For years I lived in denial of what great machines these actually were. Starting with a Mac Mini, I've learned to appreciate the work that Apple has done to make a powerful, reliable, and pleasant-to-use system. Here are some utilities and tips I've learned as I've dug into these computers.

Here is a collection of enhancements I've found to be useful with Mac OS X:

• Quicksilver
  This is the biggest productivity enhancement I've found for my Mac. Describing this background utility as a "launcher" doesn't do it justice. Quicksilver is invoked by pressing CTRL-Space. Type the first few letters of what you want to run or do, and it's done. Launching applications, utilizing Firefox quick searches, opening URLs, controlling iTunes - everything is possible via the QuickSilver interface. Must be experienced to be appreciated!
  
  
• Desktop Manager
  Puts multiple virtual desktops a keystroke away. I learned the benefits of multiple desktops when I first started using the WindowMaker window manager on FreeBSD. Email is on Apple-1. Code windows are Apple-2. iTunes is Apple-3. Firefox is Apple-5. Logfiles are Apple-6. No more Alt-Tab or wading thru piles of windows. Everything in its right place!
  
  
• SSHKeychain
  A nice ssh agent for OSX. Ties ssh passphrases to the Apple keychain.
  
  
• Firefox
  The only browser that has made inroads kicking Microsoft IE's butt. Get it and forget about popups and viruses. Tabbed browsing is something only appreciated after using it for a while. Loads of extensions.
  
  
• Yahoo! Toolbar for Firefox
  Customizable toolbar from my favorite internet company. Best feature for me are bookmarks that automatically follow me from computer to computer.
  
  
• MenuCalendarClock
  Replace the time display in the menubar with a functional calendar widget. Works with iCal too.
  
  
• Fink
  The equivalent of a GUI front end to the FreeBSD ports collection, but for OSX. Requires that the XCode tools be installed (they are on the OSX CD).
  
  
• uControl
  Lets you remap modifier keys. No more Caps Lock! (NOT NEEDED WITH OS X 10.4 Tiger)
  
  
• Open URLs in Terminal
  Command-Double Click on URLs in Terminal to open them in your browser.
  
  
• Back Up Your Work
  I have an alias called "bkup" that runs this code:

      rsync -avx ~/Documents/work/ machine.at.work.com:macwork/

  This will backup my Powerbook's Documents/work directory to my FreeBSD machine in the office.