Five Essential Free Downloads For Mac

Many people say they prefer Windows to Mac because there is more free or cheap software available, and to a certain extent this is true. However, as Macs become more popular and more affordable this is changing.

There is now an excellent choice of free software available for Mac users, and the choice is getting better every day. Here are five of the best free Mac applications available for download today.

1 – Adium

Adium is a neat piece of software that allows you to see and chat to all of your instant messaging contacts from one application. It supports all the big IM clients such as Microsoft Messenger, Yahoo and GoogleTalk. It is easy to use and allows you to send and receive files, as well as a host of other features.

2 – Remote Desktop Connection

If you own a Windows machine or you have friends or clients running Windows XP or Vista you can connect straight to their desktops with Remote Desktop Connection for Mac from Microsoft. It’s free and it works a treat.

3 – VirtualBox

With new Intel Macs you have the best of both worlds as you can run Windows and OS X. Apple’s Bootcamp allows you to run both, but you have to reboot your machine to switch between the two. Even better is VirtualBox which runs Windows as a virtual machine on your Mac. This is absolutely free, has all the features the average user needs, and works a treat.

4 – TextWrangler

If you don’t want to splash out on Microsoft’s Office suite, TextWrangler is a great little text editor that is easy to learn and offers all of the features you need for basic text editing. While it doesn’t have many bells and whistles it is perfect for most people’s needs. It is also great if you write HTML, PHP or any coding language.

5 – Audacity

Another open source gem. Audacity is a neat audio recorder and editor that has become an instant hit with podcasters. Grab yourself a decent microphone, download Audacity and you’re ready to start recording. Within hours you could be recording and editing broadcast quality productions of your own.

This is just a snapshot of the excellent free and open source software you can download for Mac. However, there is much, much more out there.