Clean Slate – Now What?
// December 11th, 2009 // Comments // mac, personal
I will very soon be the proud owner of the 27″ Apple iMac. Drool.
A common problem I have when I buy/build a new system is “What do I put on it?” It is often difficult to list all of the applications, preference panes, and essential files that make a new computer YOUR computer. After spending a few months on a machine, I start to take for granted that Quicksilver will be there, that Firefox will look and act the way I anticipate, and so on. Often, I will forget to install applications that are important to me, but I do not use regularly. This has happened to me with Adobe Creative Suite countless times; I didn’t know I needed it until I needed it. When I popped up Quicksilver and started typing “Photo…” to only see Photo Booth, I realized my error. Taking an hour to install CS4 can seriously hamper the creative process if you have a sudden burst of inspiration.
To try and prevent this from happening when my iMac arrives, and because I’m going to be home for the holidays where I won’t have access to most of my tools, software, and a real internet connection (my parents use a basic DSL package, which suits them fine), I decided to poll my fellow Mac users on Twitter and Facebook asking what their must-haves are on a new system. Below are the results. I’ve included the number of “votes” each item received in brackets. This doesn’t exactly give a great picture of recommendations, but does let you see that some people suggest using Firefox, many use Quicksilver, etc.
Essentials:
Many “essential” applications (such as iTunes) are included in OS X. However, these applications also make the list of things I can’t live without.
- Quicksilver [4] – Launcher, awesome, absolutely necessary.
- Firefox [2] – The killerapp here is obviously the extensions.
- VLC [4] – Plays anything. Enough said..
- Adium [6] – Chat on just about any service.
- A word processor [3] – Office 2008 is my flavor of choice.
- The Unarchiver [1] – This is a classic example of an app that I forget I need until someone sends me a set of RARs.
- Evernote[0] – No one mentioned this, but I’m really trying to make it a part of my workflow. I see great potential.
- A torrent application [3] – Everyone recommended Transmission, which has a very sexy Mac-like interface, but I strongly prefer uTorrent.
Firefox Extensions:
These are all from my personal list, and were not mentioned by anyone responding to my informal poll.
- AdBlock Plus – Don’t see ads. Ever.
- FireFTP – Good for lightweight FTP tasks.
- XMarks – Sync bookmarks, passwords, etc. across all your machines. Like delicious, but private, and more useful.
Communication Apps:
- Skype [1] – For skypin’. I should note, the person who recommended this included it at both the beginning and end of their list. They must LOVE skypin’.
- A twitter application [4] – Several recommended a twitter app of some sort, with Tweetie getting the most votes
- Gmail Notifications [1] – Check your e-mail. Constantly. Make Merlin Mann cry himself to sleep.
- Colloquy [1] – IRC
Preference Panes / Add-ons:
A few add-ons for OS X that make life easier.
- BlueHarvest [1] – Keep OS X from contaminating your non-Mac partitions with hidden files
- TextMate [2] – Text completion that saves time and just works
- Visor [1] – A slide-down command prompt like the console in Quake when you push ~.
- Paragon NTFS [1] – Sometimes, you need to share with Windows folks.
What You Do:
One very smart person told me that it “depends on what you do.” While it is helpful to have a sense of what other people are using, I must admit it is strange for an electrician to ask a mechanic what tools he should be carrying around with him. So here’s a few tools that help me do what I do.
- Coda – webdev
- Adobe Creative Suite CS4 – just about anything involving pushing pixels, floating divs, etc.
- Aperture – exposure, levels, and flickr batch uploads (with a small plug-in)
- TiltShift – AdobeAIR app that simulates tilt shift photography
- DropBox – Make files available over the web, back up critical data into the cloud
- A video editing tool – I don’t have one particular tool that I like yet, but I’m looking… Suggestions?
This is far from an exhaustive list. In fact, this isn’t even all of the recommendations I received. However, most of the other suggestions were recommended are intended to fill needs that I simply don’t have. These apps that seem unnecessary to me are likely critical in the daily activities of those individuals that listed them. This only emphasizes the fact that, it depends on what you do. I think the above is a good start, and with the exception of my section of tools-I-need, most of these apps would probably be useful to the majority of users. Suffice to say, if all of the above came preloaded on my Mac, I wouldn’t be too upset.
Did I miss anything? What are your must-haves, and are they similar to the results I got?
