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It isn't free, but Path Finder is the cat's meow for GUI file management on OS X:

http://www.cocoatech.com/pathf...

Every iCloud user has 5gb for free. You remember 5gb, it's 3gb more than DropBox starts with. 20gb is a buck a month.And 1tb costs identical to DropBox's 1tb plan. It's really not all that expensive.

iOS used to be a pain to transfer files via USB. You had to use iTunes, and you could send files into specific apps only. The new iCloud Drive isn't quite as versatile as a DropBox, but it's awfully close, especially for simple things like copying a file in (without needing the cable, btw).

I don't know. I make my living in IT, but I manage to use Finder without buying a third party file manager. But even if I did, I'd probably go right to PathFinder, which I owned a copy of years and years ago when Finder truly was much worse than it is today. And incidentally, it's available without the App Store and Apple makes no cut on the sale of it.

Nobody begrudges you sticking to Linux on a laptop or refusing Apple products because they have limitations. Well, obviously this is Slashdot, someone will very violently begrudge you, but that's unavoidable. Most people don't care / don't mind. But the truth is, for the vast majority of people, off the shelf, non-rooted or jailbroke Apple or Android phones do 99.9999% to 100% of what most people care about.

Believe me, I'm not (strictly) an Apple apologist. My phone is the 2014 Moto X (no flash slot, by the way, just like the Nexus and many other non-Samsung phones). My current laptop is a Surface Pro 3. And my current tablet is an iPad Air.

It's all balance. I loved my old MacBook Air, but for $200 more than a new one I chose the Surface Pro, which is lighter, has the stylus I wanted for taking notes in meetings without banging on a keyboard, and has a high definition screen. I loved my old iPhone, but the Moto X was far cheaper when I went to upgrade (under $400 unlocked, contract free thanks to the Black Friday $150 coupon), and let me do some customization I really wanted to do on a phone. And on the Tablet side, I wasn't interested in an Android tablet (I've certainly tried my fair share), because for media consumption, there's nothing that compares to the library of apps that are iPad native.

Not a development tool, but give me a desktop environment that works like this on Linux, and I'll drop OS X

I felt the same about BBedit, until I got good with textmate... I'd never go back, at this point.

Making Mac usable:
Path Finder - Finder replacement
TotalSpaces 2 - improves workspaces.. instant switching, very customizable.
Unclutter - better than leaving files on desktop, stores notes very well
Bartender - tidies the menu bar
Quicksilver - launcher
Xee - image viewer

Productivity:
Parallels
MS Office
TextMate
OmniFocus

For admins, I'd also add:
Apple Remote Desktop
VPN Tracker (if you need a bunch of IPSec vpns)
Tunnelblick or Viscosity (OpenVPN)
lots of aliases, setting up .ssh, etc.

The 10% can flip interfaces pretty easily. Windows has always been skin-able. OS X has all sorts of productivity extensions like: http://qsapp.com/ and http://cocoatech.com/pathfinder/ . And of course there is KDE on Linux regardless of where Gnome goes KDE is designed for that 10%.

You'll be fine.

http://cocoatech.com/pathfinder/

Just replace finder with something more advanced. I personally use http://www.alfredapp.com/ which has wonderful path related commands

Also known as forcing new purchases, or taking a hit to quality from conversion.

That's bull. H.264 is the standard these days, except for pirate content or patent encumbered formats like MS' video formats. I can rip my DVD's into H264 quite handily without noticeable loss of quality.

I don't like how moving files in OSX via UI requires two finder views open. Or how you can't put folders on top by sorting. Or blah blah, a million things. They don't think these things through, they do them the way Steve wants.

All platforms have issues, it just happens that OSX is for me the best choice available. It's not perfect, just the best fit. You can strive for perfection but if you can't accept anything less than perfection you will lead a very unhappy life. And some of these things are subjective, like the man said: "You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time."

I recommend PathFinder for those Finder annoyances you mentioned BTW.

If Ubuntu were a $0 way of running windows applications it would take over the world.

Ubuntu shouldn't be *just* windows, it should be windows and more.

