Acqlite
Go peer-to-peer with a client that uses the power of LimeWire, Acquisition and Cabos on the Gnutella network — all with open source goodness.
Adium
A free instant messaging app that can connect to AIM, MSN, Jabber, Yahoo, and more. Under active development and highly recommended. Another popular choice is Mercury Messenger, which runs on Java. Or if you prefer IRC, there is Colloquy. Or you can get an open source clone of MSN called aMSN. And now Proteus is free — no registration required.
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&mdash 4 so far
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Also try: Mercury Messenger
Colloquy
aMSN
Proteus
AllBookmarks
Have access to the bookmarks in all your web browsers from the menu bar.
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&mdash 1 so far
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Chax
Additional functionality for iChat includes tabbed chatting, which allows you to keep all your chats in one window.
Chicken of the VNC
Display and interact with a remote computer screen as if it were right next to you.
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&mdash 2 so far
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Cocoalicious
del.icio.us is a great way to store and share your bookmarks on the web. And Cocoalicious is a great way to access and post them. Or if you would like to view your posts and tags from the menu bar, try Menulicious.
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Also try: Menulicious
Colloquy
An IRC chat client with a slick Mac OS X interface. Supports AppleScript, plugins, customization, buddy lists and many other features.
Cooliris
Plug-in for Safari and Firefox lets you browse photos and videos from the web or your desktop. Scroll an infinite “3D Wall” of your content on Facebook, Google Images, YouTube, Flickr, Picasa, Kodak Gallery, or any supported site. Or channel surf the latest news, TV episodes, movies, and music videos all from within Cooliris.
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&mdash 1 so far
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Cyberduck
The thriftmac FTP client of choice has a nice Mac-like interface and can take on most jobs without any trouble. For those with heavy-duty demands, check out FileZilla below. Fugu is also quite good, but it’s limited to SFTP.
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&mdash 4 so far
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Also try: Fugu
FileZilla
Open source FTP program good for those who prefer access to local files in the same window as remote files.
Firefox
When it comes to web browsers, it may seem that the obvious choice is Safari — a great program that comes installed with your Mac. There are, in fact, many free alternatives to choose from. The best of the bunch is Firefox, but there are those who swear by Camino or even newcomer Shiira. And now, Opera and OmniWeb are free. Each has its pros and cons, so it can’t hurt to at least try them out.
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&mdash 1 so far
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Also try: Camino
Shiira
Opera
OmniWeb
Flock
A web browser that integrates popular features of the social web such as flickr, del.icio.us, blogging and RSS feeds.
Fluid
Create site-specific mini-web browsers for your web apps, so that they launch like a desktop programs in your dock.
Freedom
Disables networking for up to eight hours at a time to free you from the distractions of the internet. At the end of your selected offline period, Freedom re-enables your network. A reboot is the only way around the time limit, making it less likely you will cheat.
Galerie
It’s amazing that a wonderful program like Galerie for creating web albums is free. It’s easy to use and has many great features. There is lots of support at the developer’s website, and a willingness to throw in even more improvements. And then there’s JAlbum, which unabashedly aspires to be the greatest.
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Also try: JAlbumJetPhoto
Gallery
An open source system for organizing your photos into an album on your website.
Inquisitor
Websites and suggestions pop up in Safari as you type your search inquiry. A number of search engines and autocompletion are supported.
Jalbum
Create and share customized photo albums. Publish to yourname.jalbum.net or your own site. Customize with skins.
JetPhoto
Feature-rich and easy-to-use digital photo software to creating Flash and web galleries with just a few clicks.
Mailsmith
Email program, formerly owned by Bare Bones Software, now released as freeware by Stickshift Software. Can be customized for powerful editing, filtering and searching. Integrates with SpamSieve and Address Book.
Nambu
Organize your Twitter accounts with saved searches, topic threading, filters and groups. Check out trends in real time.
NetNewsWire
NetNewsWire grabs RSS feeds from a number of websites. Click on a headline to get a summary of the article. Double click to go to the website. But there are other good options. Vienna has made great strides, and we also have RSSOwl and Shrook.
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Also try: RSSOwl
Vienna
Shrook
NewsWatcher-X
NewsWatcher-X is little more than a carbonized version of the classic NewsWatcher that served people interested in news groups so well years ago. Go multi-thread with MT-Newswatcher, try out the newish OSXnews, or just stick with good ol’ Google Groups.
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Also try: MT-Newswatcher
Google Groups
OSXnews
Nvu
Nvu is a promising new WYSIWYG web editor with the added benefit of content management system. It seems to be primarily for Linux, so you might find the interface a bit jarring. Mozilla and Amaya seem cumbersome, but may be to your liking.
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&mdash 2 so far
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Also try: KompoZer
Amaya
OneButton FTP
OneButton FTP was kicked off the thriftmac island recently during Mac Freeware Survivor. But it has been updated for Leopard, and still gets many downloads, so it’s back in the collection.
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&mdash 1 so far
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Pando
Send and receive files and folders up to 1GB with your existing email account. It bypasses email attachment limits and accelerates downloads of huge files and folders.
Paparazzi
Type in the URL of a webpage and get a screenshot of it at the size of your choice.
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Also try: NetFixer
Poisoned
Open-source P2P file sharing program connects to the Gnutella, FastTrack and Ares networks.
Quiet Read
Menu bar item provides a place drop and drop web links you’d like to check out later. Click on it and a list of links is revealed — double-click on the one you want.
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&mdash 1 so far
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Sea Monkey
Mozilla is dead. Long live Sea Monkey. It’s a web browser, an e-mail and newsgroup client, an IRC chat client and a web page creator all rolled into one.
SiteCapture
Load a set of web pages and create images in the format you want. Handy for effortlessly filling your website portfolio page with the latest screenshots.
SiteSucker
Download an entire website so you can view it from your hard drive.
Skype
What’s not to like about making free phone calls with your computer? Well, it’s not quite as handy as an actual telephone. But at this price, it sure is tempting.
Thunderbird
For those who feel Apple’s Mail app is not all they had hoped for, Thunderbird — from the makers of Firefox — waits in the wings.
Transmission
Enter the amazing world of torrents with this lightweight BitTorrent client. A simple, intuitive interface gives access to an efficient, cross-platform back-end. Also built on the BitTorrent concept is Tomato Torrent.
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Also try: Tomato Torrent
Tweetie
Keep track of Twitter from your desktop. Menubar icon turns blue to let you know when new tweets arrive. Interface allows you to switch between accounts and send tweets of your own.
Twitterific
Post and read tweets without using Twitter’s web-based interface.
uTorrent
World’s most popular BitTorrent client features bandwidth prioritization, scheduling, RSS auto-downloading and Mainline DHT (compatible with BitComet). Supports the Protocol Encryption joint specification and peer exchange.
Vienna
Subscribe to Atom/RSS news feeds and podcasts. Interface is much like that of NetNewsWire — but without the ads. On the other hand, there is also no syncing.
Vuze
Bittorrent app lets you find, download and play video files, with support for connecting to devices such as iPhone, iPod, Apple TV PS3, PSP, Xbox 360 and Tivo. Fast and convenient.
Xyle scope
Browse the web in the left pane, check out the underlying HTML and CSS on the right. Click on various sections of the web page to see the code specific to that area. A great tool for web designers from the makers of Things.