The amount of free software for the Mac is laughable.

[tonyr6]

Really the lack of any true free software and I don't mean software that claims it's free but advanced features are locked behind a pay version.

The only free software I can find is already available on Windows and performs terrible on the Mac.

 

[NT1440]

Who owes you free software and the labor in coding it?

 

[tonyr6]

Also forgot Mac has too many software required an subscription.

 

[tonyr6]

Who owes you free software and the labor in coding it?

I am able to find free software that is good quality on Windows but Mac software that does not have an Windows version the Mac alternative all cost money many are subscription.

 

[jagolden]

Seek, and ye shall find.
Does he mean "free" or "bootleg"?
Lot’s of talk but no substance or examples of what he wants.
Simply an annoyance post.

 

[NT1440]

I am able to find free software that is good quality on Windows but Mac software that does not have an Windows version the Mac alternative all cost money many are subscription.

I would check out https://alternativeto.net

I have no problem finding software I need. If it’s a small developer I have no qualms about paying for something useful to me as well.

 

[tonyr6]

Seek, and ye shall find.
Does he mean "free" or "bootleg"?
Lot’s of talk but no substance or examples of what he wants.
Simply an annoyance post.

No all legal nothing bootleg or cracked. I run all legal software on my Windows gaming PC so I don't go for that.

 

[casperes1996]

I'm sorry, but... What? Pretty much every piece of software that runs on Linux runs on macOS too. That's a lot of free software already there. Then you have all the cross platform software that also runs on Windows and is the same on macOS; Add to that macOS exclusive free software, which there btw is also loads of - including, not to plug it, tools like my own HexHelper.

But regardless of macOS or Windows, some great software is going to cost money.

Name anything at all you want good free software to do though and I'm sure someone can point you to a good program that does it.

 

[svenmany]

There must be some kind of software that is missing that's bothering the OP. I use a lot of paid and a lot of free software on the Mac so I haven't felt any such pain. I just took a look through my Applications folder and see the free ones:

AppCleaner, Armory, Bitcoin Core, Blackmagic Disk Speed Test, Citrix Workspace, Curecoin, Dropbox, Eclipse, Electrum, Firefox, Foxit Reader, Free Ruler Gimp, Google Chrome, iTerm, Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Remote Desktop, Opera, Signal, Skype, SourceTree, Wireshark.

I had many more before a recent clean install. Then there are all the free Apple provided programs. On top of that there are all the stuff I use on the command line (e.g. git, node, python).

 

[MBAir2010]

I am able to find free software that is good quality on Windows but Mac software that does not have an Windows version the Mac alternative all cost money many are subscription.

Which one? To run an ipad feature on windows?
having and using both options, the apple store is far superior to (i think) the microsoft store.
the apple store on the ipad platform is incredible and has many options.
the macbook is limited, but there there are developers like foobar and even schlage that works easier on a macbook than a dell xps.

 

[MBAir2010]

AppCleaner, Armory, Bitcoin Core, Blackmagic Disk Speed Test, Citrix Workspace, Curecoin, Dropbox, Eclipse, Electrum, Firefox, Foxit Reader, Free Ruler Gimp, Google Chrome, iTerm, Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Remote Desktop, Opera, Signal, Skype, SourceTree, Wireshark.

macbook users should and really do not need any of these applications, some are harmful and are full of bloatware.

 

[Jessica Lares]

MacUpdate used to be a good place to find native stuff.

But yeah, other than like media players and web development stuff, there is not really a free/freeware community on the Mac these days. It's all about making money on the App Stores.

 

[svenmany]

macbook users should and really do not need any of these applications

...stated in such absolute terms and, as such, provably false. As a developer and to handle other work responsibilities I'm required to use most of those tools. The MacBook is a very popular platform for developers.

some are harmful and are full of bloatware

Which ones?

 

[casperes1996]

...stated in such absolute terms and, as such, provably false. As a developer and to handle other work responsibilities I'm required to use most of those tools. The MacBook is a very popular platform for developers.

Which ones?

To be fair to the person you're replying to, they may mean "the average user", and make their statement to not make the OP run out and download Eclipse or SourceTree which would likely not be useful to the OP.

As for harmful they may be thinking about unwitting users erroneously using cleaner tools or having crypto-miners while unaware of their functionality and use case? Though that feels a bit like stretching it.

