Hi, I've just found this fantastic list on overclockers.co.uk forums. I'm not sure if i should reproduce it in full. But it's too good, so here goes:
(If we could tidy this thread up a bit i think it would make a great sticky!!)
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Essential Applications
Ok's heres a list of essential apps.. I have broken this up in to the top/most popular apps first, followed any remainder of suggestions.
10 Most Popular Applications
Firefox
MSN Messenger
VLC
Flip4Mac
NeoOffice
Transmission
Stuffit Expander
Quicksilver
Panic Transmit FTP
Handbrake
1. Firefox -
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
The award-winning Web browser is now faster, more secure, and fully customizable to your online life. With Firefox 2, weve added powerful new features that make your online experience even better.
2. MSN Messenger IM -
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloa...1_download.xml
Speaks for itself. MSN on the Mac.
3. VLC Video Player -
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
VLC (initially VideoLAN Client) is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network.
4. Flip4mac -
http://www.flip4mac.com
Import, Export, Play Windows Media files (WMV, WMA) on Mac.
5. NeoOffice -
http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/index.php
NeoOffice is a full-featured set of office applications (including word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and drawing programs) for Mac OS X
6. Transmission -
http://transmission.m0k.org/
Transmission is a free, lightweight BitTorrent client. It features a simple, intuitive interface on top on an efficient, cross-platform back-end.
7. Stuff It Expander -
http://www.stuffit.com/mac/index.html
Useful zipper utility, usually free in OS X but the deluxe version includes additional bonus features.
8. Quicksilver -
http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/
A unified, extensible interface for working with applications, contacts, music, and other data. Open apps in a few keystrokes.
9. Panic Transmit FTP -
http://www.panic.com/transmit
Column view FTP program. Features include support for idisk, sidebar, ftp/ssl, search, zooming and tabs.
10. Handbrake -
http://handbrake.m0k.org/
Powerful DVD ripper and video compression utility
Metal Adium IM -
http://homepage.mac.com/andrewnesbitt/MetalAdiumX/
Metal Adium is a free recompiled version of the popular multi-protocol instant messaging application for Mac OS X, which removes the aqua window style and replaces it with the 'Polished Metal' theme.
Adium IM -
http://www.adiumx.com/
Adium is a free instant messaging application for Mac OS X that can connect to AIM, MSN, Jabber, Yahoo, and more
MplayerOSX -
http://mplayerosx.sourceforge.net/
MPlayerOSX is binary distribution of MPlayer (The Movie Player for Linux) and comes with native GUI in MacOSX.
Toast Titanium -
http://www.roxio.com/en/products/toast/
CD, DVD and image burning program. Think of Nero on the mac.
Tomato Torrent -
http://www.sarwat.net/bittorrent/
Open-source bit torrent client with an easy to use GUI and small memory footprint
Bits on Wheels -
http://www.bitsonwheels.com/
Bits on Wheels is the first 100% Native BitTorrent client for the Macintosh.
It is completely written in Objective-C and Cocoa.
XviD Codec -
http://n.ethz.ch/student/naegelic/download/
Adds XviD support to quicktime.. perfect for those who prefer to use Apple's own media player.
Delicious Library -
http://www.delicious-monster.com/
Scan your CDs and DVDs using a webcam and DL will find all information for you. Catalog freaks will love this!
OnyX -
http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs/english.html
OnyX is a multifunction utility for Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger).
Pith Helmet -
http://www.culater.net/software/Pith...PithHelmet.php
PithHelmet is an extended site preferences and ad blocking plugin for Apple's Safari browser. The basic purpose of the plugin is to empower you the user to view the web as you like. You can block ad images, Flash, Shockwave or horrible midi loops - the world is your oyster.
Disk Inventory X -
http://www.derlien.com/
Disk Inventory X is a disk usage utility for Mac OS X 10.3 (and later).
TextMate -
http://macromates.com/
By bridging UNIX underpinnings and GUI, TextMate cherry-picks the best of both worlds to the benefit of expert scripters and novice users alike
iSquint -
http://www.isquint.org/
iSquint is an iPod video conversion app for Mac OS X.
It's many times faster than QuickTime Pro, works with almost all popular video formats
Cyberduck -
http://cyberduck.ch/
Cyberduck is an open source FTP and SFTP (SSH Secure File Transfer) browser licenced under the GPL with an easy to use interface, integration with external editors and support for many Mac OS X system technologies such as Spotlight, Bonjour, the Keychain and AppleScript.
MenuMeters -
http://www.ragingmenace.com/software/menumeters/
MenuMeters is a set of CPU, memory, disk, and network monitoring tools for MacOS X.
Meteorologist -
http://sourceforge.net/projects/heat-meteo
Meteorologist is a free weather program for OS X. It allows users total control over their weather viewing, including simultaneous interlaced weather reports from multiple weather servers, multiple weather locations, weather alerts and much more.
iStumbler -
http://www.istumbler.net
iStumbler is the leading wireless discovery tool for Mac OS X, providing plugins for finding AirPort networks, Bluetooth devices and Bonjour services with your Mac.
Delocalizer -
http://www.bombich.com/software/local.html
DeLocalizer will remove all non-American English localization resource files that you request. This application is geared towards American English users, as it will not remove localization resources for American English. Users that use other languages may still use DeLocalizer to remove languages that they do not use (except, of course, American English).
Konfabulator -
http://www.konfabulator.com - $24.95
Linux-originated widgets for OS X.