Isn't this really the question at hand? *Should* Ubuntu be Windows and more? Or should it stand more on it's own, wooing developers by it's own appeal? Sure, OSX has Parallels, VMWare, etc, but almost all the Mac users get by without running Windows applications (obviously there are some exceptions, but they're rare among those I know). Either there's an OSX version of the software, a better or adequate alternative, or it's not needed.

I have a Macbook for my laptop, and when I'm using my desktop, I've found the only applications that I want to be able to use under Linux and can't are actually OSX exclusive ones. Mac's following over the years has resulted in some really polished and useful programs.

Why isn't that the case with Linux? User share is an obvious thing to blame, but I don't think it should stop there. I think there's also the question of what the user base is willing to pay for, i.e. cost / benefit of developing an application. There's a market among OSX users for buying more polished programs. Transmit does quite well, even though there are zero-cost alternatives that do everything the user actually needs.

I've run into a lot of these examples over the past few years I've been exposed to the world of Apple. Aside from Codeweaver products, I don't know if I've ever come across non-free, non-specialised applications developed for Linux that compete against zero-cost programs. Where are the paid apps such as TextMate, Pathfinder, Xslimmer, and Things to name a few.

A downside to having such a wide ranging selection of good free software is that it does decrease the appeal of developing programs for Linux that I might find frivolous, but perhaps the new wave of Ubuntu / Netbook readers might not. There is definitely a group of users out there who don't mind spending $10 or more on a polished replacement of something that would give them the same basic functionality for free.

Is Linux (or specifically Ubuntu), not-suited for that? Is that something we even want, with free(beer) being so closely tied to open source? I don't think it necessarily plays a big role in the grand scheme of Ubuntu, but I do think that small software companies that make quality products could speed up Ubuntu's progress by filling in areas where the free solution is immature or missing, a scenario dependent on whether they can make money.

My issue is that neither Gnome nor KDE come up to the standards of OS X. Dozens of applications which are part of the core suite of applications on Ubuntu don't fit in with the desktop environment. Firefox is XUL, OpenOffice is Java. I don't care about customisation, I want software to be usable out of the box, and I want it to get out of the way, so that I can work. On OS X, almost every application I use fits in great with the operating system, and it's far easier for developers to integrate with it, because there is basically only one API (there are others beyond Cocoa, but no sane developer starting from scratch would use them).

People don't want choice, they want sensible defaults.

As an aside, you can avoid Finder on OS X. Path finder can be used as the 'default file viewer', using an API which I believe was introduced in Leopard.

Try Pathfinder http://cocoatech.com/

You could always check out Path Finder, and use that instead of Finder. It offers this feature. I've been using it in place of Apple's Finder since 10.1 or 10.2. It offers a lot of things Finder doesn't. The only minus, if you're attached to Cover Flow, it does not have this feature yet (which is the only feature I'm aware of that Finder has and Path Finder does not). QuickLook works.

Although, you can use QuickLook from Terminal, also. Just add this to your ~/.bash_profile for added laziness:

function ql
{
(qlmanage -p "$@" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
local ql_pid=$!
read -sn 1
kill ${ql_pid}) > /dev/null 2>&1
}

Then use 'ql whatever' in Terminal. You can also find a ton of third-party QuickLook plugins here and here.

That's a fantastic post that accurately describes my feelings on my recent switch to OS X. Despite some initial discomfort, I, too, have quickly grown to love my new Mac Pro.

I hate Finder almost as much as I the Dock. They're both useless for any sort of development environment. The Dock is quickly overwhelmed by sheer numbers, as you must mouseover the icons to get any sort of textual description. Worse, you only get 1 icon per application, regardless of how many windows it has open. The result is cumbersome application switching. Finder, on the other hand, just comes across as a bit half-assed. You'll probably prefer the shell for anything but the most basic of file operations. (No cut & paste for files? C'mon, you're going to make me open a second Finder window, browse to the other folder, then come back here and drag the files over?)

Fortunately there are some fantastic pieces of shareware and freeware to (mostly) fix these issues. I almost never even see the dock any more.

