you're attending into iCal, very useful.

VirtualBox - Free alternative to Parallels, works just as well.

iMovie - pretty useful free movie editing app, can't save at 1920x1080 which was a little disappointing though :(

VLC - the OS X version is pretty cool :D

Time Machine - brilliant idea, though arguably Linux has had this for ages (and Windows 7 seems to have a basic implementation as well) luckily I've not seriously needed this yet, though it can be pretty cool as you can format and reinstall from a Time Machine image.

iStat - most of you have it, so it doesn't need explaining :P

(For the iPhone)

TouchOSC - OSC host controller for the iPhone which lets you set and receive OSC controller data wirelessly. Very cool when coupled with VDMX for example (for example - controlling your entire visual performance from your iPhone - wirelessly!)

Remote - controls iTunes wirelessly :)
 
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Draeconis said:
Time Machine - brilliant idea, though arguably Linux has had this for ages (and Windows 7 seems to have a basic implementation as well) luckily I've not seriously needed this yet, though it can be pretty cool as you can format and reinstall from a Time Machine image.
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I completely forgot about this. It has saved my bacon many times.

I bought a OCZ Vertex (came with v1199 firmware). So I used the restore from TM from my 5400rpm drive to get back and working as if nothing had happened in an hour.

I then lost all the entire drive partition on the vertex due to the write bug in 1199. Luckily it was just (ie the shutdown) after a TM backup. So I flashed to a later version and restored from TM.. *disco* back working perfectly.
 
a lot of the programs i love have already been mentioned but will add them any way

Coversutra (just discovered this not sure how i could live without it now)
roxio toast 10 (what a cracking bit of kit this is its so much better than nero on my pc)
iworks (cant use MS office now its just pap)
adium (it has its flaws but its getting there)
aperture ( slowly weening myself of photoshop but not yet)
stellarium (thanks to knowledge123 for bringing this to my attention :D now i dont have to use my old meade app on bootcamp)
littlesnitch (speaks for itself)
alarm clock (my mac is on 24/7 pretty much so its nice to wake with a song from my itunes
transmission ;) (well there are some legit reason for a torrent client you no)
 
I think Timemachine is very impressive and I was able to make a clone of a machine for testing something the other day which was great. It's also capable of using network shares and NTFS formatted external drives etc with a tweak in Terminal. By default, it only seems to want to let you use something like a Time Capsule or HFS+ formatted drive.

If anyone is interested in using this feature - you just use the following command:

defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1
 
Time Machine is great but it's a work in progress of Apple trying to duplicate Sun's ZFS file system, something that will apparently be fully operational with the server version of snow leapord. So good feature for is but Apple are basically just taking Sun's Open-Source policy for a ride!
 
Tweetie - For all my Twitter needs on iPhone and OS X

iStat - Monitoring, plus i've got the iPhone app so can monitor works OS X servers from anywhere in the world, all with a nice pretty interface!

Time Machine - Has saved my skin on more occasions than I care to remember!

Growl - Sure you all know it, but I like the little notification pop ups it gives, totally customisable to suit different apps and alerts

Grand Perspective - Very useful apps, scans disks/folders and gives a nice graphical view of folders/file sizes so you can easily find massive files/folders on your disks.
 
EVH said:
I don't have any OS X specific apps that really stand out, other than those mentioned already, but I would say Flow.

http://gridironsoftware.com/products/guidedtour.html

If you are serious about media, this app is simply amazing :cool:
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EVH - thanks for introducing me to this app its truly outstanding! - bit pricey but i think i'm going to justify a pre-order...

just got to decide whether it will really enhance our workflow or if i just "want it" :D
 
I don't have a Mac but am looking to get one in the future. After playing around with my friend's and my sister's MacBook Pro, I like these "tweaks":

iStat Menus
Additional information displayed on the menu bar, such as: Temp. CPU usage, etc.

Persian
Codec that enables Quicktime to play .mkv files.

Right Zoom
When you click the + icon to maximize your Mac windows, it will maximize like Windows' windows (does that make sense?).

Sizzling Keys
Displays current song information on iTunes.

CamTwist
The absolute best capture software for online demo'ing or broadcasting.

Just some I like now. Might find more in the future.
 
iWork - Makes any presentations you look decent rather then death by powerpoint
Safari - even though it's on Windows now :)
Bootcamp - gotta love having Win7 on my Mac laptop. Gives me the best of both worlds.
 
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