Mac Software

Also in this section: Mac Backup Software and Mac Utility Software.

This is the software I used. Visit my Wakoopa profile to see how often. Unless otherwise noted trial versions of all the software is available and they are universal binaries.

Acorn by Flying Meat Inc.

Category: Image Editor
Price: $50
Version: 1.2.1 [Universal Binary]
Low-cost image editor.

Leopard Compatibility: Supported by the developer. I’ve been using this under Leopard without a problem.

Aperture by Apple Inc.

Category: Digital Photography processing & management
Price: $199 from Apple or buy at Amazon for less
Version: 2.1

RAW workflow and photo project management tool.
Note: Camera RAW file support comes from the OS so Aperture supports the same RAW file formats as iPhoto.
Leopard Compatibility: Version 1.5.6 (or higher) is needed but even then there’s a conflict with Time Machine. Aperture supports these camera RAW file formats under Leopard.

CSS Edit by MacRabbit Software

Category: Web Design
Price: $30
Version: 2.6

As the name implies, this is a CSS editor. I use this to maintain the CSS for my site. In a nutshell, it’s great, check out the demo.
Leopard Compatibility:Version 2.6 is officially compatible.

Fairmount from Metakine

Category: Video/DVD

Price: Free (Open Source/GPL)

Version: 1.0.2

Software used to rip DVDs to files. I’ve had good success using this. There’s a couple DVDs it couldn’t handle, especially if the DVD is slightly damaged at scratched. It also had a habit of generating bad rips (at least that Handbrake couldn’t recognize) after awhile although no errors were reported. Shutting down and restarting Fairmount solved the problem.

I cover the software in this article.

Firefox 3 Web Browser

Visit Firefox Website
I use Firefox 3 as my primary browser on OS X. I had used Safari over Firefox 2 because I just had too many problem with Firefox 2. But Firefox 3 has been faster and more stable, even after long sessions with multiple tabs.

Installation of version 2 on Windows XP and OS X is covered here.

Mailplane by Ruben Bakker

Category: E-Mail Client
Price: $25 (30-day trial available)
Version: 1.61.4 (The beta for version 2 is also available)

Mailplane takes GMail out of the browser and puts it in a desktop app with a Mac OS X interface. It is not a full desktop e-mail client and a connection to GMail is needed for use.