If you’re not a Mac user, I’m sorry – I try to keep this site as universal as possible.
If you are a Mac user, I’d like to point you to a helpful post I read today at AppStorm – “60 open source and free Mac apps“.
I’ve gone through the list, and these are the apps that I use:
- Firefox
- Fluid
- Skype (now also available as an iphone app)
- TweetDeck
- iTunes
- EventBox (don’t think this is free though…)
- iPhoto
- Handbrake (link currently not working)
Which of these 60 apps do you use?
As with most lists, more items could be added, so what would you add? Use any free Mac apps that would be helpful for others in ministry?






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I use too many of these apps to list them – not every day, but on and off for different things. Smultron, all the browsers, Netnewswire, Perian, VLC, Growl, blah, blah, blah
The two that I think are the most useful for ministry are Evernote and DropBox – cross-platform and free, though both with premium services, and not on this list.
I also happen to have a suite of Adobe CS4 products but I don’t use them. I fire up the mac equivalents for a far more user friendly and efficient experience. They’re not all free but they’re certainly cheaper than Adobe products. And more fun.
Thanks for the suggestions Deb. I use Evernote too – don’t know what I’d do without it! What apps do you use that are good CS4 replacements?
Steve
I use RapidWeaver for website, Pixelmator for graphics, Safari with developer stuff, CSSEdit, Coda, Bannerzest, and then I have iWork which is pretty good for lightweight desktop publishing. And Keynote for presentations. I got a few of above things in Macheist a year or so ago which sold me. I know the CS4 products are way more powerful but really for the professionals and I’m not one. I keep trying to master them but other than occasionally using Photoshop for something really fiddly I just can’t get on top of them.
When I switched from Windows a few years ago I was using PaintShopPro and WebEdit and a few other Shareware things, even though I had DreamWeaver. I just seem to prefer the scaled down versions!
From the ministry perspective the programmes above have been invaluable. And as I said, more fun.
I have found Tweetie to be a great desktop Twitter client, mainly for it’s ability to manage multiple accounts (personal and other Christian groups that I may update).
I looked into pixelmator, and found that I can actually do a lot of basic image editing in Keynote.
Also use Safari, Mail (as an RSS reader), iTunes, Perian, Flip4Mac, iPhoto…
Thanks for the post Steve
Good call Calum – interestingly, I’m writing about Tweetie tomorrow! It’s my favourite Twitter app – and I’ve tried quite a few!
Yeah I second the Evernote recommendation.
Quicksilver is my most used app, hands down.
Also, Action Method is pretty great, though it’s an AIR app instead of native to mac, but it’s worth it.