The 2 Mac applications I can’t live without
For most of my life I was a Windows user. Actually, I was a DOS user before I even had Windows. I still remember when DOS 6.2 came out and how it was a big deal.
Over the past couple years I experimented with a dual-boot Windows XP / Ubuntu setup, with the eventual goal of switching over to Ubuntu completely, if I could. Ultimately, the clunky Photoshop support is what kept me from doing that (Though it looks like that could be changing.). During that time I also had a Mac Mini (One of the last G4 models) that, for whatever reason, I had setup strictly for music production and media management.
One year ago I had an unfortunate break-in at my office and lost both of my computers. Because my development environment had become almost platform neutral, I decided to make a change and buy a MacBook as my primary work computer, figuring I could always do the Boot Camp thing if I really needed to.
Today, I don’t see myself switching back to Windows any time soon. I’m running Leopard these days and I find it’s a truly extraordinary desktop experience.
That being said, I think my positive Mac experience is owed partially, if not fully, to two third-party applications that I couldn’t live without. These guys are what pushes the desktop experience over the top.
Quicksilver
At its core, Quicksilver is a keyboard-based application launcher, but it can do much, much more. I almost never go to the dock or poke around in my applications folder to launch a program. I can also edit text files without having to actually open them, pull up contact information for my clients from Address Book just by typing in their names, and even control my iTunes playlists.
I highly recommend poking around on Lifehacker or 43folders for the awesome and crazy things people have done with Quicksilver.
Growl
Though not quite as sexy as Quicksilver, Growl is the kind of application that is easy to take for granted. It’s a global notifications system that integrates with almost all of the applications I use on a daily basis, including Transmit, Coda, Adium, iTunes and more.
Let’s say I’m uploading a bunch of files to a server via Transmit or Coda. Oftentimes I’ll start the upload and then go on to another application to do something while the upload is going. With Growl, instead of having to check on the transfer every so often, a nice little notification message will show up on my screen, letting me know it’s finished. It may sound like a small thing, but it does wonders for my productivity.