Free Mac Software
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| Audacity: Working with audio is generally not something the average user does every day. As such, it's not really worth it to pay $40+ for a program. Audacity is an open source program that is quite capable for most audio editing tasks. One can alter *.mp3 files, record an original track, apply nifty audio effects, or even create a podcast for distribution on the web. Note: For all of you out there running Intel macs, use the Universal Beta version of Audacity. It runs WAAAY faster! |  |
| Flip4Mac: Quite frankly, Windows Media Player for Mac is painful. It's slow, it's ugly, and it's Microsoft. Flip4Mac is essentially a codec plugin for Quicktime that allows Quicktime to play both .wmv and .wma content both in a standalone player and on the web. Now if you find an online video clip, you can view it in all its Quicktime glory. Note: The version for Intel Macs is still beta. You'll have to search a bit harder for it. Try looking at http://macupdate.com. |  |
| Handbrake: Ignore the ugly icon. This app is very handy to have. If you have ever wanted to backup your DVD collection to your computer so that you can preserve that Oh-so-special copy of "The Wizard of Oz" or even store it to your harddrive for future enjoyment, this is a great program for you. Use responsibly. This software is not intended to aid people in the theft of video content. |  |
| iSquint: 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, and it's infinitely free-er. It's also really easy. Just drag in your file, and click Start. You can also choose "TV" or "iPod" size, set your quality, or even go all-out by playing in the Advanced drawer. |  |
| Perian: By default, Quicktime has a the ability to play only a limited number of different codecs, mainly Apple codecs. For those of you unfamiliar with this term, think of a codec as a language in which a song or video is written. If the player can't interpret the "language" of the video, it can't be played. Instead of installing extra programs, one can also install a codecs that allows QuickTime to play a given media type. Since these codecs can be difficult to source, Perian offers a very easy-to-install codec pack that enables Quicktime (and by proxy, Front Row, etc.) to play a wide variety of popular video types. I personally recommend this solution over 3rd party video programs. |  |
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TVShows is a Mac OS X application that automatically downloads your favourite shows. You don't need anymore to manually download torrent files, TVShows does it for you. Manage your subscriptions and preferences from within the TVShows application, and TVShows takes care of the rest: a background process is automatically launched at a regular interval to check for new episodes. What TVShows isn't... TVShows is not a Bittorrent client, it just automatically downloads the correct torrent file at the right time. TVShows will automatically use your preferred Bittorrent client to download the shows. |
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| VLC: At work, I am often asked whether a mac will play all of a person's videos. Yes and no. Yes, it is capable of playing any video codec, provided it has the necessary tools. However, like a regular PC, a new Mac does not necessarily come pre-loaded with every possible video codec. VLC is a simple video player that plays nearly any format that one would want to play (with exception to .wmv; see Flip4Mac). VLC can also play DVD's and VCD's. |  |
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| AdiumX: Many people are familiar with MSN messenger for windows. It's not a bad program. However, MSN Messenger for Mac is rather outdated. There have been no updates released by Microsoft for quite some time. Also, it's quite slow and buggy. AdiumX is a perfect replacement! This program is updated regularly, fast on both PPC and Intel Macs, and also visually stunning. By accessing their AdiumXtras site, you can alter and customize this program in any way you'd like (no coding skills required). Not only does this program allow you to log into and use the MSN network, you can also access Yahoo, ICQ, AIM, Google Talk, and a host of other services. |  |
| CyberDuck: FTP stands for file transfer protocol. An FTP client is used to access files on a FTP file server. Using this program, it is possible to quickly move files back and forth from one computer to another (even if they are positioned across the globe from each other). While there are other FTP clients that are also free, I have the most experience with this one, and I find it to be quite simple and efficient. |  |
| Firefox: Aside from Internet Explorer, Firefox is the most popular browser in the world. It runs on Windows, Linux, and (of course) Mac. While I don't think it's necessary to switch from Safari to Firefox in the same way that it's a good idea to switch from IE to Firefox, Firefox is a very powerful and customizable web browser that's usually a good idea to have installed in case that 1 obscure web page doesn't open in Safari. |  |
| Skype: Skype allows you to talk to friends, family and co-workers across the internet without long distance telephone charges. It works by using P2P technology for the data transmission, meaning there is no central server as a middle manager. Essentially, anyone with a computer and a high-speed connection can talk to another person with the same. |  |
