10 for X
December 21, 2005 12:40 PM   Subscribe

10 for X gives a simple and straightforward list of 10 software titles that should be installed in every mac. Very useful for new Mac OS X users (though I just discovered Notational Velocity because of the site)
posted by neo (35 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: meh, pretty thin reason to post, most likely self-link



 
They can't even spell "essentials."
posted by fungible at 12:47 PM on December 21, 2005


These are pretty good, but I'd add Launchbar and Acquisition.
posted by The Jesse Helms at 12:54 PM on December 21, 2005


$25 for a secure file transfer program that ought to be included in the OS? Fugu me!
posted by George_Spiggott at 12:54 PM on December 21, 2005


Quicksilver was cool, then Spotlight came out. I know there are features in it which Spotlight doesn't reproduce, but still, meh. BBEdit would be my replacement. Or Photoshop, seeing as we're wishing.
posted by imperium at 12:59 PM on December 21, 2005


I guess I'm pretty cutting edge, I already have seven out of ten (but I only really use five of them). Yay, me!

Seriously - Adium, Quicksilver, and VLC are must-haves.
I would also add Aqua CD Burn and Chicken of the VNC to the list.
posted by djeo at 12:59 PM on December 21, 2005


Transit? No. I'll take CyberDuck instead.
posted by grabbingsand at 12:59 PM on December 21, 2005


George_Spiggott: Unfortunately, Fugu's handling of recursive transfers (e.g. "download this folder") is still pretty broken; I haven't shelled out for Transmit, but I've considered it a few times.
posted by infidelpants at 1:00 PM on December 21, 2005


I wouldn't use half those applications. On the other hand I do recommend Tofu as a really handy thing to have around (by no means essential however).
posted by edd at 1:02 PM on December 21, 2005


Oh, and Stuffit Expander? The only reason I bothered to download that was because MS only distributes Windows Media Player for OSX in BinHex format. Everything else (tar, zip, etc) is handled natively in the OS now.
posted by infidelpants at 1:05 PM on December 21, 2005


Coctail perpetuates maintenance myths. :(

StuffIt Expander is crap and needs to be boycotted.
posted by secret about box at 1:07 PM on December 21, 2005


Cocktail, even.

Posting without proofreading perpetuates spelling errors. My bad.

Transmit is hotness, by the way. Best FTP app on any platform.
posted by secret about box at 1:08 PM on December 21, 2005


That simple.
posted by hyperizer at 1:08 PM on December 21, 2005


The Notational Velocity web page is very bad.

As to the 10 for X site: it's a good way to make money:

1) Create a single page website with it's own domain targeted at Mac users.
2) Put Google ads on it.
3) Get links from every Mac site.
4) Profit.
posted by smackfu at 1:10 PM on December 21, 2005


This is just like the 'Top 10 ___ of 2005' list threads! Imagine everyone has their own opinion!
posted by NationalKato at 1:11 PM on December 21, 2005


I've swore by Fugu, I swear by Transmit, I swear at Cyberduck.
posted by revgeorge at 1:14 PM on December 21, 2005


Help new mac users get basic software for their sistems:

This guy needs a dictionary. Sistems??
posted by Robot Johnny at 1:14 PM on December 21, 2005


This is kind of thin for an FPP and smackfu's comment raises my suspicions. There are plenty of great sites out there for new Mac users and quite a few rich Ask.Metafilter threads. Its pointless to debate whether these are the 10 Mac apps you need.
posted by vacapinta at 1:15 PM on December 21, 2005


I've recommended NV umpteen times on the green. However, I don't much use it since purchasing DevonThink, which is my most used app.
posted by dobbs at 1:16 PM on December 21, 2005


Thanks for the link neo, though I second smackfu's cynicism about the site's purpose. Still, I just got a Powerbook myself and this kind of information is very helpful. Will definitely be checking out Quicksilver and Chicken of the VNC.

One thing I haven't yet found for OSX that I *really* would like is something to replicate Google Desktop's ability to cache and search web browser and chat history. I find myself using this constantly in WinXP. Anyone have any suggestions?
posted by herichon at 1:18 PM on December 21, 2005


herichon: iChat can log your conversations for you, which Spotlight will happily search.
posted by revgeorge at 1:22 PM on December 21, 2005


One thing I haven't yet found for OSX that I *really* would like is something to replicate Google Desktop's ability to cache and search web browser and chat history. I find myself using this constantly in WinXP. Anyone have any suggestions?

