Software for a Switcher

Update

I’ve published a new list of software: My OS X Software Setup

In the not-so-distant future I’ll pick up I’ve just purchased a MacBook Pro, cementing my switch from the world of Windows to that of OS X (well, with occasional visits to the land of Gates). The switch brings the opportunity to try, and adopt new software, so here’s a list that I’m compiling of software that I will install, or at the very least, try on my new Mac:

• Quicksilver – “A unified, extensible interface for working with applications, contacts, music, and other data.” Additional info available:
  • Getting started with Quicksilver: understanding the basics
  • Quicksilver: moving around and training yourself
  • Call to Quicksilverers: help me get started
• Firefox – The ultimate browser
• Camino – Another great browser that “combines the awesome visual and behavioral experience that has been central to the Macintosh philosophy with the powerful web-browsing capabilities of the Gecko rendering engine.” I look forward to running it through its paces.
• Thunderbird – My favorite e-mail client on any every platform!
• Adium X – A great chat client that I’ve used on the battered ol’ beige Mac in the past. It is the equivalent of the Windows-only Trillian.
  
• TextMate – Considered the editor for developing with Ruby on Rails on OS X
• Apple Developer Tools (Xcode)
• DbVisualizer – “a feature rich, intuitive and cross-platform database tool for developers and DBAs, providing a single powerful interface for a variety of databases. DbVisualizer supports simultaneous database connections, it lets you explore and manage database objects, execute SQL queries, visualize information and a lot more.”
• Netflix Freak – “a full-featured Mac OS X application for managing your rental queue that enhances the Netflix experience. The program offers many unique features not available on the Netflix website.”
• Dock Dividers – Visual dividers to organize the dock.
• BootCamp – Dual boot windows XP and OS X!!!!! The last piece has fallen into place.
  • Windows XP Home – Seein’ as I won’t be running my ol’ PC any longer, I can just move the install over to the Mac.
  • IE 6 – For testing
  • Mozilla Firefox – For testing, though it shouldn’t vary much, if at all compared with Firefox on OS X
    
• Web Development
  • Subversion – With help from Distracto and Arena Red
  • Ruby and Rails 1.1 – Should I use Locomotive, or build it manually (a second manual tutorial)?
  • MySQL
• Open Office – A multi-platform, open source office suite, compatible with the big boys.
• Delicious Library – This program harnesses a Web cam (in this case, the built-in iSight) as a barcode scanner. Simply point the camera “at the barcode on the back of any book, movie, music, or video game. Delicious Library does the rest. The barcode is scanned and within seconds the item’s cover appears on your digital shelves filled with tons of in-depth information downloaded from one of six different web sources from around the world.” I’ve wanted to play with this for quite a long time!
• Open Terminal Here – An AppleScript that sits in the tool bar of finder windows, allowing an easy way to open a terminal session in the directory being viewed.
• FontExplorer X – A free font manager from the fine folks at Linotype. This is another app that I’ve wanted to use for quite a while, but have been unable to as it’s Mac-only.
• Carbon Copy Cloner – Creates an exact replica of your hard disk. Ideal for creating a restore-image.
• RSync – RSync already comes with OS X, but I’m noting this for the helpful tutorial.
• NetNewsWire – I’ve used the light version of this news aggregator in the past, and am looking forward to trying out the full version.
• Disk Inventory X – ‘[S]hows the sizes of files and folders in a special graphical way called “treemaps“.’
• Fugu – A spiffy little FTP utility.
• Cyberduck – Another FTP utility I plan to try.
• Launchd Editor – Launchd replaces cron in OS X. This app is a “graphical editor for launchd’s property list files. It makes sure that the proper keys are of the proper values and lets you enter in whatever information you want in those keys.”

Useful Customizations & Recommendations

• Marc Liyanage’s Customizations – There are some very useful ideas in here, especially regarding the terminal.
• Mac OS X Hints – An amazing resource all around!
• VersionTracker – The best way to keep up on Mac Software.
• Brad Choate’s software list from 2004
• Shadowbot’s OS X software list
• BYODKM – The forum provides a great amount of information.
• Enabling the character map – A requirement for those of us who need access to the double right angle quote (») from Photoshop
• Adding personal info to the login background is relatively easy as is adding a text message to the login window – Useful if the Mac is lost

I’ll be adding more over the next few days, and appreciate any suggestions you may have!