If you haven't already, get QuickSilver, NOW. ...seriously, go get it. I'll wait.

...good.

Now get DragThing. This will replace the dock. You can make sliding drawers, floating panels, or something in between that can hold icons and folders. It also provides panels for a list of all the windows and/or apps that you currently have open, with or without text. I bought DragThing without thinking twice.

Witch is free and crucial for application switching, too.

With these two apps, I'm just as fast moving from one application to the next as on windows. Also, PathFinder seems to be okay as a semi-replacement for Finder. I'm still in the shareware trial period...haven't decided if I'm going to buy it yet though.

You can watch system resources with Menu Meters. I find that OS X does a fantastic job of splitting work up among my 4 processor cores; much better than windows.

Oh, and if you still have to administer windows machines, Microsoft makes a Remote Desktop Client for OS X. Also, Microsoft Entourage is good (maybe better than Outlook) if you still have to use an Exchange server.

That's not true. It's easy to change your shell (using NetInfo Manager, included with every copy of OSX). bash is default, and zsh, csh, ksh, wish, tcsh, tclsh are also included by default.

File Manager is fairly easy to replace, though the only other decent option I know of is Path Finder.

Icons are trivially easy to replace using the built in Finder's "get info" window-- just copy & paste 'em in there.

Window themes are the only thing that are a bit of a hack to change (though certainly not "illegal")--the tools I know of are somewhat unstable, the best supposedly being ShapeShifter. But if I recall, it's a bit of a hack on windows as well...

So yeah, I guess that makes you 25% right, 75% wrong.

Two words: Path Finder

If you use PathFinder, you can run with Finder turned off. For $35 to a third party company you can get quite a full featured and stable extension to the standard OS X file browser, stuff like tabbed browsing, in-browser previews of HTML/XML files or txt files without the .txt extension, or hex versions of files. Mounting/unmounting is supposed to be improved with it as well.

Anyone who looks at my post history will see that I am a Mac zealot, but I have to correct a small bit of misinformation in the review.

He praises Mac OS X for dimming toolbar buttons when windows are in the background, using the example of a Safari window behind a Finder window. Unfortunately, the reason the Safari window's toolbar buttons are dimmed is not that it's in the background, but that it's not displaying any page. Put a Safari window displaying any page into the background and its toolbar buttons (unfortunately) stay active. The behavior he describes is application-specific.

For example, both the Finder and Path Finder do the right thing.

There were other inconsistencies in the review. Two examples: First, he slammed Vista for requiring UAC approval for installations where it might not seem necessary, where OS X does the same thing. Second, he praised Vista's interface consistency, without mentioning the lack of consistency that has been typical of Mac OS X in recent years. (This lack of consistency, because it is strictly cosmetic and apps have remained well-executed, is something I think is OK or even valuable... but there are a whole lot of Mac users out there who violently disagree with me.)

I think I'm the only person on the planet who *likes* the different looks for windows in different applications. It makes it much easier for me to see at a glance which of my bazillion open windows are Safari, and which are Path Finder, and which are Mail, and which are iTunes. Provided that all the schemes look finished and professional, I say bring 'em on. (I do think the iTunes scroll bars need some help, though...)

The only problems I have with Apple's current look are that 1) there should be more choices for the color of scroll bars/Apple menu/Spotlight menu, and 2) the bottom left corner of each window should be a resize handle.

For those complaining about the behavior of the Zoom button: Instead of hitting Zoom, hit Option-Command-H to "hide others." Personally, the maximize button is one of the things I hate most about Windows -- I want to be able to see my other open windows when at all possible.

You should check out Path Finder. It is way beter than Apple's finder!!

Cool...AND functional! http://www.cocoatech.com/pf4/ Much better than the regular Finder IMHO. I'm a Windows admin/DAS/IT supervisor by day so I get to use Windows plenty! There are great things in both Vista and OS X - however usability is still with the OS X camp...and I'm also bitter that Vista isn't implementing a true symlinking method. Bah. JB

Dear God, not like that. I have a 1024x768 display and I don't want to devote all of it to a file browser. The last time I used an environment like that it was called DOSSHELL.EXE.

