Devin just got his first OS X machine. I thought I’d make a list of a few helpful tools he might want or need. In no particular order:
- TextWrangler, a powerful but easy-to-use text editor, plus it’s free!
- GraphicConverter, a useful tool for editing and converting various graphic file formats.
- WeatherPop: put weather and forecast information right in your menu bar (free for the basic version!)
- ChangeDesktop: automatically updates your desktop background with a random picture, plus it’s free
- Huevos: hit a hotkey to search any number of search engines, or customize your own.
- LaunchBar: terrific keyboard application launcher. Not free, but well worth it.
Since he’s running Windows, he’ll also want the Remote Desktop Client from MS (hint: make two copies of the app, give them different names, and run them at the same time to get two concurrent sessions). He’d also better run the MSN Messenger client so I can give him work assignments 🙂
Paul's Down-Home Page 
You beat me to it! I was going to post a request for this kind of stuff, plus current annoyances/issues. For now, I’m using the RDP client to connect back to my Windows desktop to do work and log into IM.
Well, since you asked for it.
1. Get ABDialer (http://www.macronsoft.com/pages/en/abdialer.html) and you can use a script from Entourage to dial the selected contact. That means I can hit cmd-2 (address book), tab, “devi”, ctrl+C to call you.
2. Use the script I sent you in email with Entourage to automatically grab and attach the front-most Word document.
3. Use the iTunes dock extension to give you dock control over play, pause, etc.
4. Go to http://www.macosxhints.com and http://www.macintouch.com regularly.
More as I think of it…
Welcome to the dark side! Only one thing left, and thats to get a couple of Linux servers set up. Who knows, maybe even a FreeBSD box!!!
Oh, don’t worry. My network at home is Windows and Solaris (less Solaris these days), so the Mac box fits right in. I was a UNIX and Windows sysadmin for most of a decade before Paul hired me. I’ve had Linux and the *BSDs in my network on and off.