Workflow Software (gush?)

It recently became apparent to me how precious some of these smaller Mac OS X software companies are to me. That happens when I can’t find the software I want—I’m so used to having the perfect solution, crafted with OS X’s impeccable style. Don’t freak out – everything’s okay. The only thing I want right now is a better contact management solution, but I’ll survive just fine on what I have. Every other solution I have – calendar, mail client, FTP client, all of them – is so, so good!

If you’re expecting in-depth reviews, you’ll have to go elsewhere, but here are the packages I use and some mild gushing about how much I like them.

Mail client: These days I’m using Mailsmith by Bare Bones Software. It really does its job well, and my God, the spam filters on this thing! Spam Sieve comes with Mailsmith, and it is so yummy. And backing it up is easy, which makes me happy. After all, I keep a lot of important information in my mail files.

FTP client: I was going to write a whole gushy post about Interarchy, but then I realized that I haven’t even made a dent in its feature list, so I thought I’d wait till I explored that further. Since I started using this software, my relationship with the web server is pretty stress-free. Dude. It’s great, great software. Stairways rocks.

Backup software: ChronoSync by Econ Tech is what I use to run backups. I thought I was having problems with it when I first started, and it turned out to be the crappy USB harddrive I was using, way back when – nowadays I have a spiffy LaCie firewire and everything runs beautifully. ChronoSync is another software package that has so many great options, I just haven’t managed to explore them all yet.

Calendar: I just bought DayChaser (also by Econ) in the last week or so because I was sick of drawing calendars on printer paper and keeping all the months in a folder. Long story short, I’d gotten extremely annoyed at a previous calendar application and deleted it in a fit of passion (read: after much deliberation and arghing). I went through a few more apps before I started drawing out my calendars myself, but after just a week of using DayChaser I can honestly say that it’s doing exactly what it’s supposed to be. I’m happy. I’m glad I bought the thing. And it’s GORGEOUS to look at.

Application launcher: I may have mentioned this before, but I would not be able to survive without LaunchBar. It’s made a ridiculous difference in my work efficiency. Beyond that, I fear it’s made using any computer that doesn’t have it something of a pain in the ass, because I have to remember how non-LaunchBar-enabled people do things before I can get anything accomplished. The difference, regardless, is totally worth it. There are so many things I can DO. (Yes, I know, Quicksilver… we’ve had this discussion before. LaunchBar still runs more smoothly on my system.) I don’t know what Tiger will do to my usage of LaunchBar, but I don’t expect to upgrade to Tiger until I am certain there are no big bug problems that will make me cry. So there you have it. Thank you, ObDev.

RSS reader: I picked up NewsFire after it got a mention in someone’s blog – I think it might’ve been Adri’s. It took some fiddling, but I really like it – it’s definitely smoother than NetNewsWire, at least on my system, and it was a good purchase.

I guess those are all the ones I am really enamored with. They’re all linked in workflow over there on the left, in case you need to find them again. Yum.

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