The Software I Use

April 25, 2007 · Filed Under What I Use

I’ve seen other people do this before but I’ve been wanting to put this list up on a site for a while now. I can remember many times that I’ve had tried searching Google to find a tool to, for example, edit mp3 files. Actually go ahead, search for “mp3 editor” in Google. It’s a mess right? Who the hell knows if any of those programs are any good or not. I’m sure a lot of them are legit, but most of the links will take you to crippled shareware that just won’t get the job done.

Old School Download.com logo This stuff should be simple. This is one instance where Google really does come up short. I remember back several years ago (pre- digg, pre- fark, pre- web 2.0) when I would check download.com every day. The top 10 most downloaded and later top 50 was where a lot of people (me included) found some of the coolest new stuff on the internet. After the original napster went away I remember seeing Gnutella on the list for the first time. That picture isn’t an advertisement, it’s actually the Download.com logo from around 1997. Cool Stuff. Maybe in some way this list can be a more editorialized, waaaaay more simplified list of the tools around today.

I make no guarantees about this being the “best” software, it’s simply what I use. I will probably change some of the items from time to time as they come and go from my regular usage. I think for right now I will just list the name and a link to where you can find the software. Later on I may include an explanation as to why I use it. So where to start? In no particular order for now. Just as I think of them.

On the Desktop
Web browser: Firefox
Email Client: Thunderbird
PDF Viewer: Foxit Reader
Media Player: iTunes | Windows Media Player 11
Audio / MP3 Editor: Audacity
Photo Editing: Adobe Photoshop
Photo Organization: Windows Explorer | Picasa2
FTP Client: Filezilla
SSH Client: Putty
Text Editor: Notepad++