Salling Clicker -
http://homepage.mac.com/jonassalling/Shareware/Clicker/ - $19.95
Salling Clicker is our award-winning remote control software. It lets you control popular applications from a mobile phone or handheld computer through a user interface similar to a portable media player.
iScroll2 -
http://www-users.kawo2.rwth-aachen.de/~razzfazz/
A modified trackpad driver that adds two-finger scrolling capabilities to supported pre-2005 PowerBooks and iBooks on OS X 10.3. Supported models include aluminum PowerBooks introduhttp://forums.overclockers.co.uk/editpost.php?do=editpost&p=9575484
Overclockers UK Forums - Edit Postced from 2003 to 2004 as well as all G4 iBooks.
Desktop Manager -
http://wsmanager.sourceforge.net
Easy to use virtual desktop manager for OS X.
Panic Candybar -
http://www.panic.com/candybar/ - $12.95
CandyBar 2 lets you change the Mac OS X icons you usually can't!
NewsFire -
http://www.newsfirerss.com/ - $18.99
RSS web feeds and podcasting are hot technologies, and NewsFire is even hotter. Packed with features, blindingly simple to use, and ground-breakingly elegant, NewsFire is the ultimate RSS experience for the Mac.
BBEdit -
http://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/index.shtml - $199.00
BBEdit is the leading professional HTML and text editor for the Macintosh. Specifically crafted in response to the needs of Web authors and software developers, this award-winning product provides an abundance of features for editing, searching, and manipulation of text. BBEdit transforms text with high performance.
SubEthaEdit -
http://www.codingmonkeys.de/subethaedit/
SubEthaEdit is a powerful and lean text editor. And it's the only collaborative one you can actually use.
Goban -
http://www.sente.ch/software/goban/
Use Goban to play the game of go against the program
BluePhoneElite -
http://www.reelintelligence.com/BluePhoneElite/
BluePhoneElite brings your Bluetooth cellphone's call and text messaging of your features to OS X with a simple, yet powerful interface.
skEdit -
http://www.skti.org/skEdit.php - $20
Simple, Flexible, Powerful Text Editor for the Web
CeePeeYou -
http://www.unsanity.com/products/free
Cee Pee You is a Menu Extra that displays CPU(s) load in your menu bar. The load averages are updated every second. Simple as that!
KisMAC -
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/10133
KisMAC is a free stumbler application for MacOS X, that puts your card into the monitor mode.
Temperature Monitor -
http://www.bresink.de/osx/TemperatureMonitor.html
Temperature Monitor is an application to read out all accessible temperature sensors in Macintosh computers. The program can visualize the history graphs of the readings, display measured values in a large variety of fashions, or announce readings by speech output. It can also store and export values.
Synk -
http://www.decimus.net/synk/
The ultimate backup utility for Mac. Comes in 3 flavours.
ElectropaintOSX -
http://www.lloydslounge.org/entry.php?id=1104393606
Amazingly hypnotic screensavers for the Mac.
Carbon Copy Cloner -
http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
In its simplest form, CCC will clone one hard drive to another, copying every single block or file to create an exact replica of your source hard drive. This is very useful if, for example, your laptop is damaged and you must send it in for repair.
Alarm Thingy -
http://stout.hampshire.edu/~bjk02/software.htm
set an alarm to go off at a specific time or in a certain number of minutes, and then it'll play a random track from an iTunes playlist. To add variety, it won't play any of the last 10 tracks it has already picked.
Print Selection -
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/22665
You can select text and graphics in any cocoa application (safari, mail.app, etc.), go to the services menu and go to "Print Selection" and the selected stuff will be printed.
Shapeshifter -
http://www.unsanity.com/haxies/shapeshifter/ - $20
ShapeShifter is a revolutionary new product that lets you change the overall appearance of your Mac using 'themes'. We're not talking about just desktop backgrounds and icons here, we're talking about everything - the look of windows, menus, apps, buttons, absolutely everything.
Cleardock -
http://www.unsanity.com/haxies/cleardock
ClearDock removes the semi-transparent white background from the Dock so the Dock icons are "floating" on top of your desktop picture. Additionally, it can change the colors of application triangles and of the Dock background to customize your desktop!
SharePoints AutoMounter -
http://www.hornware.com/sharepointsautomounter/
SharePoints AutoMounter is an application that makes it easy to add and delete auto mounts in the /Network directory. Mac OS X provides the ability to have network volumes automatically mounted at startup. SharePoints AutoMounter brings this functionality to everyone.
Little Snitch -
http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/ - $24.95
ittle Snitch tells you when a program tries to send info to the internet so you can see what's going on in the background!
Undercover-
http://www.orbicule.com/products/
Transmits the internet location of your stolen computer/laptop and takes screenshots of the action!
VMWare Fusion -
http://www.vmware.com/products/beta/fusion/
Run multiple operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and Solaris, on your Macintosh at the same time as Mac OS X without rebooting
Burn -
http://burn-osx.sourceforge.net/
Opensource dvd/vcd/data burner for OS X.
TextWrangler -
http://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/
TextWrangler 2 is the powerful general purpose text editor, and Unix and server administrator's tool.
GMail Notifier -
http://toolbar.google.com/gmail-help...ifier_mac.html
The Google Notifier is an application that shows you alerts in your menu bar, so you can see when you have new Gmail messages or upcoming Google Calendar events without having to open a web browser.
Perian.component -
http://perian.org/]Perrien
Gets Quicktime to play most video types.
MacSaber -
http://isnoop.net/blog/2006/05/20/ma...a-jedi-weapon/
Make Lightsaber sounds with your MB/MBP
