As a Mac convert there is a ton of awesome freeware or minor-cost-ware, so here is a list of my must have software (in case my hard drive dies!)

Coding Software: If you're developing you need some of these tools

  • Eclipse Platform - Pure gold to a developer, cross-platform, free and open-source
    • CF Eclipse Plugin - the ultimate ColdFusion editor!
    • Mylyn Plugin - Awesome integration for Trac tickets into Eclipse (works best with XML-RPC plugin in Trac)
    • Subclipse - A better SVN plugin for eclipse than subversive
    • Flex Builder 3 - Fresh of the grill, the new hotness in RIA building
  • Firefox - For when Safari (or IE for that matter) just doesn't cut the mustard!
    • Del.icio.us Toolbar - The ultimate bookmarking solution, all your links always at your fingertips
    • Firebug Plugin - View what's really going on with your webpage, plus live preview editing of the source!
  • Smultron - This is an absolute must have for mac developers, it's free, let's you open anything text based including OSX system files, prompts for admin password automatically on protected files, and colour codes your apache config files! what more could you ask for...
  • Transmit - Slick FTP client
  • Jumpcut - This is GOLD, clipboard history that sits in the menu bar, once you start using it there's no going back
  • Aqua Data Studio - Best all-round cross-database tool i've come across so far on a mac
  • SQLEditor - Awesome native OSX database schema designer with the ability to generate and update the database
  • Subversion (SVN) - The core of your development, your ultimate insurance policy
  • MySQL Admin Tools - For the extra grunt when required
  • Parallels - If you need to go to the darkside then do it in style, this lets you run windows in a window and be able to hook into MSSQL Servers running inside that... very cool app
  • ...

Server Software: Things you need to get on your server(s) yesterday!

  • Apache Webserver - Open-source, industry leading, expandable, flexible
  • ColdFusion - What it's all about! It puts the Rapid in Rapid App Development. Just keeps getting better and better
  • Subversion - The ultimate developer's friend, the best free Source Code Management tool around. Is a time machine, secure vault, auditor, and version manager all in one!
  • MySQL - A proven performer in the database space (still exploring the goodness of this package)
  • Trac - Great free issue management tracking
  • iStat Menus - realtime graphical monitoring of your system resources + a nifty calender for the menu bar
  • ...

Other Software: Lastly here are some OSX apps that I use daily and are worth their weight in gold

  • Tweetie - The best twitter app for OSX, is a beautifully designed native app, handles multiple accounts
  • Vienna - Free RSS news reader with tagging and smart folders
  • Adium - Free and the last word in instant messengers, allows you to seamlessly combine all your accounts into a single contact list, and is very stylish to boot!
  • Mailplane - Quite cheap but indispensable, it's a desktop client for your Gmail accounts. True genius!
  • Transmission - Free and best featured torrent downloader
  • LDapper - a simple little read-only LDAP query tool
  • VLC - Your one stop movie viewing shop, if you have a movie, this will play it!
  • Adobe Lightroom - The only way to manage large photography catalogues, and it's good enough to stop you needing to launch photoshop 90% of the time