I just want to hit CMD+R and see a Finder window refresh. Windows has supported a "refresh" shortcut in Windows Explorer (F5) for many years. I don't expect to install a gigantic piece of $35 shareware to get such a simple feature, but that seems to be the norm on Mac OS X these days.

You mean like this?

If you're performing an operation within the Finder that hits some sort of bottleneck (ie. a slow network link, unresponsive storage device, etc.), the entire system grinds to a halt.

Absolutely true. I guess I don't take this into account too much anymore since I now run the very multithreaded Path Finder and only touch the Finder when I hit a "show download" link in Safari without thinking.

Unless he is spending all his time in the Finder, I'm pretty baffled by parent. I have a dual 1.8 G5 (the slowest multiprocessor model) with 3 GB of RAM. It's slow to boot and finish the login process, but once that is actually done, it's very responsive and quick in basically all operations. My laptop is a 2.16 MBP with 2 GB of RAM and is blindingly fast at everything (including logging in). Either parent is spending all his time waiting for the Finder to mount network shares, his machines have a configuration problem, or he has only used machines without enough RAM.

-Terminal is certainly better than cmd.exe or straight xterm. However, it doesn't do tabs or any of the really whizzy stuff that you expect on your Linux/BSD box's kterm/gnome-terminal. Incidentally, what do other slashdotters reccomend as a replacement?

Path Finder is a good alternative. http://www.cocoatech.com/pf4/

Can't address 'em all, but Path Finder can certainly be used as a FULL Finder replacement.

Prove it? I'm using it right now!

Admittedly you have to run a defaults write to make it perfect, but that isn't completely necessary to replace Finder. Finder now only runs when I tell it to.

Well...you didn't mention how easy it was to remove or replace any of them. Safari is certainly easy to avoid. But the rest are pretty heavily hardwired into OSX. Dashboard is probably the second easiest to kill, or replace with Konfabulator. The awful OSX Finder can be replaced with Pathfinder which is finally starting to work like the Finder should have all along, but it took years of work for a company to figure out how to do it, when the Finder should have included enough hooks to make it easy for lots of companies to add functionality without replacing the whole thing monolithically. The Dock can now be fairly effectively eliminated and replaced with half a dozen different methods, but again, it took years for the community to figure out how to kill that damn bastard piece of software in a clean way. Steve Jobs' biggest flaw is that he doesn't understand the difference between cool shiny stuff and productivity software. His second biggest flaw is that he thinks his way is the only correct way, and users shouldn't be allowed to get rid of his shiny babies and replace them with useful tools.

If you know how to remove and replace Spotlight and return to previous Finder file searching capability (one of the few good things about the 10.3 Finder), would you be so kind as to inform those of us who think Spotlight is the Spawn of Satan?

P.S. I know about EasyFind . It's a stopgap. It's not as good as the 10.3 find function and it doesn't bind to Cmd-F.

What a load of horse hockey. There are plenty of replacements for most of the Mac OS X major apps:

Don't like Finder? Try PathFinder http://www.cocoatech.com/ or RBrowser http://www.rbrowser.com/
Don't like Safari? Try OmniWeb, Firefox, Camino, Opera, iCab, or even IE5
Don't like Mail? Try Eudora, Thunderbird, GMail, Entourage, Notes, or any number of other mail clients
Don't like Quicktime? Try VLC, RealPlayer, or Microsoft's crappy media player [although QT is better than either of the latter 2]
Don't like Dashboard? Try Konfabulator
Don't like Keynote/Pages/AppleWorks? Try ThinkFree Office, OpenOffice.org, or Microsoft Office

You could replace nearly all the major applications and many of system components of Mac OS X, but then it wouldn't really be a Mac anymore, would it?.

hahahhaha, what an idiot. do you just say stuff without thinking, hoping that its true?

i havent even used finder in a long time
http://www.cocoatech.com/

I wish Apple would re-write the finder or that someone would market a finder replacement for OS X.

There is a 3rd party OSX finder replacement. Enjoy.

