Sep
24
written by:
James Burke
24 September 2008
A top 10 list of tools that I use on a regular basis that just make life easier with a computer...
There are many top 10/100 lists around (after all at the start of each year Digg's front page is just full of them) and CNET's Webware 100 is a great list of "web2.0" tools presented in a number of categories.
The Center for Learning & Performance Technologies co-ordinates a Top 100 Tools for Learning list which has inspired me to collate the top 10 tools that I use (in no particular order) on a regular basis and quite often within a normal working day:
- Firefox - Just simply the best browser in terms of all around flexibility (yes there are faster and more stable browsers but firefox is a good workhorse). I try to keep the add-ons for Firefox to a minimum that include: scribefire, delicious, firebug and google notebook
- Google - Default search engine within the browser although I am warming to Windows Live as the speed has improved and some searches just seem more relevant (try searching for your twitter tweets and compare results between Google, Yahoo! and Live)
- Netvibes - This is set as my default homepage on all computers that I use - mainly for RSS feeds but also useful for other widgets
- Twitter - Along with various desktop and iPhone clients: Twhirl, Tweetdeck, Twitteriffic & Hahlo
- SugarCRM - A great open source CRM application although considering migrating to SplendidCRM as core supported web apps now on the .net/SQL Server platform
- Development "toolbox" - Visual Studio 2008; SQL Server Management Studio and Coda for the mac;
- Google Notebook - Great for snipping notes from web pages and collating together when simply bookmarking URLs via delicious is not good enough
- Google Docs - Great for sharing and collaborating on small documents and spreadsheets although still not quite "there" for proper office productivity where Microsoft Office and iWork quickly take over
- MS Exchange - I've had personal and work related Exchange accounts for years now and still prefer this as a platform in terms of functionality and "reliability"; GMail is great for archive email but Exchange remains the choice for current work related email
- DotNetNuke - For CMS related activities this .net web framework has proven very useful over the past few years from Internet website applications through to Intra & Extranet implementations.
I'm pretty much 50/50 PC/Mac and all of the tools with exception of Visual Studio and SQL Server Management Studio are used on both platforms together with the iPhone.
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