Free Programs For The Mac
Finding software for your computer that works well and doesn’t cost you an arm and a leg is never easy. Half the time you end up going with the software everyone uses, like Microsoft Word, even though it is expensive, because choosing the right alternative is just too difficult and time consuming.
If you bought a Mac, you already have an advantage. Macs come with enough preloaded software that you can literally begin using them right out of the box for text editing, multi media, music, surfing the net, emails, scheduling, and more. Even so, most people want to “customize their ride” with software that is a better fit for their daily use.
Shareware and freeware may come to your rescue. Shareware is software written for certain computer platforms by users of the platform, offered for a free download or limited time demo, with a way to pay a small fee if you like it after your trial period (generally under $20). Freeware is software written and offered for free. The biggest example of this is the OpenSource software movement, made up of hundreds of thousands of programmers.
So where do you find freeware for your Mac? Almost anywhere online, really. The trick is knowing how to look. Before I go into search methods, why don’t I point you to some actual freeware you can try out for your Mac?
AbiWord is the slimmer, trimmer version of OpenOffice’s word processor.
Adium is my instant messenger client of choice, handling all types of instant communication with ease, from AIM to ICQ, all in one window.
Aleph engine for Marathon One game.
AMSN Messenger instant messaging and chat program.
Armagetron is Tron updated.
Audacity is an easy sound recording tool
Battle for Wesnoth is a fantasy game.
Blender is 3D modeling software.
Buddy manages your finances and helps you make a budget.
Burn is a program that rips your information to CD or DVD.
BZFlag is a first person tank game.
Cabos, a file sharing program that uses the Gnutella network.
Camino, the native OS X version of Mozilla’s FireFox web browser. Not as many features (yet) but getting there.
CashBox is a basic personal finances and accounting manager.
CC Publisher hosts Creative Commons files.
Celestia is 3D planetarium software
CenterStage plays your audio, video and photos in full screen mode.
ClamXAV free virus defeater.
Coaliscious is a cheat system for del.icio.us.
Colloquy IRC chat client.
Comical online comic viewing program.
Cube is a first person shoot-em-up game.
CyberDuck FTP program.
Democracy: this video player for the masses, does not discriminate against any video format, even Quick Time.
ElectricSheep is a screen saver program.
FireFox web browser, by Mozilla. Quickly becoming an internet favorite. More reliable than Internet Explorer (isn’t everything?) and more compatible with various internet functions than Safari, with plenty of extensions and plugins to make anyone happy.
FreeMind is a mind mapping, outlining and note taking solution.
Fugu SFTP and FTP program.
GIMP is the now famous free design software that inspired Adobe to consider offering Photoshop as an online service for a more reasonable cost.
Handbrake rips your movies from DVD to Mpeg4 Format for you.
iEatBrainz is an MP3 management software tool.
Inkscape is a free vector graphic design program.
iPod Disk allows your iPod to be used like a regular hard drive through the finder.
iStumbler seeks out open Wi-Fi networks for you.
Jomic digital comics reader.
Juice podcasting software.
MemTest tells you how much RAM is available.
Monolingual removes extra languages (This helps you save disk space on your Mac).
MPlayer is a video player that plays nearly every kind of video file format.
MultiAlarm is like a theft prevention alarm for your Mac.
NeoOffice is OpenOffice for the Mac, giving you full capability of programs like the Microsoft Office suite, but for free.
NVu is a WYSIWYG html editor.
Pixen is a free version of Paint.
PySol card games for the Mac.
Quesa is 3D modeling software.
RSSOwl RSS feed aggregator.
Scribus desktop publishing software.
Seashore is a free design tool similar to Gimp.
Senuti is a program that gets music off your iPod and onto your desktop.
Shiira is a web browser with a small memory footprint
Smultron html and text editor.
Stellarium is real time planetarium software.
Stepmania is a clone of Dance Dance Revolution without the annoying Tila Tequila as host.
Sunrise is a web browser designed with web developers in mind.
Thunderbird, the email client created by the makers of FireFox, is a great way to manage multiple email accounts.
Tomato is a bit torrent sharing software.
Transmission is a free bit torrent downloading program.
Vienna, native RSS reader for OS X.
VLC video player playes multiple video formats with an easy to use interface.
XMeeting video conferencing program.
Zombies is a 3D Zombie action adventure strategy game.
That looks like a long list, but trust me when I say it is barely the tip of the iceberg. You can find more at Downloads, MacUpdate, and on search engines like Google. Happy hunting!
Author: Leslie Poston, © 2007, All Rights Reserved
Hire Me On 
April 16th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
WOW, what a workout simply going through the list. Thank you for doing the legwork! I found some great possibilities.
April 17th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
Great, and I was going to go to bed early. Now, thanks to you and your infinate wisdom, I will be up all night downloading / experimenting with NEW MAC things. As if I didn’t stay up too late on this machine as it is! I love new MAC things (free new Mac things are even better!)
Nice hook up!
Thanks!
April 17th, 2007 at 10:19 pm
Just doing my part for the sleepless, Meleah
July 4th, 2007 at 10:22 am
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