First of all, Gizmodo readers are the best. I’ve been deluged with helpful letters since mentioning this afternoon that I had picked up a Powerbook, yet not a single negative comment from any of our non-Apple OS-using readers. On the freaking internet, I remind you. Each and every one of you is a saint, and have solid-gold Treo 600s waiting for you in Heaven.
There’s no way I could possibly print all of the suggestions you sent, especially some of the more obscure (but useful!) keystroke combinations and hacks, but there were a few things that definitely stood out, so I thought I’d take the time to share them.
Two things tied as the ‘most often and most passionately suggested’ items. The first was LaunchBar, the quick-type navigation tool that was suggested by almost 90% of you. No joke. I’ve got the shareware trial installed, and if I continue to use it like I have been, I will probably shell out the $20 asking price.
The second was MacOSXHints.com, which I had already found to be useful in my short learning experience, but will now be sure to check daily in my newsreader.
Which leads me to another common suggestion: NetNewsWire, which I was already using and enjoying, so go me. Strangely, many of you listed this as free, but software with a $39.99 price tag isn’t usually free (unless you are all stealing, which is bad, especially if you are recommending it).
Sidetrack , the new touchpad drivers that add scroll-wheel-like functionality, got quite a few mentions, as well, but since I haven’t rebooted my machine yet to try it out I can’t say much (I’m writing this post first!)
Of course, there were the standbys: a new mouse (looking for my spare), Panther (on it), upping the RAM (at 640MB, waiting on 1GB SO-DIMMs to lower in price).
There were quite a few more suggestions — plenty to keep me busy for days, no doubt — but since Gizmodo isn’t a software review site, I will wrap this up before we stray any further off course. Thanks again to everyone who responded (and to those that didn’t). Your help is very appreciated.
