.::output >> /dev/null::.

This list is not in any particular order and is made up as I type along.

• Proteus
  This is an all-in-one chat client that I have been using since day one of 2004. It supports AIM, ICQ (I love the ability to send offline messages to my contacts), MSN (I really hate the MSN protocol because they are constantly having problems). The feature I like best (and have not seen implemented in any other chat client) is the concept of the meta-contact. Update: Actually Adium has this feature too! This is particularly useful for me so that I can group the same contact with different accounts into one massive one. For instance, when the contact is not online, I do not have to search for his AIM, MSN or ICQ, I just send the message to the meta-contact and Proteus takes care of finding out which account is online. Another nice feature is the notification window (similar to the annoying one of MSN messenger that appears on the top right of the screen, only this one is less annoying). I have tried Adium but its user interface is still pretty awful for me.
• Quicksilver
  If there is one software that has changed my computer experience the most it would be Quicksilver. It is more than an application launcher in the sense that it does so much more. How much more? Well, it is better to try it for yourself. The feature I like best would be the define word feature. Most of the time when I am reading some article online, I come across words that I want a definition for. Or maybe I am writing this and I need to check up the meaning of the word. By hitting command+space and then entering .theWordIWant and hitting enter, the definition comes up in a non-obstructing window. The are many more tricks that can be performed with Quicksilver and they have an excellent community. And the rate of innovation and bug fixing just makes this software a must-have. The only problem that it suffers from on my computer is speed. However its price (free!) and its many functions more than make up for this.
• NetNewsWire
  I wake up almost everyday to be greeted by new RSS feeds from the websites that I am interested in. And all of them are presented nicely in this wonderful program. There are alternatives but none are as useful. The built-in browser is useful for me to preview certain links that I do not wish to open in Safari. And those links that are opened in NetNewsWire persist in their own tabs too which is a plus for me. The ability to choose a style sheet in which to preview the feeds are a nice touch too. And the way it displays the number of feeds that I have not read over its dock icon just as Apple's Mail application does is also very useful. Overall I would have to say that the creator did a good job.
• Safari
  Simply the best browser for OS X. Firefox is nothing compared to this. The only other browser that comes close would be OmniWeb (if it were not that bloated). Of course I have enhanced my version of Safari with Hetima's SafariStand (see earlier post about this add-on). What I like about Safari? Its speed! And the ability to not be bloated.
• BBEdit
  The new tabbed panes that come with version 8.0 is very useful especially when coding. And pressing ctrl+tab on a .h file will also automatically try to open the corresponding .c file for you. Syntax highlighting is nice. The built-in support for running python and perl scripts is nice too. Not to mention the languages modules. I did all my vhdl coding inside BBEdit. When I was using blosxom to power my blog, I did all my editing inside BBEdit. There are many other powerful features that I will probably not use. The thing I like best about this text editor is that its user interface is simple. I have tried SubEthaEdit, TextMate, Emacs, Vi but they all feel weird when I first open them. Among all of this, TextMate is the worst because it does not look the least like what was advertised on their product site. I want to be able to use a text editor when I first open it. And I want access to all the powerful features when I need them. I do not want a lousy user interface. The only thing that prevents the casual user from using BBEdit would be its price.
• Tofu
  Simple program that takes some text (say from a website) and organizes the text into columns just like the ones in the newspaper. It makes it much much easier to read especially if there is a lot of text and the website has a distracting background. This application is free!
• Roxio Toast Titanium
  Allows you to fully utilize the full 700MB of the CD-R. The ability to burn using another computer's CD burner was a godsend when my own drive was not functioning. Has some other features for burning audio and video disc that I have not used.
• OmniGraffle
  Honestly, it made my life that much simpler while drawing UML diagrams and DataFlow diagrams for my Software Engineering class. There is nothing in the windows world that can compare with this program. The diagrams it produces are visually pleasing. And the user interface exposes all the advanced features without intimidating the casual user.
• StickyBrain
  A version of Stickies that puts the original to shame. I use it mainly for organizing my to-do lists. And also to store useful web pages and other articles into its database. I like its checkbox feature as well as the ability to have organize the notes into different folders. It has some quick search menulet that can be triggered by hitting F8 but I do not use it because it just clutters my menu bar. Most useful for storing pieces of information that you might need later. And now with its support for iPod and Palm notes, I will be able to quickly create short text notes to take with me.
• CalendarClock
  This is something that Apple should have come up with. It replaces the normal time display on the top right of the screen with a clickable version that displays a calendar. Not only that, it shows your current to-do list and daily schedule from iCal for the day. I found it particularly useful for meetings where you have to quickly check what day which date falls on and whether you have any appointments or not.
• Thundebird
  Not good enough to replace Mail.app by Apple but definitely good enough to handle all my newsgroup needs. Have been using it since version 0.7 so I can say that the improvements are really there. And it is free!
• VLC
  A media player that is more versatile than Quicktime. It has a tendency to drop frames on my computer because it needs some rather high processing power. It has the advantage of being to open most of the encoded media that Quicktime is not able to handle even if you have the DivX codec installed. It is also able to play DVDs and video CDs (something that the Asian market is famous for). I believe that you can even stream your video from it and everyone can connect and watch it at the same time. And VLC is free.

And of course the most important piece of software of all: OS X 10.3 Panther! Here are some other apps that I find useful but I shall refrain from commenting on them since most of us are already familiar with what they do.

• Mail
• X11
• iTunes
• Terminal