My Top 10 Mac Applications (2009 Edition)

Last year my most popular post was My Top 10 Mac Applications. I have decided that since I am always changing my usage and trying out new applications that I should make this an annually updated article.

Below are my top 10 mac applications I am using as of this writing. I have placed a comment if the position of the application on the list has changed or remained the same. Please leave whatever applications you are using in the comments as I think we could all benefit from seeing everyone’s different usage.

1. FireFox (1st in 2008) web browser is my first and foremost application on any computer, running any platform. This great open source application is a secure alternative to Internet Explorer on the Windows platform or Safari on the Mac platform. The browser is made by the company Mozilla which is dedicated to providing free open source software to the general public. FireFox has a huge community base and has thousands of extensions that are available to add to the functionality of the browser.
   Price: FREE (Open Source)
2. 1Passwd (4th in 2008) is a program that keeps track of all your usernames, passwords, and form data. The program not only keeps track of all your secure information but it also includes a secure password generator that automatically fills a password request field with a very secure password and then is remembered by the program. This allows you to do what you should be doing all along which is use a different password for each website. All you have to remember is your one master password and 1Passwd will remember the rest. It is completely encrypted using the keychain and can even be synced between your various mac computers using Apple’s Mobile Me.
   Price: 30-Day Free Trial then $39.95 USD
3. TextMate (new for 2009) is the text editor that has been missing all my life. I just discovered this little jem last year and I still can’t believe how I ever lived without it. TextMate provides syntax highlighting for just about every programming language in use today. Using a simple drop down menu on the program’s bottom bar, you can change between languages on the fly. TextMate also comes preloaded with hundreds of code snipplets too for quickly adding text or special character encodings in. There are simple too many features to fully go into detail in this post. Please give TextMate a try today if you do anything but edit the most basic forms of text. 
   Price: 30-Day Free Trial then ?39
   
4. Super Duper (10th in 2008) takes care of the task that all of us seem to avoid, BACKUP! SuperDupper can be setup to make a complete screen shot of your computer?s hard drive so you can be backup within minutes of a complete system failure. SuperDuper also allows for incremental updates so you don?t have to make a huge backup file every night. Super Duper was updated last year to work with Leopard’s Time Machine.
   Price: Free for regular backup, $27.95 for advanced feature
5. Transmit (new for 2009) by Panic is simply the best FTP program I have ever used on ANY platform. The ability to upload to Amazon S3 and Apple’s iDisk is fantastic. Transmit also allows you to sync between different folders, use tabbed site management, has dock status updates, and syncs your saved FTP sites with Mobile Me. This is a must have app for anyone who manages websites or needs remote file management.
   Price: $29.95 USD
6. Text Expander (6th in 2008) is a tiny application that runs quietly in the background of your Mac. It allows you to enter snipplets (small text phrases) that will expand into preset text or graphic strings. For example; say you keeping having to enter your email address like bob@something.com. You could setup a key so everytime you type bob@ the text is automatically replaced with bob@something.com. You can even program in complete email signatures, and photos to pop up, just about anything you can think of. This is a great time saving application that has saved me from a lot of excess typing.
   Price: 30-Day Free Trial then $29.95 USD
7. Adium (3rd in 2008) is a aggregator of all your instant messaging applications. Using Adium you can connect to Jabber, AIM, MSN Messenger, Yahoo, ICQ, or Google Talk. The interface is quite impressive and allows you to have all your IM contacts in a single application. The program is also expendable through skins, themes, and other extensions.
   Price: FREE
8. Skype (8th in 2008) which is now owned by eBay is a cross platform application that allows free PC-to-PC calling (both video and audio). What makes this program so spectacular, versus just using a regular instant messaging service, is the amazing high quality video calling and conferencing you can do. Skype also allows you to dial-out to regular phones to bring anyone into your conversation. Whatever operating system or computer you are running you owe it to yourself to give Skype a chance, a great communication tool for keeping in touch with friends and family.
   Price: Free for PC-to-PC, $9.95 a month for unlimited long distance worldwide.
   
9. Transmission (9th in 2008) is a very lightweight BitTorrent client. The application is very simple and takes up little system resources so that you can continuing downloading while not bogging down your CPU’s cycles.
   Price: FREE (Open Source)
10. Parallels (5th in 2008) allows you to run other operating system (like Windows) natively on your Mac. Unlike Apple?s bootcamp, Parallels allows you to run other operating systems inside a window running in OSX. Parallels supports a shared folder option that will allow you to keep the same folder for Documents, Music, Videos, etc. the same on both the Windows and Mac side. This is one of the most important programs you can have if you still have to run Windows.
    Price: $99.95 USD

Tags: Apple, Applications, Mac, Open Source, OSX, Software