In the meantime, the folks at CocoaTech wrote a replacement in Cocoa from the ground up (several times) http://www.cocoatech.com/ It has a ton of bell and whistles as well (like window transparency :)

Two words: Path Finder.

Unnecessary complexity in a UI bothers me especially if what is exposed is all that there is. With OS X, the UI is simple and elegant and lets you get the job done. It is designed (or at least UAT) by a CEO, for CEO's and the average Joe.

This makes it easy to use for everybody with a limited amount of learning. The people with the most trouble adjusting are switchers from windows which I can attest to being a switcher myself.

In OSX, the power and features are still there. You can drop to the command line with terminal.app or write your own apps, or write your own finder plug-ins to extend what functionality is exposed. If you are completely unsatisfied with the finder, you can replace it with Pathfinder 4 or write your own.

Try Path Finder. I've been running it for a year or so and don't think I'd ever be able to go back to regular Finder. I just wish the 4.0 update would hurry up and get here, as it's shaping up excellently.

here is probably the easiest way, since I don't know if you're using Apple's Finder or not. Path Finder (which I use instead of Apple's Finder) allows you to look at the contents of a package or app, which would be easier for this edit if you want to use the GUI all the way.

first of all, you may want to make sure you have version 2.6.1 of Pith Helmet (the latest version). then open the Terminal. paste or type this line, all on one line:

open "/Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins/PithHelmet.bundle/Contents/Info.plist"

(this will open the file you need to edit in the Property List Editor.)

click the triangles to expand "Root", then "SIMBLTargetApplications", and then "0".

Change "MaxBundleVersion" to "416".

it should look like this.

then hit Cmd-S to save, Cmd-Q to quit, and you're all set to use Pith Helmet. i've tested it for a bit, and so far it works perfectly.

let me know if you have any questions.

Wow, I actually expected more, considering how much MS has been hyping the "new UI" of Longhorn.

In no particular order:

(1) Explorer seems to have taken a cue from PathFinder's directory browsing, a concept which has also been integrated into the GTK File Open Chooser Widget in the Linux world. Definitely a step in the right direction, but perhaps bundled up with a couple steps backward. Notice the new "My Computer", which sports all sorts of useless widgets everywhere, a mixture of task- and object-oriented interfaces, and more panes than one can possibly be expected to comprehend quickly. Typical Microsoft "toolbaritis," now applied to the file manager.

(2) Media Player continues to amaze in how far it distances itself from any UI sanity. Yet another argument for why toolkit consistency does not matter to normal users. File menu: gone, or just "annoyingly mouseover hidden"? I can only imagine what that menacing "Online Stores" button is for (can anyone say software-as-advertisement money?)

(3) Transparency: ooh, eye-candy. But wait, why does my desktop look like so many stained glass windows, who are, at the same time, light sources? Yet another Microsoft imitation gone bad. Notice how the borders of applications turn into transparent "stained glass" areas, serving to do nothing but make it more difficult to see, grab, and interact with the border of an application. For some reason, toolbar areas are also "semi-transparent," I guess just so you can make sure your graphics driver is working. Notice also how even when the eye candy features are enabled (transparent borders, shadows), Media Player refuses to comply! Stubborn lil' guy, aren't ya? heh heh.

(4) I'm utterly not surprised to see that Windows still makes use of dialogs whom cannot be resized, as in the displayed (and New) Copy Dialog. Yet another great "feature," as my 1920x1280 screen real estate can't even be utilized to show me the full directory name of a the path I'm copying from. Instead, I must make due with two halves of a path concatenated by three dots '...'

(5) Internet Explorer 7. Does this even need comment? What a UI disaster. First, the "toolbar" area is a different color than the rest of the application, which gives us some sort of Carbon/Cocoa hybrid in a single application. Then, the menubar exists below the tabs, implying that these options are on a per-tab basis, when this is clearly not the case (It's true sometimes, like in View Source or Save As, but not true others, like Work Offline or New Tab, which alter the whole application and not just a single tab).

