[wataru]

I see a lot of people mentioning OpenOffice.org. I thought I'd just mention this in case people didn't already know, but the preferred implementation of OO.o on OS X is currently NeoOffice/J. It's OO.o 1.0.3 wrapped in Java so that it acts like a normal OS X app. It doesn't need X11, it uses the regular OS X fonts, printing dialogs, etc., it's a double-clickable .app bundle, it works with Japanese characters, and so on.

Check it out here.

[urban]

QuickSilver has replaced LaunchBar for me. I don't know how they compare to each other. But QuickSilver is free.

[Dr.Michael]

Originally posted by PabloTX:
What are some of your favorite free/cheap shareware programs, and what are they?

Puh, 5 is not enough. There is so much great shareware available:

fruitmenu
asm
jedit (great text editor, open source)
Pepper (great text editor, as good as bbedit but 1/4 price)
supercal (calibrates your display. Worth every penny)
imagine bootx 2 (changes the boot picture from a boring gray apple into something more colorful)
mactracker (tech dates of every mac)
carbon copy cloner (too good to be free)
audiox (transfer tapes or vinyls into mov)
transmit
combine pdfs (merges any number of pdf files into one single pdf)

[Trygve]

Transmit
Speed Download
SiteSucker

And of course...

EarthDesk and Time Palette ('cause I wrote them).

[mark2]

Launchbar
Remember! - couldn't live without it.
CopyPaste - use it the most.
Xnippets
Page Sender
Carbon Copy Cloner
Easy Find

So many people have mentioned Launchbar that I would like to see a thread devoted to explaining to others all the ways the app can be used.

[cc_foo]

SplashID
Launchbar
Eudora sponsored or paid
GraphicConverter
Firefox
Interarchy 5.0.1 (skipped 2 versions now)
Omnigraffle 2 (came with PowerBook)
Poisoned
PTHiTunesNotifier
SizzlingKeys4iTunes
XMenu
VLC

[darkelf]

Perl
CodeTek VirtualDesktop
DragThing
Mozilla
Desktop Movie Player

[redoid]

In no particular order:

Itunes
Transmit
Unison
Unrar X
Macpar

[justinp]

Butler

[Stogieman]

1. SideTrack (For us laptop users)
2. VLC player
3. Salling Clicker
4. PodWorks
5. Snapz Pro

[Mr Scruff]

Whoah... I though LaunchBar was the ultimate in functionality, but I just tried QuickSilver, and I have to say this is probably THE Mac OS X poster boy application.

LaunchBar has already been removed from my startup items...

Newbs might want to check out this tutorial to get started.

[nsxpower]

Top 5 huh ... here are a few apps that I use often that I think people should check out. Obvious repeats

PhotoGrid X (Best image browser there is, I wish the author updated it to fix certain quirks I have with it. VERY FAST)

ExifRenamer (AWSOME, fits into my workflow like a dream)

iView Media Pro (It may not be cheap, but its cataloging features are absolutely great.)

ecto (Yes, I blog despite hating the word)

QuickSilver / LauchBar (I am undecided about the two right now, I don't care that QS is free since I have a LB licence already. QS can't do one thing that LB could ... when listing AddressBook entries I could press ctrl+c (Copy) and paste e-mail addresses in other applications ... I use that a lot when taling on IM with people who ask me for other ppl's e-mail addresses ... just nice to be able to do that without firing up Address Book. QS has other features that win over LB though ... using them side-by-side right now ... so hard to decide)

CSSEdit (perhaps, the best CSS editor there is)

WindowShade X (I use it a lot less these days primarily because I am now detached from OS 9 and Exposè works like a dream)

Transmit (FTP client that works. I used to use Fetch when I could use the edu licence, which is nearly as good)

NetNewsWire Lite (Not the best RSS agregator, but its free)

iBert (Being a financial analyst / director you learn to appreciate Dilbert ... a lot)

Sync (A very good backup utility that uses psync to back up your data to external FW HD or anywhere you please.)

TinkerTool ("Fixes" a few OS X annoyances)

[Love Calm Quiet]

wataru...
You got me really interested to explore OpenOffice/NeoOffice, except that the page your link takes us to says, prominently,

"As this is a development project, NeoOffice/J is intended for software engineers and is not yet complete enough for regular users."

Care to offer any reassurance (before I bother with a huge D/L) ? Stability? Intuitiveness of operation?

[bleee]

DragThing
LiteSwitch X (No the one included in Panther is NOT as good)
BBEdit
Mail.app

[bremner770]

1) LaunchBar
2) NetNewsWireLite
3) Synergy
4) Salling Clicker
5) Fugu

Honourable mention must be made to:

1) acqlite
2) mlMac
3) Direct Connect

[wingchuner]

My top favorite programs...


Barmaid-(Hides the menu bar) Still in beta but has potential.
MaxMenus-(Quick lauch apps program) Love it
Tomato Torrent-(Bittorrent for OS X by Sarwat) Kick-ass app.
Donkey Controller-(Menu bar controller for MlDonkey) P2P app enchancer
ShapeShifter-(Theme changer) Awesome way to customize your Mac.
ffmpegX-(All in one encoder) Pretty much can encode to anything else



I use many more programs, but these more then most....

[xanderwilson]

The shareware programs I use about every day:

Transmit.
OmniOutliner.
BBEdit.
MSDict Suite (Palm Application)
Documents to Go (Palm Application)

Alex.

[threestain]

1. Launchbar - first shareware program I've ever bought and the best
2. Macaroni - so good I forgot I had it!
3. Menu Calendar
4. NewsYouCanUse
5. Azureus

Oh and omni stuff when I get around to it!

[CatOne]

1) Circus Ponies Notebook (use it EVERY day)
2) DEVONthink -- recent comer, but great for archiving web sites/PDFs/Word documents... now I can FIND stuff!
3) Transmit for FTP -- Don't FTP all that often (usually use AFP), but when I need it, it's the best, bar none.
4) Unison -- Newsgroups, for when I have a lil' extra time.
5) Proteus -- if only because I have some friends that use MSN or Yahoo! I use iChat most of the time but Proteus 4 is now good enough for me to ditch the native chat clients, since I don't want 9 in my dock at once :-P

[Stuphalina]

Updated list:
Fruit Menu
Pixadex
Meteorologist
I have tried Quicksilver, and as much as it is an amazing app, I don't really have the use, but I will add my vote for "one of the coolest launchers available."

[osiris]

1) VLC
2) Safari
3) Carbon Copy Cloner
4) Pester - multiple alarm clock
5) Transmit

I couldn't live without VLC - it plays almost everything.

[funkboy]

GraphicConverter
Transmit
DropStuff
VLC
...and KGA Golf, which I made. Self-promotion, sheesh...

Seriously the four above should be standard on every Mac, I think. Apple should practically make deals with all those companies to include the software - completely registered - on all Macs shipped. The wait for DropStuff was annoying.

The worst lack of support on Mac OS X is FTP. System Preferences holds a great FTP server that's probably the easiest to start FTP server ever. (Click "Start.") But how does one use that FTP server out of the box with Mac OS X? You can't.
The Finder can dial into FTP servers, true, but if you want to leave someone a file (I hear it's quite popular to want to do that, nowadays), you can't.