caseyliss:

So, I’ve decided that unless something big happens, I’m going to buy myself my first Mac on Monday.  Once I get it home, I need some direction on what to install.

What are the “essential” pieces of Mac software?  I’d prefer free, but if it’s really really worth it, I may pay for something.

What about the following:

• Multi-protocol IM.  I think Adium is the answer, but I’m open for alternatives

I like Adium - though I still switch back to ichat from time to time for the video chat… ichat work with jabber services as well as AIM and a few others.

• Easy DVD Backups.  I think I’d heard that Handbrake was good.  I’m looking for something like DVDShrink.
• Browser.  Is there really any reason not to use Firefox?

I switch between Safari and FF. Safari tends to render faster, but FF has more bells and whistles.

• Virtualization.  Most people I know with Macs swear by VMWare Fusion.  Does anyone use Parallels that wants to weigh in?

I have to do this this summer for school - so let me know what you choose and how you like it…

• Network/CPU Monitor.  I like to be no more than a glance away from some feedback on network usage (as in, how quickly am I currently uploading/downloading) and CPU usage.  That feedback can be graphical, but I need something.  A dashboard widget seems reasonable for this, but is there anything that exists in the upper-right area, where the clock is?  What is that area called anyway?

I use istatpro by islayer.com - it’s good, gives you options for the menu bar, but also has a more fully baked monitor for the dashboard.

• Anything I’m not thinking of…?

Other programs I use… I’ll second the gentleman’s suggestion for Coda as a simple yet robust web development tool - good for CSS too. I use Forklift for FTP. I like Twihrl for Twitter. And Pixelmator is a nice lightweight image editori (think Photoshop for prosumer/cheap photogs). Growl is a cool tool that will display pop-ups in teh corner for all sorts of things (track changes in itunes, system errors, new mail, new IM’s, etc.). BusySync syncs your google calendar with ical. Quicksilver is a cool application launcher.

Welcome to the club man - I’m hoping to get the new iphone next week. :)