In conclusion, Longhorn, at least from a UI innovation standpoint (but probably from others, too), looks to be the vaporware we were all expecting. Let's keep our eyes and minds pointed at where the real innovation is happening: in ANY of the alternative OSes, proprietary or Free. Maybe by the time Longhorn is released, we won't even need it anymore. We'll just send Microsoft a memo: "Dear Sirs, you can have it back."

I concur.

You're not the only one who has moved to OSX. A few linux buddies (who used to run it on the Desktop) have all moved to OSX.

When you're 20, tinkering around with Linux was great way to spend time learning.

When you're 30, you just want an OS that works -- so you can spend time on your REAL passions.

With OSX, I get the best of Windows + Unix.

BTW, you'll probably wan these essential Mac UI apps...

PathFinder
http://www.cocoatech.com/

- WindowShade X
http://www.unsanity.com/

- ASM (Application Switching Menu)
http://www.vercruesse.de/software

- FruitMenu
http://www.unsanity.com/

- DragThing
http://www.dragthing.com/

(Four out of the Five are mentioned by here)
http://www.asktog.com/columns/060MonsterMac.html
(Tog was one of the orginal designers on the Mac UI)

Peace

Path Finder seems to be a very interesting alternative to the Finder
http://www.cocoatech.com/

I use Path Finder as a drop-in replacement for Finder. It's a nice improvement over the standard finder, and its many options and side panels can be turned off to suit your preferences. I really like the drag n' drop 'holder', and showing directories grouped separately from normal files is just a good idea (haven't figured out how to do this with finder, what a pain!)

Yo boom,

Check out Path Finder for an option-loaded file browser that'll allow you to configure your directory tree in many useful ways, including a mixed column/list view that mimics/trumps Windows Explorer.

T'ain't free though.


slide

If you are a lucky G5 owner, try using Cocoatech Optimized Firefox for the Apple G5 processor.

Cheers.

Pleased to meet you. I own a mac powerbook, and I'd like to tell you how much OS X sucks. Why?

These are some interesting points you make. I'd like to offer my input on them.

- Only one mouse button. Thats really debilitating. Sure, you can get a USB mouse for a desktop system, but on a laptop you are stuck having to hit the keyboard and the mouse button every time you want to right click. Not that there are ever any usefull funcitons in the drop down menus anyway - Mac applications are designed for people who can't use computers very well to be able to use. Those of us who want more functionality from their applications are stuck.

I'm using a $25 wireless USB mouse on my Powerbook right now and it works great. I hate track-pads on ANY laptop. I find hitting ctrl-and the trackpad button is a little counterintuitive at first, but eventually I just got used to it.

As for the contextual menu being useless by default, I rather agree... FruitMenu is a neat little app that makes the contextual menu completely customizable, and Menu Master does the same for drop-downs. Yeah, they're payware, but pretty inexpensive.

The phrase "Mac applications are designed for people who can't use computers very well to be able to use" makes me wonder if IHBT, but I'm going to continue on anyway.

- Window management is rediculous. You can't maximize a window without jumping through hoops. And those pretty eye-candy window control buttons in the tilte bar are way to small and easy to miss.

OS X is skinnable, so you can find a skin that makes those buttons bigger. Maximizing is different than Windows, and I agree can be a bit counterintuitive, but it's not a big deal in my opinion. Just click and drag the window to its maximum size... the Finder should remember it next time.

- The Finder is lame. Windows Explorer is crap too, but you can get a lot more functionality out of it if you know where to look.

I barely use the Finder anymore, as I use Quicksilver to launch all my apps and find things. Much easier that way. I actually find the opposite to be true now; the Finder's search function works seamlessly and quickly, while searching in Windows explorer takes too many steps for my taste. For an out and out Finder replacement, Pathfinder looks good, though I haven't worked with it enough yet to know if it's worth the money.

- Crashes just as often as my windows PC. I bought the thing for stability and have been very dissapointed.

I hate to be one of those guys that says "my Mac never crashes," but it never does. I had maybe three or four lockups back during 10.2 and none since. My uptime regularly runs into the months, until I need to reboot for security updates. And it's not like I don't try out a lot of new applications, either. It really should not be crashing that much, or at all, if it's running right. You might try doing some maintenance.

