This is the software I run on my machine. Maybe I’ll make this into a yearly thing.
- macOS is my operating system of choice. I see no reason to change this in the immediate future. I am now running on an M1 Macbook Pro and the performance on this thing really is something else. I don’t like some the UX changes they introduced with Big Sur (which has carried over to further versions).
- Development:
- PyCharm. Hard requirement. JetBrains keeps on improving their software, I cannot imagine working without it.
- Postgres.app. Unless Docker is truly needed, Postgres.app serves my purposes just fine.
- Paw. Don’t use this as much as I used to, but it’s still in the arsenal.
- Docker.
- Firefox
- uBlock Origin. The internet is unusable without this.
- Tab Wrangler. I have chronic open tab disorder, this helps closing down tabs that haven’t been touched in a while.
- Bitwarden.
- Rectangle. Probably the first application I install on a new machine. Window Management made really easy.
- SoundSource. I feel like the features in SoundSource should be default in macOS. It’s a bit silly to require this app at this point.
- Bitwarden. I’ve been an happy 1Password customer for many years, but recent changes to the desktop app (combined with the high price) made me look elsewhere. Bitwarden ticks all boxes for me and is far cheaper. Migrating to it was really easy and the applications/browser plugins have been great.
- Obsidian. I feel like I have spent an eternity looking for a note taking application. I have finally found Obsidian and have been very happy with it. The whole “knowledge graph” thing is a bit overboard for me, but it fulfils my requirements at the base level: markdown; folders; easy to use editor. It’s also free, but I totally wouldn’t mind paying for it (as long as they don’t turn it into a subscription model… in which case, the search would continue).
- Maestral. I still make good use of my Dropbox, but the application is horrible for resource usage. Maestral fixes that.
- Alfred. Hard requirement. Probably one of the first things I install. I also disable most of the Spotlight features in macOS since Alfred does it all much better.
- iterm2, with everything running under tmux.