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Pac the Man: Few people have never heard of PacMan. Pac man is arguably one of the most recognized video game characters in the world. It has been nearly 30 years since this ubiquitous game was first played in arcades across America. According to Wikipedia, Pac Man has spawned more than 30 sequels. Like most software, they cost money. Pac the Man X is an open-source alternative to Pac Man. Typical of Mac programs, Pac the Man X is pretty! There are 25 aqua-licious levels for one to conquer. Having said that, I must admit that I haven't conquered a single one. I suppose I'm too busy writing on my website to bother. |
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Quinn: "Quinn is an arcade-style tetromino puzzle game written and designed specifically for Mac OS X. It features a clean, elegant user interface, beautiful graphics, and smooth, subtle animations for fluid gameplay. Instead of reinventing the game with yet another variation of the rules, the goal of Quinn is to combine the simplicity of the original idea with the genuine Mac experience for perfect user enjoyment." If your lifelong dream has been to play a LAN tetris tournament, then Quinn can make your dreams come true. With nothing more than a few macs and a router, you can use Quinn to start a Quinn-tastic tournament of blocky goodness! |
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| Blender: I wish I could tell you that I knew how to use this program, but unfortunately, I don't. Blender is a 3D animation suite. Yes, like the programs that make Pixar movies. This program has received numerous awards for being one of the most impressive open source projects. Check out their website to see what kind of art can be created with this program. |  |
| the GIMP: For those of you who don't know what a raster image is, read the description beside "Inkscape". For those of you who do, allow me to introduce you to a free raster image editor called the Gimp. Like Photoshop, it allows you to create and manipulate images. I'm sure I could spend a lot of time explaining this program to you, but I'm thinking you get the picture. No pun intended. |  |
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ImageWell: ImageWell is a small, but powerful, image editing application that lets you quickly resize, crop, watermark, edit your images, take screenshots and then upload them to the web, save to your computer or email them to a friend. ImageWell also lets you annotate your images with text, shapes, arrows and lines, quickly and easily. And it doesn't stop there - add a drop shadow, a shaped border, flip or rotate your image, plus so much more. Don't want to send your image to the web? You don't have to, it's not the law. Edit your image, give it a name and file type, and simply drag and drop the image to the desired destination on your computer to save it there. Or drag and drop it into an email message, a document or presentation. Want to send other types of files to the web - you can do that too. It's easy-shmeasy, just choose the location, and drop the file over the Send button...done!
Say goodbye to opening large heavy weight applications for all the simple |
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| Inkscape: There are two general types of images. First, there are raster images (e.g., *.jpg, *.png). These types of images consist of dots or pixels that combine to make up an image. Vector graphics make up the other images. Instead of pixels, these images are stored as points, lines, curves, colors, and gradients. This may seem more complex, but it's really quite simple. Take a square for instance. In a raster image, the square is actually x number of rows and x number of columns. In a vectorized square, there are simply 4 points (corners), 4 lines connecting the corners, and information dictating the color and gradient of the square's fill. If the raster square is, per se, 60 by 60 pixels, it might take up 8 kilobytes. However, if the square is 60 by 60 inches, the file size balloons to hundreds or thousands of megabytes. If we create a very similar square using vector graphics, the small image will take up exactly the same amount of file space if the image is 60 by 60 pixels or 60 by 60 miles. Vector art is fully scalable, and never pixelates. Inkscape is capable of both editing and creating vector art (commonly known as SVG or Scallable Vector Graphics). Similar programs such as adobe illustrator or corel draw can easily cost more than $400. For interest sake, nearly every one of the icons pictured on the right was originally created as a vector graphic. |  |
JustLooking is designed to be used instead of the "Preview" application on your computer for browsing most image file formats. In particular, it has the following differences:
It should be noted that the application cannot completely replace Preview, as there are a number of features in the latter that JustLooking simply does not have, such as selecting and copying regions, saving images in various formats, and viewing of Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files. |
