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FREE / OPEN SOFTWARE
FOR MAC
OSX
This site has been 
There
are a great many many websites where you can find free and / or open
source software. Three of the best are
Apple's own site
(of course!), Macupdate,
Versiontracker
, and Opensourcemac.
The following list of software
(with
clickable
links to the relevant sites) only gives a small
idea of the available range.
Click on the names and / or the icons.
Remember: all this is free. but you may wish to make a donation here
and
there, to express your appreciation.
1)
Browsers:
:
Firefox is
increasingly
popular. Can read RSS feeds. Version 3, which arrived in June
2008, is a marvel !
Camino:
lighter than Firefox. Made for the Mac system (OSX)
SeaMonkey: based
on Netscape. With its own email client and html editing programme for
building web pages and websites.
I used it to make this site.
2)
Email:
Thunderbird: my
favourite email client. Includes a newseader and RSS
aggregator.
And remember: Seamonkey (the browser)
has its own email client programme.
3)
Image editing and
manipulation:
The GIMP
(Gnu
image manipulation
programme) : impressive. Some consider it a free /
open
alternative to Photoshop.
Gimpshop: a lighter version. Fewer
features, but enough for most jobs.
Seashore is even
simpler, but fewer features - good for basic image editing : resizing,
cropping, sharpening, colour and contrast
adjustment etc.
Image
tricks also allows several editing jobs, and artistic
effects. Worth checking out - it's freeware, after all.
4) Word
processing:
Open Office:
very powerful, lots
of features. Windows and Linux versions available. Worth checking
out before
you buy Microsoft
Office.
Neo Office: a
lighter version of Open Office
TextWrangler
: "At its most basic, a tool for simply editing text", says the
website. But many other things besides : for instance,
TextWrangler
is also a "Unix And Server Administrator's Tool".
Abi
Word: another word processing solution. Fast and light. There
are Windows and Linux versions.
5)
FTP:
Cyberduck is excellent. Simple to use. Opens
your remotely stored website files in a window. You just
drag and drop.
Filezilla
6)
Website building / html
editors :
Kompozer: was
formerly NVU .
See also (as mentioned
above): Sea Monkey.
Basic, but it works ! I used
it to make this site.
7)
Audio / audio editing :
a "free, open source
software for recording and editing sounds".
mp3 player - an open source alternative to
iTunes. Try it !
8)
Video:
VLC : will read most video (and
audio )
formats, including flash (flv). A possible alternative to the
"pro" (and non-free)
version of Apple's Quicktime
9)
Chat:
Adium
10)
IRC:
Colloquy
11)
Calendars / diaries:
Sunbird:
features galore. An alternative to iCal.
12) RSS
aggregators :
Netnewswire:
Excellent. My favourite, and (apparently) one of the most
popular. I'm not surprised.
Vienna:
open
source, nice clean interface.
Shrook:
calls itself a "a next-generation news (and RSS) reader"
RssOwl is
open source, multiplatform, clear and easy to use.
13)
System
maintenance / troubleshooting:
OnyX:
Superb. Does all the maintenance tasks, and more (system tweaks etc).
Regularly updated.
Applejack;
A "must-have". It could save you a LOT of anguish. To find out
why, click the link.
Appcleaner: When you
download and open applications, the Mac generates a
lot of files, most of which you'll never see. If you want to
delete
one of
these
applications ( by dragging it to the trash ), it's easy to forget this,
and the associated files can remain on your hard
disk, cluttering
it up, and slowing down your Mac.
Appcleaner takes care of that: when you want to delete an
application, it finds the associated files and offers you the
opportunity to trash
them.
It dosn't do this
automatically,
to avoid any accidental deletion of files you may want to keep - you
stay in
control.
14) Antivirus:
ClamXav: There
are no viruses for Macs , up to now. But it's
worth checking out your system from time to time. ClamXav will do it.
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