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Jason Barker is Currently...
More FOSS for OS X I Use
Posted on Wednesday, August 08, 2007 at 10:14 AM by Jason Barker
In an earlier post I listed the free and open source software (FOSS) I use on my Mac. While I still use most of these programs, I've both changed and added a few since I created that list. Therefore, in keeping with my practice of recommending FOSS for parishes and ministries, I thought I'd list the new FOSS I've adopted:
Word Processor - I still recommend NeoOffice, and use it when I need to create documents incorporating things like headers and endnotes, but NeoOffice also presents a significant problem for me: because it loads the entire suite in order to launch any one application, NeoOffice uses 94 MB of RAM at launch, and then uses continually more RAM as I work on a document. Because at least 95 percent of my writing goes into an electronic publication, and I therefore do all my layout in another application, I seldom use anything more in my word processor than font style and size and paragraph alignment. Since I often have desktop publishing (like InDesign) or multimedia publishing (like Director or Flash) applications open at the same time as my word processor, I often find NeoOffice uses far more resources than my needs warrant.
I've therefore switched to Bean as my primary word processor - it performs the tasks I commonly use, and only uses 10 MB of RAM at launch. While there are a few features I miss, and prefer toolbar commands to the floating menus incorporated by Bean, the application is generally a good solution for my usually pretty basic word processing needs. If in the future, however, I find that I need to regularly engage in more complicated word processing than simply changing font attributes and paragraph alignment (particularly if future writing requires heavy collaboration on documents), I will either go back to NeoOffice or will need to grudgingly pay for Microsoft Office.
Web Browser - I've switched to Camino. I love the extensions (now called "add ons") I can use with Firefox, but became dissatisfied with how often Firefox on the Mac would choke on Flash-based websites. While it was a nuisance to re-enter my common passwords into Keychain, I've been pleased with the speed and stability of Camino. I still use Firefox for viewing Shockwave applications (Shockwave is the format in which my online Bible studies are published), because the Shockwave plugin for OS X requires running the browser in Rosetta (which, since the emulator causes apps to run more slowly, I prefer not to do with my primary browser).
IM - As I wrote earlier, I use Adium.
Twitter - I use Twitterific to publish my tweets.
Graphics - As I've written before, when I want to do something simple like resize and web-optimize a graphic, and do not want to open Windows in Parallels so that I can use the version of Photoshop I currently own, I use the GIMP-based Seashore.
Task Managment - While I am not a devotee of Getting Things Done - I haven't even read the book - I have found very useful the principle of breaking down larger tasks into their smaller consecutive tasks, and then methodically following each of these tasks without allowing myself to be distracted by the innumerable external things that clamor for my attention. To help me keep a schedule of these tasks, I have become increasingly reliant upon iGTD, a free application that largely follows the GTD process, and that I've adapted to my own workstyle.
Podcast Receiver: I now use Playpod which, while no longer under development (as is the case for most OS X podcast receivers, including my previous choice of Juice, since iTunes has taken over podcast handling for most Mac users), allows me to select downloading preferences for individual podcasts, to read the description of the episode before downloading, and to group podcasts by category.
App Launching - I have several applications I open many times each day - Camino, Thunderbird, Bean, etc. - that I keep in my Dock. There are many other applications that I use regularly, but not daily, and therefore do not want to keep in my Dock. I've tried a number of methods and applications to access these, and currently use Namely, which enables me to launch applications by name without scrolling through the Finder.
Posted in Miscellaneous