The past couple weeks I got two new computers. That means twice the installation fun. On my main computer, I installed Windows 7 Beta along with all my apps. Once everything was exactly the way I wanted it and it felt like home…the Blue Screen of Death. Not once, but five times in three days. (You would think that after all this time Microsoft would have canned the BSD for a friendlier message). Needless to say, I counted down the minutes until Windows 7 RC released.
The biggest win out of this process was centralized data. Going through so many installations it was essential to not rely on data being stored locally. The below list of software saved the day for me:
1
Live Mesh (link) – The number 1 must have program is Live Mesh (or an app/service similar to it). Mesh has been totally non-intrusive and reliable. The biggest compliment I can give Live Mesh is "the app acts like it isn’t even there". After loading Mesh on my system, I can grab some coffee, and come back to a system that was exactly like it was before.
2
Evernote (link) – Much like Live Mesh, Evernote non-intrusively backs up everything you give it. People have been preaching Evernote for a long time, but it is only recently that I have showed it love. And, unlike many applications, Evernote has showed me love back. (Now, in my spare time I need to program Mason’s Evernote idea and retire early).
3
Windows Live Writer (link) – Hands down the best blogging software. I truly wish they made a Mac version. If you do install Live Writer, take note, you will be prompted to install a number of other Microsoft Live pieces of software. I get why they do it, but when I install a piece of software, I only what I ask for.
4
Virtual Clone Drive (link) – another must have. I have a number of ISO’s that I needed installed. Virtual Clone enables you to mount the ISOs like a CD/DVD ROM. Other than the the required reboot, Virtual Clone has saved me countless hours burning CD/DVD’s.
5
Tortoise SVN (link) – The best SVN client for Windows. I also like VisualSVN for Visual Studio. There is a little disconnect between Tortoise and VisualSVN. Tortoise wants to check in the whole directory and VisualSVN want to check only the necessary project files. There are kinks between the two, but all in all Tortoise is a must.
6
Pidgin (link) – The only IM client you’ll need. I’m sick and tired of AIM, MSN, Yahoo Messenger loading their ads and welcome screens. Pidgin gives it to you straight.
7
Development tools – The standard development tools for Silverlight development
- Visual Studio
- Expression Blend
- Dark theme for Visual Studio
- ReSharper – a must have productivity tool for Visual Studio
- MoXAML – I use this to clean up my XAML
8
Mac software – I work on a beautiful 17inch MBP. There are always two apps that must be installed on a Mac (besides above apps) InstantShot and MainMenu. InstantShot is a free screen grab utility and MainMenu is an automated maintenance application.
Loser
Jungle Disk – I signed up for Jungle Disk expecting to use it as my main backup utility. I wasn’t fond of the setup and I never got it to install on the Mac properly. After backing up my data, which was terribly slow, I never reinstalled the application. Now i have my one or two backups sitting in the
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May 7th, 2009 at 2:23 am
Corey – As the author of MoXAML, I’m delighted that you think it’s an essential tool. If you have any ideas for features, please feel free to drop me a comment on my blog.
May 7th, 2009 at 7:54 am
[...] 8 Essential Applications (Corey Schuman) [...]
May 7th, 2009 at 9:09 am
Corey – Use can use Preview on the Mac to grab a screen shot or a part of the screen. Open Preview then go to File and then go to Grab. you have three choices; Selection, Window and Timed Screen. No need to load a thied party app for screen shots…
May 7th, 2009 at 11:34 am
I used to use Jungle – actually paid for it but I could never get it working properly either. I eventually discovered (from a blog just like this) smestorage.com which also allows me to use my Amazon S3 files via its platform and also gives me a virtual drive and windows tooling, as well as web tooling, integration with Open Office, Outlook, and too much more to describe here. One of the best things about it is that you can extend your storage using your Gmail or other emails systems and you see the combined view. It is very nice.
May 7th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
You can try new CloudBerry Online Backup for Amazon S3. It has friendly user interface, scheduling capabilities and provides unlimited data storage.
May 7th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
[...] 8 Essential Applications (tags: via:mento.info) [...]
May 21st, 2009 at 8:07 pm
I’m right with @nadya on CloudBerry. I mean why would you pay for someone else to store your stuff on S3 when you can do it for nearly free on your own? On Mac I use Transit for the same thing. For chat I use Adium on the but it isn’t nearly as good as Digsby on Windows which stores my accounts – no need to add all of your accounts on each machine you use – but it also works with Facebook and Twitter. Very nice. They need to get their Mac client out but it’s pretty clear they’re not serious about it.I haven’t found anything similar to Tortoise on the Mac although there is a clone out there. For some reason I’m nervous about using it.I’ve just started using Evernote. It’s a great concept but the Blackberry client/scheme is not all that.After months of WPF and Silverlight development on Visual Studio (back to it after many years) I’ve moved back to the Eclipse based Flex Builder and well, I’m missing the VS experience. If only there was a good solution to develop Flex apps on OS X in Visual Studio. How awesome would that be?!?
April 6th, 2010 at 10:19 pm
Thanks for this nice collection of comment forms. There are some nice ideas for the next redesign.
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