Great Mac Software A Domainer Can't Live Without

Okay – so I’m a bit of a Mac nut, what can I say – I like great quality things that just work! Apple is one of those companies that makes products that people love to use – and love to convince other people to use. Ask anyone with an iPhone what they think and you could probably get a 10-15 minute description complete with a full scale “check-out my apps” section. Ask someone with an LG or Nokia phone and they’ll most likely say “it’s okay” or “it’s cool.”

One of the things I love about the Mac is that there is some great cheap/free software that I use which I couldn’t live without. As with anything on the Mac installation takes literally ten seconds so putting everything I recommend below on your Mac should take less time than popping a bag of popcorn.

If you don’t use a Mac, I probably already know your argument – “they are too expensive!” The Mercedes and BMW owner loves their car and once they drive it, don’t consider it expensive. Buy a pair of great speakers (I’m a bit of an audio nut) and it’s worth it as well. Now go to someone’s house with a Vizio TV…you’ll immediate see a quality difference but you’ll most likely hear – “the TV was so cheap!”

Cheap doesn’t always mean good and while Mac’s are more expensive they are just better, sorry folks! However I’m not a big fan of paying retail since there are enough people on this planet that will do that so we all shouldn’t have to! If you check-out the deals on Apple’s outlet you can get a great Mac for a very reasonable price. Okay – enough of that – now for the software:

  1. TextWrangler – if you do any coding this is an AWESOME text-editor and it’s free. Now you can edit your WordPress themes without using the clunky built-in text-edit app
  2. Teleport – great FREE software to share a keyboard and mouse amongst multiple Macs – literally takes five seconds to install and free is much cheaper than buying a KVM switch
  3. Fetch – the quintessential Mac FTP software – I’ve used this since I was fifteen and think it’s the best FTP client I’ve ever used hands-down
  4. iMovie – this comes on your Mac so doesn’t cost a dime and you don’t even have to install this. I’ve used this for years to do my videos – WAY better than software you’d pay $300-$500 for on your PC
  5. Mail – like Steve Jobs has said time and time again in his presentations about mail – try opening your Calendar and Email at the same time in other email clients…can’t do it? In most other clients you have to switch between windows making it impossible to have both your Calendar and the main email pane open at once. Oh and Mail is way faster than Outlook 🙂
  6. iShowU – cheap and easy-to-use screen recording software for the Mac
  7. RapidWeaver – although I don’t use this one myself I know people who do and it makes it very easy to put-together simple websites quickly
  8. TimeMachine – the best backup software in the world…period. No back-up software works like Time Machine

Of course I also love that Mac OS has Unix running in the background so if I want I can run any Linux software I’d like if I really want to bring-out my inner-geek!

Feel free to share your favorite apps, say some kind words about the Mac, or bash it! Either way comment and let your voice be heard!

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton