– xPad – A worthy replacement for TextEdit or Stickies (or both). I love its cute “call ended” sound effect. Hangs a bit on login for me, but it’s got a skinnier interface and better call quality and is more internationally-friendly than Gizmo. And NeoOffice isn’t the fastest app, but it sure as hell beats Word in price, Mac-friendly design, and stability. For example, Skype freezes for a minute during login, but it otherwise fits the other criteria very nicely. The ones with asterisks* indicate that these criteria can be compromised if the app is strong enough in the other features. I have very little incentive to pay for a piece of code when one can find so many wonderful and powerful programs for free on the Internet, so the following recommendations are all for free software. My Internet addiction has been exacerbated by all the beautiful and reliable Mac apps out there. (Un)fortunately, I got fluent in Mac in about a week and am now a big fan. Since I am a cheapskate and a computer junkie, I decided to get an Apple PowerBook G4 with Panther (OS X 10.3) instead of a MacBook with Tiger (10.4) to both save money and curb my addiction to the Internet and useless things on Windows such as the old-school Chip’s Challenge and Gunbound. I bought a new laptop in my freshman year of college.