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| Seashore: Seashore is an open source image editor for Cocoa. It features gradients, textures and anti-aliasing for both text and brush strokes. It supports multiple layers and alpha channel editing. It is based around the GIMP's technology and uses the same native file format. Although it's based off of the GIMP, it loads lightning fast. Unlike the GIMP, it is not yet as feature rich. However, if you're looking to do some basic stuff, give it a try. After all, it's free. |  |
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Combine PDFs: This is an application that has been a bit of a lifesaver on occasion. I used it quite frequently in school. Often a piece of software like this will retail for $50+. For a unlimited time only, you can own this sweet bit of code for seven easy payments of $0.00. Drop some PDF or picture files on the application or the main window. Reorder or remove pages as you want. Enter some meta information like the Title and save the new PDF. Analysing and processing of PDFs may take a while... NOTE: If you have Leopard, you DO NOT need this application as Preview already makes it possible to combine and rearrange PDFs. |
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| Google Notifier: I have gmail. I like Gmail, but quite frankly, I'm not very enthused about needing to check the Gmail website everytime that I want to check my email. This efficient little app sits in my Universal Taskbar and kindly notifies me whenever I have received an email from someone. I can click on the icon to see both the sender and the subject. Also, if you have a Google Calendar set up, G.N. will allow you to quickly access that information as well as warn you shortly in advance of any upcoming dates. |  |
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NeoOffice: NeoOffice is a fully-featured set of office applications (including word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and drawing programs) for Mac OS X. Based on the OpenOffice.org office suite, NeoOffice has integrated dozens of native Mac features and can import, edit, and exchange files with other popular office programs such as Microsoft Office. Unlike the Mac OS X release of OpenOffice.org, NeoOffice does not require the X11 windowing system. Released as free, open-source software under the GNU General Public License (GPL), NeoOffice is fully functional and stable enough for everyday use. The software is actively developed, so improvements and small updates are made available on a regular basis. |
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Schoolhouse 2: Schoolhouse helps keep track of homework, reports, notes, and projects from all of your courses. You can sort and manage your homework with ease. Color code your assignments by due date, priority, or course to give a visual cue of your upcoming deadlines. Organize your homework in notebooks and use smart notebooks to filter by many criteria. Quickly email your assignment info to classmates or contact your instructors with one click to get help with your assignments. Classcasts allow classmates to subscribe to your assignment info and receive updates when you make changes. An instant calculation and graphing of your grades over the term gives you a heads up before the final exam. Schoolhouse helps any student organize their assignments and get a hold on their homework.
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TextWrangler is a free, general purpose text editor that is very handy tool for developers. We recently made it free for people (in exchange for beer).
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Skim is a PDF reader and note-taker for OS X. Skim is designed to help you read and annotate scientific papers in PDF. These are features that will be available by default in the Leopard version of Preview. However, until that time arises, or if you decide not to upgrade, Skim is a helpful study tool for those who are doing research and working with PDF's on a regular basis. Skim includes many features and has a great user interface. |
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AppDelete: Everybody loves the drag and drop nature of OS X. Drag an app into your applications folder, and it's installed. You'd think it would be that easy to delete an app — just a matter of dragging it to the trash. Is that true? Well, yes and no. When you drag an icon to the trash, the actual program file is deleted. However, applications install preferences, caches, and other support files throughout your computer that take up space and generate clutter. It's not a huge deal, but it's usually nice to clear them out. Deleting these by hand every time you delete an app is a pain. Thankfully there are several solutions. First, there is a commercial app called "AppZapper". The free alternative is AppDelete. To use it, simply drag its icon to the dock and then drag the icons of programs you wish to uninstall onto the AppDelete icon. You'll hear it working, and before you know it, the program will be neatly disposed of in the trash (where you can retrieve it if need be). This program does some advanced-ish stuff, so use with some care. |
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Burn: Although Mac OS X has tools built in that allow a user to burn CD's and DVD's using something called "burn folders" (right click in anywhere in finder to create a burn folder), it may be necessary at times to have a slightly more powerful disc burning software (e.g., burning ISO files, copying a CD, etc.). Roxio's Toast is an exceptional commercial piece of software. For frugal/poor folks like me, Burn is a simple yet effective alternative. |