 

[thekev]

I am able to find free software that is good quality on Windows but Mac software that does not have an Windows version the Mac alternative all cost money many are subscription.

You can find more for Linux too. People who write free software typically don't make anything off it, so if they don't use OSX themselves, they won't bother to compile for it or test on it. Apple is really quite hostile to those people, so I wouldn't expect too much.

Much of what you can find for Linux can be made to work on OSX, or at least that used to be the case. @casperes1996 suggests this is still the case. I haven't personally tried in a while. Apple made a lot of changes in where things may be installed without providing much in the way of explicit package management.

 

[casperes1996]

Much of what you can find for Linux can be made to work on OSX, or at least that used to be the case. @casperes1996 suggests this is still the case. I haven't personally tried in a while. Apple made a lot of changes in where things may be installed without providing much in the way of explicit package management.

Absolutely still the case
Have taken many random Linux programs and compiled for macOS from source - many are also already ready to go with brew's package management system - alternatively fink or Mac Ports

 

[MBAir2010]

yes the average user and a web developer-content writer like me
2 years ago the president of our internet and web solution company i was freelancing for was going to install google "this and that" on MY rand new bdell xps
i stoped them because google is harmful and not needed and those app take over devices.
I'm very happy i prevented all that garbage form infiltrating even a windows computer.

 

[svenmany]

To be fair to the person you're replying to, they may mean "the average user", and make their statement to not make the OP run out and download Eclipse or SourceTree which would likely not be useful to the OP.

As for harmful they may be thinking about unwitting users erroneously using cleaner tools or having crypto-miners while unaware of their functionality and use case? Though that feels a bit like stretching it.

Then I apologize. It didn't occur to me that the OP was asking for recommendations. I was intending my list to be a counterexample to the OP's broad assertion. Most of the software I mentioned was pretty standard stuff used successfully by thousands of people, but not needed for basic usage.

On the other hand, I felt that the assertion that some of the software I mentioned was harmful and bloatware was a false and disparaging comment directed at reputable people and companies. It felt irresponsible without more focus and justification. Perhaps this thread is not the place for a lengthy discussion on that topic.

I will say that Bitcoin Core is a bit risky since it initially downloads the entire blockchain which is greater than 300 GB. After that initial download it can be pruned to around 2 GB. The average person that invests in Bitcoin would be better served by Electrum. So, it was a bit irresponsible of me to mention Bitcoin Core on the chance someone would take it as a recommendation.

 

[svenmany]

yes the average user and a web developer-content writer like me
2 years ago the president of our internet and web solution company i was freelancing for was going to install google "this and that" on MY rand new bdell xps
i stoped them because google is harmful and not needed and those app take over devices.
I'm very happy i prevented all that garbage form infiltrating even a windows computer.

I am on the side of "Google is evil". It's certainly true that they facilitate evil. Unfortunately, every now and then I am forced to use Chrome.

 

[svenmany]

Absolutely still the case
Have taken many random Linux programs and compiled for macOS from source - many are also already ready to go with brew's package management system - alternatively fink or Mac Ports

I want to add to that some. I'm a Java and Angular developer. I go to conferences and talks for both. Most people pull out their Mac laptops during the presentations. The Mac is a very popular developer platform. Because of that, most developer oriented software is available for the Mac. Quite often Windows is the odd man out, though that's not so true nowadays since Microsoft has become more of a team player.

 

[casperes1996]

Then I apologize. It didn't occur to me that the OP was asking for recommendations. I was intending my list to be a counterexample to the OP's broad assertion. Most of the software I mentioned was pretty standard stuff used successfully by thousands of people, but not needed for basic usage.

On the other hand, I felt that the assertion that some of the software I mentioned was harmful and bloatware was a false and disparaging comment directed at reputable people and companies. It felt irresponsible without more focus and justification. Perhaps this thread is not the place for a lengthy discussion on that topic.

I will say that Bitcoin Core is a bit risky since it initially downloads the entire blockchain which is greater than 300 GB. After that initial download it can be pruned to around 2 GB. The average person that invests in Bitcoin would be better served by Electrum. So, it was a bit irresponsible of me to mention Bitcoin Core on the chance someone would take it as a recommendation.

