Software I Like
The following list is an expansion of the software links on the blogroll. It’s purpose is purely to give some information on some of the software that I use on a daily basis. It’s split into OS X and Windows as I use both every day and I’m not about to get all fanboy about one or the other.
Cross Platform.
- Firefox. I originally put this list together and when I got to the bottom realised that I’d missed the most obvious piece of software, the one I probably use more than any other on every OS I use. Partly this was because it is so obvious to most people. However, for anyone who hasn’t tried it, I’d recommend it. To make this a little more worthwhile, I’ll also include my “must have” Add-ons.
- AdBlock - who wants Ads? Not me. I actually still prefer this to AdBlockPlus.
- NoScript - this blocks unwanted scripts and is a great way to stop Ads not picked up by other means. Domains can be set to allow scripts which means that you don’t lose any functionality from sites that you trust.
- IETab - this is Windows only but it renders pages using IE’s engine within a Firefox tab which is useful for those sites that haven’t tested against FF or plain don’t work (but don’t get me started on lame ass web developers who insist on any particular browser).
OS X Software.
- Adium. Adium is a multi-protocol IM client for OS X and is free. It supports the usual services such as Yahoo, AOL, MSN and Goolge. Also has support for things like Jabber. I use this all the time for all of my IM accounts and it has proven both reliable and easy to use. It also allows more than one account to any service simultaneously so if you have home and work accounts for example this can be a real boon.
- Parallels. I’ve used VMWare in the PC world for years and with the advent of Intel Macs one of the obvious possibilities was for something along those lines to come along. Parallels is it and I purchased the software within hours of downloading the trial. And that was before it got really good! It allows a range of OSs to be run within an OS X app. I use it mainly for Windows as I have a setup that mimics my work network allowing full access to work related matters from the comfort of my MacBook Pro. And my sofa :-). The latest versions have a feature called coherence which allows the Windows apps to pretty much work seamlessly within OS X. I look forward to each revision of this software.
- TextExpander. I find myself once again indebted to Merlin Mann for this utility. If you type any amount then you will no doubt have stock phrases that you repeat over and over again. TextExpander allows you to substitute a shorthand “code” for this. An example is the best way to explain, if you write “Respectfully yours, All the best, Drew” a lot (for some reason) then you can enter in TextExpander ryatb and when you enter that stream of text in your text editor or email client it expands automatically into the full text. What’s more they have available for download a set of preset codes that mirror the MS Office Autocorrect entries, useful if like me you type certain words incorrectly on a regular basis :-).
- TextMate. TextMate is a text editor. I like it. Not going to get into a debate over the best text editor. I use this one for everything that requires text.
- NetNewsWire. This is my RSS reader of choice. I know that there are loads of alternatives and that RSS is now built in to just about every web browser going but I subscribe to a lot of RSS feeds and I find a dedicated reader better and this one is the best I’ve found.
Windows Software
- Office 2007. OK so this one may be a) a surprise and b) controversial. The thing is this. I use Office every day of my working life. Whether Outlook for my emails and calendar or Excel for the many spreadsheets that I write. It’s vital therefore that it works and works well. And it does. But then they came out with 2007 and changed to the new ribbon UI. I started using this about 8 months before release when it was in early beta and liked it so much that I pretty soon began using it in mainstream life. It is for me a real improvement and while it will need a fair amount of retraining for “general” users I think it will see some real productivity gains.
- Pidgin. This was formally known as Gaim and it is a multi-protocol Instant Messaging client that allows you to use all of your IM accounts at once. As with Adium on the Mac, Pidgin works with all the main, and many of the minor, IM platforms. I’d previously used Trillian for my PC based IMing but when I started using Google Talk in anger my only choice with Trillian was to pay. Pidgin works every bit as well and is free.
Web Based
- Wordpress. The software used to run this blog! This is an excellent blog manager and has a plethora of plugins and themes available. It is a dodle to set up and after 3 upgrades I’ve yet to have a problem with it. Somewhere in the archive are a couple of more detailed reviews of my experiences with Wordpress.
- Gallery. Over time I’ve tried a few gallery apps for my web based photos, each have had their merits but also their failings. Gallery (actually Gallery2) is the one that I have now gone with. Similar to Wordpress the setup is a cinch and it has a host of plugins and themes available. Also like Wordpress it is totally free :-).
More Coming soon!
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