It has been a while after I wrote about my first experiences of Macbook Pro and OS X. During this time I have been getting myself familiar with the keyboard (It has taken me surprisingly long to get used to the different keyboard layout and the “missing keys”) and figuring out what software is worth installing (and what is not). This entry contains my list of OS X Software, which I have found useful or just fun.

1Password password manager is one of the best password management tools I have seen. Its browser integration is elegant and seamless. There is no need to open the password management software and copy the correct credentials to the login form. One can simply select the preferred login information from the browser’s toolbar. If one have to use Windows occasionally, it is good to know that there is a public beta of 1Password password manager for Windows as well, which enables the user to sync one’s credential database between Windows and OS X.

FreeMind mind mapping software. I find it easy and normal way to structure my thoughts by using mind maps. FreeMind is a free mind mapping tool, which I have been using for years now. Since I have found it very useful for visualizing my ideas, It was natural selection to this list.

IntelliJ Idea Ultimate Edition. I earn my living for developing software. Thus, it is only natural that I want myself to have the tools I enjoy using. I have been using both Eclipse and Netbeans, and they are great pieces of software as well. However, the only IDE, which makes software development fun is IntelliJ Idea. One key factor behind my purchase decision was the licensing of IntelliJ Idea, which permits me to install the software on different operating systems as long as I don’t use them at the same time. It is always nice to see that not every company out there is interested in only maximizing their profits, and that some companies value their customers enough to give them little perks like this one. Jetbrains is also offering a free community edition of IntelliJ Idea, which is an easy way to try IntelliJ Idea, if you don’t want to restrict yourself to the 30 days trial period of the evaluation version.

NeoOffice office suite is an improved version of the OpenOffice.org office suite, which is significantly faster than OpenOffice.org, because its code base contains code written specifically for OS X operating system. However, since its document formats are exactly the same than the ones used by OpenOffice.org, there are no compatibility problems between them. OpenOffice.org is in my opinion the best free office suite when you are using Windows operating system. However, the OS X version of OpenOffice.org is painfully slow when comparing it to the Windows version. Luckily for us OS X users, the guys behind NeoOffice have come to the rescue.

Steam. For a passionate gamer like myself, Steam is indeed a very easy choice. Even though the amount games, which are available also to OS X, is not so great yet, the numbers are rising steadily. Luckily (or unfortunately), the newest versions of my favorite game series are available for OS X (Civilization IV and Football Manager 2010).

TextMate text editor. The basic installation of OS X is really lacking a powerful text editor, which is powerful enough to provide good support for programmers, but simple enough so that can be used to edit text documents as well. A friend of mine, who is also a Mac user, recommended TextMate for me, and I fell instantly in love with it. Its user interface is very simple, but its features are rich enough for programmer as well.

Transmit FTP and SFTP client. There is a couple of reasons why I like transmit so much. First, it is very fast. It is much faster than any FTP program, which I have used in Windows. Second, I like its user interface, which clearly separates the source and target directories from each other. I also tried other alternatives like Cyberduck, which is available without charge, but I never got used to the idea that there is no clear separation between source and target destinations. Perhaps I have just get used to user interfaces, which separates source and target directories, during my years of a Windows user.

TrueCrypt disc encryption software. TrueCrypt is nice utility, which can be used to encrypt entire partition or storage device such hard drive or USB flash drive. I think it is a very useful tool for encrypting USB flash drives. I find it a good idea to encrypt my USB flash drives, because they are small and therefore they can get lost easily. Even though I usually find my lost USB sticks some where inside my apartment, I can sleep my nights a lot better knowing that no one will get anything important out of them (well, at least not in my lifetime).

VLC media player. VLC media player was an easy pick for me, because I have been a happy user of it for a long time. It is easy to use and I have never had big problems with it. Therefore it is easy to say that it has earned its place on my must have list.

I have now introduced my list of “must have” software for OS X. I have also installed other great pieces of software to my Macbook Pro, but since I do not use them on a regular basis, I have left them out from this list. If you feel that I have forgotten something or simply just want to share your list, leave a comment to the comment section. Tips concerning useful software are always welcome.

Until yesterday, I have never owned a laptop. I have been mostly using laptops owned by my employer, which have been running different versions of Windows operating system. I really started considering of buying myself a new laptop a couple of months ago. It had become a burden to carry my current laptop between office and my home. As a Windows user I started looking for laptops running the Windows 7 operating system. However, I realized very soon that it was pretty damn hard to find a laptop, which would have the hardware configuration suitable for my needs. Of course every manufacturer has high end models, which would have been sufficient for my needs. However, the price of these laptops was very high. When I realized this, I started checking out what Apple has got to offer. This was the moment when something clicked in my brains, and I realized that less can really be more. I liked the fact that Apple had a very limited set of models available. This made it very easy for me to select a model, which is suitable for my needs. After the new models of Macbook Pro were published, I ordered one almost right away. After a “long” waiting period, it was finally delivered to me yesterday.

This blog post will describe my first impressions from Macbook Pro and Os X. I decided to create a simple list of pros and cons, because it is perhaps the easiest way to write down thoughts, which have arised during these few days.

Pros:

• Everything just works. The wizard started during the first start up was very intuitive and easy to use. After it was finished, everything was working as I expected. Application installation and uninstallation was so easy that I could not believe it. No more frustrating installation or uninstallation wizards for me. It seems that Os X is planned to made everything as simple as necessary, but not any simpler than that. I really love this kind of approach, which emphasizes usability.
• Battery life. The battery life of my Macbook Pro was unbelievable when comparing it to laptops, which are not made by apple. I can finally use my laptop at a train without worrying when I will have to to recharge it. I am really wondering why this kind of batteries are not offered by other manufacturers.
• High Quality of Hardware. Macbook Pro is a high quality product. This feeling took me over right away when I got my hands on to this laptop. The aluminum unibody makes it structurally solid and unique. The high resolution anti glare display produces the best image I have ever seen on a laptop. Also, it is worth to mention that the viewing cone of the display is very wide. I had some prejudices concerning the keyboard, but it has been a relief to notice that I was wrong.
• Fast startup time. The startup time is really fast out of the box. I know that one can shorten the startup time of other operating systems by reducing the number of services started when the computer is starting up. However, I don’t see any reason for doing this, if I can get a lot better result just by pressing the power button.

Cons:

• Price. Well, this one is pretty obvious. The price of my Macbook Pro was very high, and some people can rightly wonder, if it really delivers enough value when comparing the value delivered by cheaper alternatives.
• Keyboard is missing special characters and buttons. The keyboard layout seems a bit weird for a windows user, and it is missing some keys like page up and page down. Also, the creation of curly brackets is not intuitive at all.

It should be obvious that I am both very satisfied with my Macbook pro and convinced that I made the right choice. However, I have been having some problems with third party applications. I will describe these problems in my next blog post to the Becoming a Mac User category.