Spotlight indexes iChat chat transcripts. History Hound will index web pages you visit.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 1:22 PM on December 21, 2005


Transmit can suck a dick. A proper R/W FTP Finder is what's required. XP has it, why can't OS X?
posted by bonaldi at 1:23 PM on December 21, 2005


DUDE!

They left out Escape Velocity: Nova!

Oh, productivity software.
posted by Captaintripps at 1:26 PM on December 21, 2005


This should be helpful, thanks!
posted by fenriq at 1:29 PM on December 21, 2005


This site is a bit suspect. I mean, he says, This site is supported by clicks and begs you to digg the site. It is probably a lame attempt at generating some cash off lame content. These lists are compiled all the time. There have been several (better) threads on Ask.Mefi on this very topic.

And bonaldi, you can connect to FTP sites in the finder? What are you talking about? Plus Mac OS X ships with the command line programs ftp and sftp.

Transmit is the bomb.
posted by chunking express at 1:31 PM on December 21, 2005


The web page for Notational Velocity is really stupid, and does not inspire confidince in the product.

Of these 10 programs, not a single one is essential. Stuffit comes the closest, because in spite of being a obsolete and annoying format, you will run across Stuffit-compressed files now and again. But you may go awhile before running into one.

The rest are mostly nice, but hardly essential for most (although many people swear by Quicksilver). Several are niche programs that many will never use: Azureus (I prefer Tomato Torrent), Transmit (all this functionality is built into the program Terminal.app for free, and Fugu is a nice GUI for the same commands, but NFS and Samba shares are easier and superior if you can get away with them), VLC. VLC supports more codecs and formats than QuickTime, Windows Media, and DVD Player, but it is a crummy program, to me. It regularly chokes on normal files on my system -- generally just giving poor, annoying performance. I don't use it unless forced to, and almost never need to.

I don't think you even need Cocktail, let alone need to pay for it. One of the funny things, coming from Linux to the Mac, is the "Repair Permissions" voodoo incantation that many Mac users seem to thinks is a magic cure-all. Ditto the basic cron scripts that do mundane shit like empty /tmp and rotate logs. Puh-lease.

And this site does smell of spam- or ham-type behavior, to me.
posted by teece at 1:36 PM on December 21, 2005


Sure, you can Command-K (Connect to server) and enter ftp://ftp.tervurenpictures.com or whatever and treat it like any other directory in the finder.
posted by Wolfdog at 1:41 PM on December 21, 2005


Eh, there are about a million AskMefi questions about the same thing and about a million websites. This is not a good FPP.
posted by keijo at 1:47 PM on December 21, 2005


Better info and truly caustic funny reviews of applications you're better off without, here, along with a good toolkit (the ACP -- Apple Core Project)

http://www.rixstep.com/
posted by hank at 1:50 PM on December 21, 2005


I'd suggest Omnigraffle--a beautiful diagramming application that makes excellent use of OS X's capablilities. Omnioutlliner is nice too.
posted by Turtles all the way down at 2:00 PM on December 21, 2005


There must be a million of these pages all with the same programs, over and over again. And essential kind of depends on the user. For me omnioutliner triumphs all. I use about half of the list. But essential? I don't have to have any of these.

It is amusing to see the lack of a virus/spyware program that always takes the first few places on a windows list.

The web page for Notational Velocity is really stupid, and does not inspire confidince in the product.

Sometimes a product is simple in design, works flawlessly, and is free. Notational Velocity is one of those programs. If people don't use it because of the web page, well, that would be funny if it not so silly.
posted by justgary at 2:01 PM on December 21, 2005


MOST Needed app for Mac users:

Something to convert all your weird ass file names to something that won't fuckin BLOW UP when moved to the WIN universe.

i.e., Slashes, weird characters, 600 character file names, etc...
posted by HTuttle at 2:02 PM on December 21, 2005


Something to convert all your weird ass file names to something that won't fuckin BLOW UP when moved to the WIN universe.

Awww...does somebody need a hug?
posted by Turtles all the way down at 2:09 PM on December 21, 2005


Transmit can suck a dick.

Is that a criticism?
Because it sounds like a feature.
posted by spock at 2:14 PM on December 21, 2005


user neo has posted two posts about eduardo arcos' projects, and the posts were made from an IP in mexico, so I'm betting dollars to doughnuts that it's eduardo self-linking up a storm. banned.
posted by mathowie at 2:27 PM on December 21, 2005


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