Ten Favorites

Someone wrote recently suggesting an article on "My top ten Mac Apps". That's a great idea, and so would be "My top ten Linux apps".

Trouble is, I can't think of one, Mac or Linux.

I'm not even sure I even use ten different applications in a month unless we start counting things like vi, sort, df, diff and so on. At my Mac desktop, Firefox and Terminal are the only things in the dock that get daily usage, and while I find both indispensable, I can't say I'm enamored of either one. Fairly often I need to run Remote Desktop Connection but that's not a "favorite" either.

So that leaves us with what? Not much. Sure, there are plenty of Mac and Linux apps I've reviewed here and I might even use some of them once or twice a year, but it's hard for me to think of those as favorites.

Shall I list Firefox because of what's inside it? I do need the Web for Gmail and the dozens of web sites I visit regularly. But Firefox itself is annoying: it locks up every few days and I have to force-quit it. I guess it would be fair to say that it's my "favorite" in the sense that I can't find anything else that has the features I want. Those features aren't even in Firefox itself; they are add-on extensions, and there are really only two: the Web Developer and the StumbleUpon Toolbars. If I could have those in a tabbed browser that didn't freeze up once a week, I'd dump Firefox immediately.

As for Terminal - well, it does the job, but then again I don't ask a whole lot of it. I don't even use most of its features: the only things I might ever do is increase the font size or put a different background color in a window to make ot easy to find. Other than that, it's out of the box. Terminal windows are like underwear: I need 'em, but I don't have a favorite pair.

Well, I guess I just don't have ten favorites. Or even one. But that doesn't mean you don't, so if you'd like to share your list with us, please do.

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Wed May 10 13:46:26 2006: Subject: iTerm   MikeHostetler


I'm a new MacOS user, but I've found iTerm to be better than Term. Maybe it's just my habits, but I tend to always have more than one command line open at once (one for local, and one ssh to another box). iTerm has tabs and it's easy to switch between them -- just A-right or A-left. If I had to say what my favorite MacOS app is, it would be iTerm:
http://iterm.sourceforge.net/

That said, nothing really stands out for me as far as applications themselves go, but how they work together. I find working on my MacBook Pro a lot easier than my Windows workstation at the office, though I've been a Windows user a lot longer. MacOS just works, and it's easy to switch from application to application. When you want to have something just work, the GUI is dependable. If you need to get down-and-dirty on the command line, you can do that, too.



Wed May 10 19:03:04 2006: Subject:   TonyLawrence


Yes, I looked at iTerm last year: ( http://aplawrence.com/Words2005/2005_06_22.html )

It does have useful features.



Wed May 10 21:09:14 2006: Subject:   anonymous


Yes, iTerm is one of my favorites. I say "Tab everything!"

- Bruce


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