Posted 07/16/2008 at 9:59am
| by cyoung

Would it surprise you to learn that the coolest Mac software out there wasn’t created by Adobe, Microsoft, or even Apple? We expose the most useful but least-well-known apps you should be running on your Mac to get more done, have more fun, and make more of the time you spend in front of the computer.
When it comes to software, using a Mac is an exercise in irony. On the one hand, Apple famously includes 90 percent of the software most users need right out of the box. On the flip side, no other platform enjoys such a thriving, clever community of third-party software developers. Everybody knows about the Mac desktop heavyweights—Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Office for Mac, and so on—but we wanted to uncover the best unsung creations from lesser-known developers. Some of these apps offer low-cost or free alternatives to Mac system defaults like Mail or iChat. Others improve system applications by tweaking existing features. And still more expand the boundaries of the Desktop by adding wholly new capabilities. So find a comfortable chair. You’ve got some downloading to do.