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A Year of Shareware

I think before this year I’d probably purchased 4 or 5 shareware programs, this year it’s been a different story! I’m not sure if it’s that the quality of the available shareware has gotten that much better or if I’ve just started buying more of it, but in any case, here’s the list of Shareware apps I’ve been using:

  • Ecto (ok, I’ve probably had this for more than a year, but I’m listing it here since I’m typing this blog entry in it and it’s great.)
  • TextMate – There’s nothing I can say about TextMate that hasn’t already been said. I love it.
  • MacGourmet – This one was for J, she loves it.
  • PulpMotion – Wow. Aquafadas just raised the bar on photo/video slideshows. Great price too.
  • CSSEdit – I can’t imagine editing CSS without this application anymore. Beautiful.
  • Cha-ching and iBank (reviews forthcoming)
  • Parallels – Wow. Parallels has completely eliminated the old Dell laptop I had hanging around.
  • Disco – I hardly ever burn CD’s, but I’m a sucker for a good (and/or fun) UI.
  • Delicious Library – This came with MacHeist. I was pretty skeptical about it since for my book cataloging needs, it’s almost useless (I use LibraryThing), but I’ve found it pretty fun to use nonetheless.
  • DevonThink – Another MacHeist, I’d been using the trial for…well too long, great program.
  • Enigmo2 – Macheist. The first Mac game I’ve ever bought and I admit, I love it.
  • In addition, I got a few other apps from MacHeist that I doubt I’ll use much, but are kind of cool – ShapeShifter (I actually already own a license to this and really enjoyed it, but haven’t used it for a couple years), RapidWeaver looks nice, but I’m a Rails head… who knows, maybe I’ll use it, Newsfire is also nice, but I can’t give up Google Reader for a desktop client, FotoMagico and iClip – I haven’t used them yet, but who’s to say I won’t.
  • Inbox – Review forthcoming

In addition, there are a few shareware app’s I’ve got my eyes on:

Hopefully you’ve found some good ones in this list, if you like the program, why not support the developers buy purchasing it? What Mac Shareware did you buy this year?

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12 replies on “A Year of Shareware”

Ask the Readers: What software did you fork over cash for this year?…

Here at Lifehacker we stress open source and free software as much as we can – but once in a while a beautiful, functional app is good enough to make you reach into your pockets and break out the credit……

I know AppZapper is everyone’s favorite choice, but CleanApp is one alternative, and AppDelete (which is free) is something that I use, worth checking out.

PS – I am the same way, because of MacHeist and whatnot I’ve bought shareware for the first time in my life.

The only software I paid out cash money for all year was WhizFolders, an outliner/info manager that’s the first decent outliner I’ve seen since the late, lamented GrandView. (Yep, I do go back that far.) 🙂

I’m in the process of developing a blog, and it’s brilliant for keeping track of bits of ideas, url’s to other sites, pretty much anything you could want.

It’s at http://www.whizfolders.com, you get free upgrades, what can I say? It’s terrific.

I’ve been able to manage this year on open source… (or what came with my laptop to begin with). I’m going to attempt going the Linux way and I’m trying to stay away from paid for applications… 😀

I paid for

Ecto
MacHeist Bundle
Pukka
AppZapper

donated to

jUploadr
Aurora
Journler

and think of getting

OmniGraffle
Inbox
MailTags
xScope
Xyle scope
CSSEdit

way too much for one year, but well, i just use a MacBook since August…

[…] Lifehacker has a nice post of software that there readers have bought this year and has turned into somewhat of a Meme with Marcus Vorwaller, Paul Stamatiou, Glenn Wolseyand, and Ronald Heft, Jr all jumping in too. Since this was my first year with a Mac, I thought it was a great idea to post mine. I think I bought more software for my Macbook this year than I’ve ever bought for the PC combined. […]

[…] At the end of 2006 (doesn’t this sound cheesy? It has been just a few hours…) lifehacker started the discussion about which shareware apps were purchased by their readers in 2006. This question has been spreading thorugh many mac blogs (such as this and that), and since I always wanted to post a list of cool shareware apps I use myself: here it is. Note: also included are some freebies and free software… and some stuff I have bought pre-2006. […]

I bought

* Apple Aperture (love it!)
* OmniGraffle
* OmniOutliner Pro
* Parallels
* TurboTax
* Quicken (and returned the POS)

I’m likely to buy in ’07
* OmniFocus
* TurboTax or TaxCut
* iWork
*

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