I got really fascinated with Mac applications recently after rigging my Hackintosh setup @ Leopard on my PC. Great thing about Macs is the easiness and the great user interface that streamlines your work. People misunderstands Macs as grossly overpriced fanboy stuffs, but after using Macs you’ll understand they are cheaper in the long run. Shoot me for being a fanboy, I don’t care. I still don’t own a Mac, but I’m saving hard enough so that when holiday season comes I can gift myself with a Macbook Pro.

Now getting to the point, after you purchase a Mac, you wouldn’t want to dish out another $1000 for softwares, Microsoft Office for Mac, etc. This is where free applications helps, thou you won’t find tons of free applications for Mac, but the ones you’ll find are nothing less then gems.

Below are 15 essential and great applications for OSX ranging from office, burning, etc. Believe me they are really good at what they do.

NeoOffice

Can’t afford Microsoft Office but want something equally useful, NeoOffice is the next best to look for. It works with Word and Excel docs, Powerpoint and even runs excel macros. Also the document is interchangeable with Mac Office, Windows Office and other Office alternatives. Openoffice is also another great alternative Office application for Mac.

Quicksilver

Quicksilver is a single key launch application that lets you perform tasks and searches rapidly. Just assign shortcut keys to frequently used applications, files, folders and tasks. Its quite similar to the Mac OS X applications LaunchBar and Butler but the interaction is tad different.

Firefox & Thunderbird

Mac OS X comes with Safari, it’s good, it even comes with Mail. But still they lacking far behind the Firefox browser and Thunderbird email client! I don’t need do any introductory speeches. Working with is as smooth as Mac itself. :)

Gimp

I’m a big fan of Photoshop, but Adobe doesn’t discounts me for being there fanboy! Sad but nothing to worry about. Gimp is easily the second best Photoshop wanna be with variety of features, plugins and really great community to help you out on anything.

Skype

One of the most popular VoIP client out there. It offers free PC to PC calls and with a small fee you could call to cell phones and make long distance calls for free. Many large companies have known to use Skype to cut there telephone bills. I’m not that into VoIP calling still sometimes use it when i have to call my friends abroad.

TextWrangler

Panic’s coda seems to be great code editor with plethora of side applications built in. But we are talking about free stuffs, TextWrangler is free cousin of BBedit pro editor, it lets you edit and code HTML/XHTML, XML, PHP, JavaScript, Perl, Python, Java, ANSI C, C++, Objective-C, and much more.

Adium

OSX built in IM client iChat does doesn’t job of letting you work with AIM, but really working with Google Talk, MSN and other networks. Adium is the best IM tool for Mac with lots of great features like tabbed chats, video chat which iChat sourly lacks, skinning.

Maintenance

While Mac OSX is a very sturdy operating system, still it may start slowing after sometime.Maintenance lets you maintain and keep your Mac running smoothly.

Burn

OSX’s built in disk burning utility isn’t the most comprehensive utility, Roxio Toast costs a boom. Burn is a simple drag and drop tool that lets you burn VCD, SVCD, DVD, divx and more easily, best part its free!

VLC

Apple’s Quicktime does a decent job of running a good number of file types, but seriously it lakes the coolness of VLC. VLC is one of the most popular multimedia player and runs tons of files. Its a great alternative to Quicktime if you could forgive it for not able to play RealAudio, and few audio formats and also it wont accept DVB input in any system except Linux.

Transmission

Oh boy, I’m really found of torrents. Transmission a fast, easy ultralight torrent client and almost works like uTorrent for Windows. Azureus is another great alternative torrent app. Of course you don’t come over my blog and ask for pirate sites to download torrents. I don’t want to attract some RIAA lawyers.

iSquint

Wanna convert video files into iPod or TV- friendly format, iSquint, is a free alternative to QuickTime Pro. The drag and drop app works with various formats like .mov, .mp4, .avi, .mpg, .wmv, .flv, and .m4v.

Carbon Copy Cloner

Before TimeMachine, Carbon Copy Cloner hold the backup utility crown. Carbon Copy Cloner still it rules for creating backups. Timemachine sorely lacks the bootable backup feature, until it gets it Carbon Copy Cloner will have my heart and soul.

Skitch

Mac OS X’s own screen capture system is good enough but Skitch is a great alternative . Skitch allows you to take screenshots (and snaps from your iSight), and add little drawings or text onto them, then upload them to Skitch.com, Flickr, your FTP server, or .Mac or another to share with your friends! Skitch is free.

I hope i didn’t missed any of your favorite Mac applications. Feel free to post your favorite free applications in the comments section.