Now it's your turn: What open source software are you using on macOS (or Windows)? Share your favorites in the comments.Deploying and supporting Macs presents distinct challenges, particularly in organizations where Macs are in the minority or are being introduced for the first time. HandBrake is a great way to turn your old home video DVDs into MP4s, which you can share on YouTube, Vimeo, or your own Kodi server on macOS.It contains the great iPython editor, RStudio, Jupyter Notebooks, and JupyterLab, along with some other applications.
Whether you're interested in Python or R, I recommend you download and install the Anaconda distribution. I have also enjoyed learning about data science and sharing that with students.
I just download the ISO file and burn it on a USB stick drive. I make boot drives on my MacBook using Etcher.io.I use VirtualBox for macOS to demonstrate Raspbian, Fedora, Ubuntu, and other Linux distributions, as well as Moodle, WordPress, Drupal, and Koha when I provide training for librarians and other educators.When I need to analyze networks for my clients, I use the easy-to-install Nmap (Network Mapper) and Wireshark tools on my Mac.macOS's built-in proprietary video creation tool is a good product, but you can easily install and use OpenShot, which is a great content creation tool.I discovered early on that I could use the VideoLan (VLC) media player on macOS.I use it to record interviews and create soundtracks for video presentations. It's much simpler to use than the proprietary application that ships with the Mac. My favorite podcast creation tool is Audacity.When I needed to produce graphics for presentations, I used my favorite graphics applications, GIMP and Inkscape.The college required that I submit most of my work electronically in DOCX format, and I did that easily, first with OpenOffice and later using LibreOffice to produce my papers.15 great open source applications for macOS I still use it to create and copy files, add users, and use other utilities like cat, tac, more, less, and tail. Even much of MacOS's core is open source.Īlso, my Linux background made it easy to get comfortable with the macOS command line. In the process, I learned how I could keep the best software on my new platform. Some macOS applications required dependencies and installations that were more difficult than what I was accustomed to with Linux. Tools like yum, DNF, and APT do not exist in the macOS world-and I really missed them. While most of the open source tools worked as I was used to, others required different installation methods. Through this process, I learned some of the nuances of macOS. Most of them were surprised and amazed because, as we all know, open source software doesn't have a marketing team except users like you and me. I also wanted them to know that it would be easy to provide their students with world-class applications at little cost. After all, open source software is really about freedom and goodwill. I knew some of my classmates would eventually assume leadership positions in school districts, so I shared information about the open source applications described below with many of my macOS or Windows-using classmates.
Even though I switched from my favorite Linux laptop to a MacBook Pro (since I wasn't sure Linux would be accepted on campus), I decided I would keep using my favorite tools, even on macOS, as much as I could.įortunately, it was easy, and no professor ever questioned what software I used. I returned to college a while ago to earn a master's degree in educational leadership. I use open source tools whenever and wherever I can.