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Once you convince your friends to get a Mac, they’ll want to know which applications to use or try out first! Here is a list for all those new Mac users who want a list of the most useful, must-have Mac applications that aren’t included with your Mac. Keep in mind that some of these applications require Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, but most require Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger.

Web Development

Transmit for FTP. Transmit provides the best FTP client for the Mac. Transmit is available from Panic, and costs only $29.95.

Cyberduck is a free FTP solution. I’ve had troubles with Cyberduck when connecting to my (mt) grid server, but if you don’t feel the need to pay for Transmit, then Cyberduck is for you.

CSSEdit for CSS editing. CSSEdit provides a sleek interface for editing CSS files. You can even extract any CSS file from any website and preview what the website would look like with your custom CSS! CSSEdit is available from MacRabbit, and costs $29.95.

TextMate for code editing, and specializing in Ruby on Rails development. TextMate provides a lot of features the average code editor doesn’t. TextMate is available from Macromates, and costs $59.

Coda for all-of-the-above. Coda provides a very nice integrated web development environment, with a code editor powered by the SubEtha engine which includes collaborative code editing. Coda is available from Panic, and costs $79.

MAMP for MySQL, PHP, and Apache on your local machine. This is perfect for testing out your next website locally! MAMP is free, and available at mamp.info.

SubEthaEdit for collaborative code editing. SubEthaEdit allows you to share your coding documents with others anywhere around the world! SubEthaEdit is available from the Coding Monkeys, and costs 29 Euros.

MarsEdit for posting to your weblog. MarsEdit is a stand-alone application that allows you to post to your weblog from its great interface. MarsEdit is available from Red Sweater Software and costs $29.95. (full review)

Productivity

iWork for word processing, creating presentations, and spreadsheet work. iWork is Apple’s very own application suite that handles these tasks with Pages, Keynote, and Numbers. Just a little note that Numbers doesn’t support the most advanced spreadsheet tasks, so be sure to verify it does what you want it to. iWork is available from Apple (and many other retailers worldwide), and costs $79. iWork is available in a single-user version, and a family pack so be sure to choose the correct version!

Anxiety is a great light-weight ToDo application. If you just like to keep a little task list, Anxiety is for you. It uses Mac OS X Leopard’s technology to sync tasks between iCal, Mail, and Anxiety. Anxiety is free, and available at anxietyapp.com. (full review)

OmniFocus is the ultimate GTD application. This is for those people who are completely obsessed with Getting Things Done applications. OmniFocus is available from The Omni Group and costs $79.95.

OmniGraffle is the application for flow charts. OmniGraffle is also available from the Omni Group, and it has two versions: OmniGraffle ($79.95) and OmniGraffle Professional ($149.95).

Quicksilver is the all-in-one app launcher, and much much more. Quicksilver is a lot faster than spotlight to search your Mac for files, and includes many cool commands you can use to do things such as email files really quickly without clicking and dragging-the-file! Quicksilver is free at Black Tree.

Imaging

Skitch is the ultimate screenshot application. Skitch allows you to take screenshots (and snaps from your iSight), and add little drawings or text onto them, then upload them to Skitch.com, Flickr, your FTP server, or .Mac to share with others! Skitch is currently in private beta, but if you need an invite, simply comment on this post and I’ll get one to you. Skitch is available from Plasq, and is free during its private beta stage.

Pixelmator for a cheaper Photoshop. Can’t afford Photoshop? Pixelmator is here to provide some functionality of Photoshop in a sexy interface, with a low cost. Pixelmator is available at pixelmator.com for $59.

Photoshop CS3 for the image editor with the most power. Photoshop is the best image editor in the world, and if you are okay paying $649 for it, then great, it is the best! Photoshop is created by Adobe at adobe.com.

Aperture is Apple’s professional photo editing, and photo management suite, filled with tons of useful features! Check out Aperture at apple.com/aperture, and buy it at Amazon.

Video

Final Cut Studio or Express is the powerful video editor. Final Cut is Apple’s professional video solution that powers movies, TV commercials, and even some live shows! If you are into video production, see Final Cut Studio ($1,299) or Final Cut Express ($199) over at Amazon.