- Safari is way better than Internet Explorer on Windows, but far, far the inferior of Firefox

I find Firefox way too slow on OS X -- which is sad, because I like Firefox, but it's just too much of a hog on my Powerbook. I've gotten really used to working with Safari, and have very few complaints with it, even compared to Firefox (which I like a lot).

Don't get me wrong, I think Windows sucks too, and I do appreciate the OS X command line. But OS X's much ballyhooed GUI interface runs a far second behind windows in terms of actual utility.

So to anyone who is considering the switch, I say, dont. Take the extra money you would blow on a powerbook and buy yourself a nice Sony laptop.

I would have to respectfully disagree -- I think OS X takes

I don't know, man. I use Konfabulator and this is probably a little more theft than innovation on Apple's part. On the one hand, we'll have to wait to see how Dashboard works out to know how similar the two systems are (frankly, the little video they have on apple.com doesn't look as smooth as Konfabulator), but basing it on JavaScript and calling them Widgets is... disingenuous. Coming from Apple, you'd think it'd be based on AppleScript and the objects would be called... um... iApps or something.

Also, Apple DOES have a history of buying up and using innovative 3rd-party extensions. The best example is probably WindowShade, which was a 3rd party CDEV until Apple bought it and rolled it right into the OS. At first, I thought that's what Apple had done with Konfabulator (like what Apple SHOULD do with LaunchBar and PathFinder).

In the end I'm glad this kind of functionality will make it to all of Apple's users, but it WOULD be nice if there were a tradition of Apple recognizing existing quality implementations of good ideas by buying, improving, and distributing them. Don't you think?

nobody asked, but that won't stop me from answering :)

For AIM: Adium
For a tweaked OS: Cocktail and TinkerTool
For a better OS: my collection of haxies for Unsanity's Application Enhancer (ClearDock, FruitMenu, Metallifizer, Mighty Mouse, ShapeShifter, SharedMenus, Silk, WindowShade X)
For privacy/security: NetBarrier, PeerVanguard (not because I trade P2P, but because I wear a tinfoil hat), Little Snitch
Helpful apps: Butler, QuickSilver, DragThing
For everything else: VLC, SBook5, Transmit, Path Finder, Apple Dev Tools

it's more than 10, but those are all put almost instantly on every fresh OS X install I touch.

You might want to try Path Finder. I happily registered it; it's an awesome file browser.

The thing is, you don't really have to hunt down programs that will enhance your user experience with the mac. Options are out there if you want, but what comes in the box works remarkably well. And, as other posters have mentioned, help and man are available if you want them.

Path Finder 3.1 is really quite good, I'm having much better results than with the older versions. I've been using it almost exclusively since my upgrade to Panther this year.

It has a shelf, which is the perfect thing you wish for as a drag halfway point. Maybe that is one of the biggest things I can't live without in the Finder.

Path Finder is from http://www.cocoatech.com/

mounted volumes

running applications

stadard locations

a bunch of stuff I have not figured out it is payware though. .

Thus I find it interesting that the author of Path Finder, Steve Gehrman, has not yet come forward with a statement.

Huh?

From the Cocoatech web site:

The GPL and Path Finder

It has come to our attention that there has been controversy about Path Finder's use of some open source code. Path Finder uses a heavily tweaked version of the open sourceiTerm application as the basis for Path Finder's built-in Terminal window and drawer. It always has been Cocoatech's intention to comply fully with the open source licensethat iTerm falls under. We believed that by releasing the complete framework that contains the open source code, this would fulfill the requirements of our usage of GPL'ed code. We are investigating this issue in depth and intend to fully comply with the rules of the GPL. We are also working with the authors of iTerm to make sure this issue is resolved. We wish to reiterate that we support the spirit of the GPL and the open source community, and did not / do not intend to break the rules. We will post another update to this web site to follow up on this issue. We hope to have a clarification and have this issue rectified as soon as possible.

SteveM

Someone did ask.