Various Mac applications updated: a brief roundup
Our ambition is to get more Mac apps on to vnunet.com/downloads in the future. At the moment, we have small selection of some of the better apps available. Many of these were updated at the weekend and we briefly touched upon the fantastic Delicious Library 2.03 which will enable you to catalogue your entire media collection.
Other highlights include Sparkle 1.5b6 which is still in beta. This tool will enable Mac-based developers to add an auto-update facility in to their software, so that end-users can automatically check for new versions of their installed software. ForkLift 1.5.3 was updated, which is a superb replacement for your Finder. If you're a web developer, we seriously suggest you take a look at Coda 1.5.1, which is an old-school development tool that will enable you to code up and preview your work, as you progress.
iSale 5.2.1 will enable Mac users to promote and manager their eBay auctions, whilst Flow 1.03.1 is a simple FTP manager. Rapidweaver 4.1.3 is a tool that should help users design and publish their own professional-level homepage.



There are a rising number of PC users moving over to the Mac and using the Intel-based system to run Windows in native mode on their computer, through the Bootcamp technology. In fairness, you could also use virtualisation to run Windows XP without a great deal of slowdown. It works effectively. Of course, you could use the Mac OS X operating system for your daily OS. This is an option I've attempted on numerous occassions, but then end up back using Windows for various reasons. Still, I'm using Windows on a dual-booting iMac, so I'm half way there.
You may have noticed a handful of key Mac applications online over the last few days. Mainly as I've been testing Leopard and running XP and Vista under virtualisation, on my Mac. So, this has given us the chance to put some key Mac applications online. The kind of apps that make you wish you owned a Mac, partly as they are so well made. These include
Mac OS X is designed to be so straightforward that users can get in to the operating system with the minimum of fuss. Some could say it's a tad too 'glossy', which means that hardened users work with the command, rather than the Finder. The Finder was improved with Leopard, but still doesn't please all. Anyone who has used Directory Opus on Windows will know that this true Explorer replacement offers so much flexibility and power over the standard Explorer based system. For instance, simply double-click on the desktop and an Opus window will launch.
Up until this week, I've always used either Windows XP or Vista as the primary operating system for my desktop computer. My laptop has OS X installed, which is enough for web browsing, email and access to our internal CMS. Someone once mentioned that Windows XP running under virtualisation on Leopard worked effectively. Indeed, using the Unity feature of
If you follow our advice, we often recommend you go to the Apple Refurbished store, pick up an iMac or MacBook for around 20% off the standard retail price and then, if you need Windows, pick up the OEM edition of Windows XP or Vista and install through Bootcamp. You'll then have native versions of both OS X and Windows installed. Better still, you can access your Windows partition through OS X. However, there will be times that you want to write files back to your Windows partition, and you can't do this if it is NTFS formatted (as most drives are under XP or Vista).
We've been waiting for OS X Leopard for months, now it's finally available and it's a major upgrade and adds value to your old Mac. The snag is, it's a first revision product, with new features, so is bound to ship with a number of issues, problems and possible security hazards (for instance, the firewall has received bad press since launch). It was only time before the first update was released - the first update for Tiger was released 3 weeks after launch - and 10.5.1 is now available and is essential for any Leopard user.
We need to be more organised and in control of our personal finances, tasks and projects. Tools such as Microsoft Outlook are designed to enable us to send emails, but also track our events, meetings, tasks and other 'to do' items. We can invite other users to meetings, track their invitations/declines and more. However, there are few tools that enable us to do this on a personal level. There are a number of apps that will enable you to track your media collection, such as Libra or MediaMan, but these only offer a certain level of flexibility.
If you're an Apple Mac user, we'd certainly recommend you go
out and test Leopard. It's a fantastic new operating system that contains a
number of worthwhile new features that will justify and upgrade. We're quite
impressed. However, the problems with compatibility exist for every new
operating system. In fairness, Vista has been a 'mare and we wouldn't have
upgraded if we'd known how many third-party apps would need upgrading. With
Leopard, most apps will work, some will need an update. Virtualisation software
will need an upgrade and both Parallels and VMware have released updates.