VisualHub for video conversion. VisualHub is one of the most popular video conversion tools out there. If you are into video, I’d suggest you check it out at Techspansion, and buy it for only $23.32.

iShowU for screen captures. iShowU is the tool to use for screencasting on the Mac. It’s affordable, and very very powerful. See iShowU from Shiny White Box, and buy it for only $20.

Jing for a quick screencapture. Jing is a (currently) free application for recording your screen. There are many limitations of Jing, such as it only exports as .swf, and it only records a few minutes, but this is because Jing is aimed at showing others how to do something. Jing is like the Skitch of video, because you can easily upload the .swf to screencast.com. You can find Jing by TechSmith at jingproject.com, and Jing is currently free.

VLC is for playing video files. Quicktime requires codecs to play different types of video files, such as .AVIs. VLC will play almost any video type you come across! Best of all, VLC is free, at videolan.org.

HandBrake for ripping DVDs. Keep your DVD collection on your Mac, or send it to your iPod with Handbrake. Handbrake is free from handbrake.m0k.org.

Miro for video podcasts. Miro is the best application for downloading video podcasts (and youtube videos!). Miro is free at getmiro.com.

Communication

Adium for many networks and plugins. Adium is known for its compatibility with many many chat networks, and has lots of different themes and plugins available. Adium lacks some of the features of iChat, but if you need to be on many different chat networks, then Adium is for you. Adium is free, and available at adiumx.com.

Twitterrific for the twitter addict in you. Twitterrific has inline direct messages, and replies from everyone. Twitterrific is free if you are okay with its advertisements it runs from time to time, and if you aren’t you can purchase a license for only $14.95 at the Icon Factory.

Chax provides many added features to iChat, including a unified chat list. Chax also adds Growl support to iChat, so you should really check Chax out at ksuther.com (oh, and it’s free!)

Skype for audio and video conference calls. You can call other skype users for free, or anyone around the world on a regular phone for an extra fee. Skype is free at Skype.com, but call out and call in services cost a little bit of money. More details at skype.com.

Really Simple Syndication

NetNewsWire is the most popular RSS reader out there! NetNewsWire includes syncing with NewsGator.com so you can access your RSS feeds from anywhere with internet access! NetNewsWire is available from NewsGator for only $29.95, but if you’d like the free version (with a few less features), check out NetNewsWire Lite. (full review of NetNewsWire Lite)

NewsFire as an alternative. NewsFire has quite a different interface compared to NetNewsWire, so if you like this style, this is the RSS application for you. The only problem is it does not sync with NewsGator. NewsFire is available at newsfirerss.com for only $25.

Vienna is another RSS reader, but it is free. Vienna even includes its own web browser! Check it out at SourceForge.

Downloading

Acquisition for the peer-to-peer lover. For those of you who choose to use peer-to-peer, Acquisition is the peer-to-peer application for the Mac. Acquisition is available at acquisitionx.com and you can buy it for $26.

Transmission as a free torrenting solution. Transmission includes advanced features like traffic encryption to increase download speeds! Transmission is free, and available at transmission.m0k.org.

Speed Download is the ultimate downloads manager for Mac OS X. If you want faster downloads, and more organization of your downloads, try out Speed Download at yazsoft.com, and if you like it, you can purchase it for $25.

Web Browsers

Firefox if you are a die-hard Firefox user. Firefox is free at www.mozilla.org.

Flock for the social network addict. Flock is the social web browser. Flock has integration with Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and even your blog! Flock is based on the Mozilla rendering engine, so pages will be rendered just like they would be in Firefox, Flock even includes compatibility with some Firefox plugins! Flock is free at www.flock.com.

Camino is Firefox, Mac style. Camino is really fast compared to Firefox, but renders pages using the Mozilla engine. Camino has a nice interface, nice speed, but doesn’t include compatibility with Firefox addons.

OmniWeb for advanced web browsing. OmniWeb includes some really neat features like ad blocking, and workplaces. Be sure to check out OmniWeb from the Omni Group, and if you like it, you can purchase it for only $14.95.

