Tom Lieber's AllTom.com - MacBook Plans

MacBook Plans

I recently ordered a MacBook through my university because it seemed like a deal too good to turn down, especially after spending all summer with a bunch of nerds with Macs.

I talked with an Apple zealot friend who gave me the low-down on the software I'll want as soon as the box arrives.

QuickSilver (free) for launching applications and doing various other things. I already knew I would be getting this one.
Adium (free) for IM.
TextMate (non-free) for hacking and texting in general. I think I'll push this off with vim for as long as possible.
Path Finder (non-free) to replace the built-in Finder.
Camino (free) for browsing the web. A Firefox that pretends to fit in on OS X. He also lightly recommended OmniWeb (non-free).
NetNewsWire (non-free) for reading RSS feeds. There was also a slight nod to Vienna (free).
Word (non-free) for note-taking in class. Umm…
SchoolHouse (free) "so [I] can watch my GPA drop as the semester goes on." Searching for it got me this article which also recommends iProcrastinate (free). I probably won't use either unless I happen to love tracking grades, because I have Life Balance (non-free).
Cyberduck (free) for FTP, SFTP, etc. I don't see why I'd need more than the support for these types of transfers that is built into OS X. It worked fine on school computers a few years ago.
Skim (free) for viewing PDF files.
Xee (free) for viewing images.
TextWrangler (free) for editing VBScript. Umm…
Photoshop CS3 (non-free) for editing graphics and photos. I'll want this, and I'll want it very badly. But $649‽
iGTD (free) for tracking tasks and stuff. Again, I think I have this area covered with Life Balance (non-free).
Maple (non-free) for math.
iBackup (free) for backing up my hard drive.

Posted Sep 06, 2007, in the night.