No I agree entirely with you, really, and there's no need to apologise. I was more just playing Devil's advocate in my prior post, really. Which brings me to:

yes the average user and a web developer-content writer like me
2 years ago the president of our internet and web solution company i was freelancing for was going to install google "this and that" on MY rand new bdell xps
i stoped them because google is harmful and not needed and those app take over devices.
I'm very happy i prevented all that garbage form infiltrating even a windows computer.

While I don't use Google Chrome for personal browsing, n'or really any other Google tool or service, if you're a web developer you really should test your work against Google Chrome since it by far has the greatest market share. Svenmany listed both Safari, Firefox and Chrome in their app catalogue and if you work on web I'd say you need to have all three ready. Even if you like myself only use Safari for yourself, you ought to test your work against all three.
And "harmful" is a big word. You may find Google's programs to not do what you desire, perhaps do more than you desire, but they are not actively malicious

 

[casperes1996]

I want to add to that some. I'm a Java and Angular developer. I go to conferences and talks for both. Most people pull out their Mac laptops during the presentations. The Mac is a very popular developer platform. Because of that, most developer oriented software is available for the Mac. Quite often Windows is the odd man out, though that's not so true nowadays since Microsoft has become more of a team player.

Yep. At university a lot of courses have virtual machines available with some Linux flavour for the course, with the course description often saying something ala "For Windows users, please use the provided VM or other mechanism for running Linux programs. For macOS just install <package>"

Has been a lot of situations where students with Macs just stay in macOS while the students with Windows cannot run whatever toolchain is needed from Windows

 

[svenmany]

While I don't use Google Chrome for personal browsing, n'or really any other Google tool or service, if you're a web developer you really should test your work against Google Chrome since it by far has the greatest market share. Svenmany listed both Safari, Firefox and Chrome in their app catalogue and if you work on web I'd say you need to have all three ready. Even if you like myself only use Safari for yourself, you ought to test your work against all three.
And "harmful" is a big word. You may find Google's programs to not do what you desire, perhaps do more than you desire, but they are not actively malicious

Same here. I only use Chrome for testing and debugging, but that is a requirement.

 

[Boyd01]

Last summer I got rid of my Windows PC and replaced it with a virtual machine on my Mac. So now I can use all those free programs on my Mac.

I make maps, and will say that there's a lot of free software (some is actually shareware) for mapping on Windows and very little on the Mac. For example, cgpsmapper has been the de-facto standard for creating your own Garmin-compatible maps. However, the author discontinued it several years ago and many other Windows map-making tools are also fading away.

There's a great suite of Java-based free tools for managing Garmin devices from a developer named JaVaWa and they run on Macs and PC's. Unfortunately, the author recently had serious health issues and has ceased development. There's also Mobile Atlas Creator, a powerful free tool that is Java-based and runs on Windows, Linux and MacOS. I have used this as platform for distributing my maps for years, but am phasing it out because it's just too complicated for average users. Of course, there's also OpenStreetMap and their Java-based tools run on all platforms.

I'm developing a free GPS/mapping web app (currently in beta) that is primarily intended for iOS and Android but also runs on Windows, MacOS and Linux. I'm retired and this has been a great way to improve my programming skills while offering something useful to the community. But I have no problem with paying a reasonable price for useful software, especially if it supports the work of small developers. People have offered me donations and I have always refused, but one day I need to figure out a way to make a few bucks with my software, because I also have to eat.

 

[theluggage]

I make maps, and will say that there's a lot of free software (some is actually shareware) for mapping on Windows and very little on the Mac.

There's no getting away from the fact that MacOS has a much smaller market share than Windows, so its a no-brainer that there is less choice of software all around - whether it's commercial, free-as-in-beer or free-as-in-speech.

The Mac has a slight advantage when it comes to Un*x/Linux open-source software - but there are various solutions for compiling and running that on Windows, too.

...but there's certainly a lot more than none.

Really the lack of any true free software and I don't mean software that claims it's free but advanced features are locked behind a pay version.

What are you looking for and where have you looked? The Mac App Store isn't a good place to look because the App Store terms can be problematic (if only in political/conscientious terms) for some sorts of open source (plus developers need a $100/year subscription - which is peanuts if you sell anything but a deterrent if you're giving stuff away).

Say what you need and you might get some helpful suggestions.

...and ruling out anything that also runs on Windows is ridiculous. A large proportion of free software comes from Unix/Linux and has been ported to both Windows and Mac.