Misc

Growl for notifications. Growl provides very nice looking notifications for quite a few Mac applications. Growl is absolutely free at growl.info.

iClip for advanced copy and pasting. You can copy and paste anything with iClip, and even look at the last few things you’ve had on your clipboard easily! iClip is available for only $29.

AppDelete for deleting applications. Apps install many preference files and other associated files that are not removed when you simply drag and drop an app into the trash. AppDelete solves this! Best of all, AppDelete is completely free.

Hazel helps you organize your Mac. You can setup automatic actions in Hazel that will execute in the background. For example, all items in my Downloads folder that are over a week old can go into my Archived Downloads folder, automatically! Hazel is quite powerful, and available for only $21.95.

Text Expander helps you type faster. You can enter in text snippets into Text Expander, and create a shortcut. For example, if I set “thx” to expand to “Thank you so much!”, whenever I typed “thx” in any application, Text Expander would expand the text to “Thank you so much!”. Text Expander is available for only $29.95.

Parallels Desktop for Mac lets you run virtual machines on your Mac. Run Windows and Mac OS X at the same time with Parallels for Mac. You can order Parallels at parallels.com for only $79.99.

VMWare Fusion lets you run virtual machines on your Mac. I feel VMWare Fusion does a better job then Parallels does at performance, and features, of your virtual machines. VMWare Fusion is available from VMWare, for $79.99. (At the time of posting, there is a sale on VMWare for Mac over at Amazon for only $62.49)

HoudahSpot for organized searching of your Mac. HoudahSpot allows you to create and store very powerful search queries, that will help you search your Mac. As the developer says, its a “strong frontend to spotlight.” HoudahSpot is available at Houdah.com, and costs about $23.68.

The Unarchiver for opening archives. The Unarchiver is such an easy app to use, and works great. It’s just one of those apps that is just there, you won’t notice it too much, which is why I forgot to add it to this list originally (whoops!). The Unarchiver is completely free.

Well, that’s my list! It’s not nearly complete because their are so many excellent Mac applications out there, so please comment with your “must-have” apps, I’d be happy to add some to the list. I’d be honored if you would share this link with your new Mac switcher friends, to help them get started! I’d like to thank my Twitter friends for all the help with their “Must-Have” app suggestions!

Suggestions

Audacity for audio editing. Audacity is 100% free, and available at SourceForge.

NeoOffice is a free office-like application.

Perian is a Quicktime component that adds support for lots of popular video formats! Perian is a great alternative to VLC if you like Quicktime, and is free.

Backstage for ripping music off your iPod to your new Mac. iTunes only allows you to copy your music onto your iPod, but not off. Backstage is the solution. Backstage is available at widgetfab.com for $9.99.

Senuti for ripping music off your iPod. Senuti was recommended by many people such as Leo Laporte, so it must be good, right? Senuti is donationware.

PTHPasteboard is a free solution for your clipboard. PTHPasteboard keeps your recent copy and pastes for you. PTHPasteboard is free, but also offers a paid version for $24.95.

Colloquy for IRC. Colloquy is a very nice IRC client for the Mac. If you like IRC, you’ll like Colloquy. Colloquy is free at colloquy.info.

SeaShore is a GIMP image editor, with a nice cocoa interface. SeaShore looks beautiful, and works great! SeaShore is free, and available over at sourceforge.net.

Pukka for del.icio.us bookmarks. Pukka is a del.icio.us bookmarks manager for OS X. Pukka is available at the Code Sorcery Workshop, and costs $14.95.

BBEdit for the most popular professional code editor for OS X. BBEdit has many years behind its powerful editor, making it the most popular! BBEdit is available from Bare Bones Software, for $125.

TextWrangler for a great free code editor. TextWrangler is the free version of the famous BBEdit.

1Password is the best password manager for Mac OS X. It manages passwords in a really cool way. It syncs between your different web browsers, and lots lots more. 1Password costs $29.95.

Adobe Photoshop Elements for a more powerful Pixelmator, but from Adobe. It sells for $89.99.

Adobe Lightroom as an alternative to Aperture. Adobe Lightroom sells for $299.

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