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Chicken of the VNC: Chicken of the VNC is a VNC client for Mac OS X. A VNC client allows one to display and interact with a remote computer screen. In other words, you can use Chicken of the VNC to interact with a remote computer as though it's right next to you. If you're not familiar with VNC, use this program with caution. However, if you're already know what one does and you are looking for a freeware alternative to commercial software, look no further (unless you know of a better VNC client). |
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Growl: Growl is a notification system that allows any application to send it a notification, and then it displays it. You can (for example) be notified that you have new email, or that a download completed, etc. If you're missing the constant pop-ups of MS Windows, then this may satisfy you in some odd and twisted way. Kidding aside, it is very functional and useful. |
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iBackup is a simple to use backup/restore utility for scheduled backups of files, folders, applications and your system preferences like the dock, deskop picture, time settings, firewall, bluetooth and system applications like AddressBook, Mail, Stickies, iChat, iTunes and more. You can edit these preferences settings and add your own. |
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Onyx: OnyX is a maintenance, optimization, and personalization utility for Mac OS X. It allows you to run misc tasks of system maintenance, to configure certain hidden parameters of the Finder, Dock, Safari, Dashboard, Exposé, Disk Utility... to delete cache, to remove a certain number of files and folders that may become cumbersome, to see the detailed info of your configuration, to preview the different logs and CrashReporter reports, and more. |
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| Quicksilver is a unified, extensible interface for working with applications, contacts, music, and other data.
Anyone using a computer (and the Macintosh is no exception) spends a lot of time locating files and applications, and then carrying out actions on those items. The Finder is a reasonably good tool for getting a visual overview of the contents of your disk, but it isn't ideal for quickly locating and manipulating files, especially if you have a deep and complicated folder structure, or if you prefer keyboard navigation to using the mouse. Quicksilver allows you to find what you need quickly and easily, while keeping your hands on the keyboard. For example, if you want to launch an application hidden in the depths of your file system, simply activate Quicksilver with a keystroke, type a few letters of the application's name, then hit Return or Enter to launch it. When you don't need Quicksilver, it keeps out of your way, preserving precious screen real estate, and yet you can summon it instantly with a key stroke - just like Mercury the winged messenger. Actually, Roman mythological texts are remarkably silent on whether Mercury could be summoned with a key stroke, but it would have been great if he could. Quicksilver will certainly make you feel as if you have god-like powers. |
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| The Unarchiver: The unarchiver is a file decompression utility. Supported file formats include Zip, Tar-GZip, Tar-BZip2, Rar, 7-zip, LhA, StuffIt and many other more or less obscure formats. Previously, Stuffit Expander was featured here as the decompressor of choice. Howevever, the Unarchiver is open source, faster, opens more file formats, and is less obtrusive. Recently, several notable improvements have been made to this piece of software. |  |
| Transmission: There are a boatload of bit torrent clients out there in the world. A number of them are available for Mac. I don't claim to have the authoritative say on which is best, but I personally prefer using Transmission. If you you want every posible option available, you may be interested in using Azureus. Prior to 2007, Trasnmission was not a standards compliant bit-torrent client. Therefore, it sucked. Also, the icon was wretched. Because those two things have been fixed, I can confidently recommend Transmission. Plus, I use it! What's more to love? |  |
Audio / Video
Chat & Internet
Games
Graphics
Office and Productivity
Tools and UtilitiesPlease be advised that his is by no means an exhaustive list of freeware or open source software. Rather, it is a somewhat concise list of programs that I have found to be particularly helpful. In many of the cases, the software title listed is one of many in a given category. I have tried to list the one that I found to be the best. You may disagree. I welcome your commments. DISCLAIMER: Although I have personally installed and used all of the software titles listed below, I do not take any responsibility for an possible computer complications that you might encounter as a result of installing this software. Use this software at your own risk. I do not claim responsibility for anything this software may or may not do to your system.
