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UPDATED! -- I know, there's a ton of lists just like this on the web. But if you're like me, you always go to them in the hopes that maybe, just maybe, there's one more you don't have. Maybe this is the only one that is targeted at creative Christians. Anyway, I'll keep it brief.
Imagine Word, Excel, and PowerPoint stripped of a few features you never use, then give it away for free. That's NeoOffice. The new Aqua version is sa-weet!
Top of the line for free audio editors. Awesome for converting tapes and records to mp3. Lots of features. Plug-in support. Good for recording sermons or converting tapes to mp3!
I waited a while until there were enough bugs fixed, then I switched from using Safari as my web browser and never looked back. There's simply way too many free extensions for Firefox for me to consider anything else. Did I mention AdBlock? Or Web Developer?
An FTP program that's easy to use and uses your system keychain, so it keeps your passwords safe and portable. I use this a lot.
I've tested a lot of free text editors, and this one has the best combo of easy use and advanced features for what I use it for. The syntax highlighting makes it great for editing code. I use it for HTML, PHP, and Actionscript mostly. The best features are its ability to compare the differences between documents, its ability to use GREP (regular expressions, used for special search and replace), and the BBTIdy plugin (a separate download ).
I've tested a lot of RSS aggregators for Mac, and this is the best free one I've found. For a long time I used Slashdock because of its ability to control-click on the dock icon to see the news headlines, but I gave it up when I discovered it couldn't use a proxy server. NetNewsWire uses proxies, shows headlines in the dock, and unlike Slashdock it has its own window for reading but can open articles in your browser too. I also hope to use its "post to weblog" feature sometime.
This is an very versatile video player and convertor. If you've ever had trouble converting MPEG2 encoded video, give this a try.
Programs I've Never Really Used But I Want To
- Gimpshop - a version of Gimp (the best free photo editor around) modified to be very similar to Photoshop. Gimp.app is based on the same code. Both of these require Apple's X11 (see below).
- Blender - free 3d modeling and animation
- CocoaZip - archiving tool for zip, gzip, tar, etc.
- Q - A PC emulator. Lets you run Windows or Linux on your Mac! Imports Virtual PC disk images.
- Nvu - a what-you-see-is-what-you-get webpage editor with complete site management, like Dreamweaver or GoLive or (shudder) Frontpage. If I didn't have GoLive I'm sure I'd try it.
- FontForge - a program for designing your own fonts. Install it using FinkCommander (see below). Requires X11 (see below).
Smaller Programs I Like To Use
- Spark - assign keyboard shortcuts to control iTunes, execute Applescripts and Applications, type text. I love it!
- CombinePDFs - a one-trick pony to merge multiple pdf documents. Surprisingly useful!
- FontExampler - see your chosen text displayed in all of the fonts on your computer
- Address Book Exporter - migrate your data to another application
- WireTap - record any audio your Mac is outputting!
- Skype - Use it to talk to anyone with a phone or Skype on their computer. They also announced free calling between computers and phones within North America till the end of 2006! Supports text messaging too.
- Safari Bookmark Exporter - take your bookmarks to another program
- R-Name - renames files/folders with versatile search and replace
- Burn - a very versatile burning utility which does DVDs. BurnXFree is the slightly buggy runner-up.
- WMV Player from Flip4Mac - A plug-in for QuickTime, the best option for playing Windows Media videos since Microsoft's Windows Media Player for Mac is now discontinued. If you pay them money it will also let you create WMV files.
- VLC - Plays a ton of media, many that QuickTime can't. A standalone player, great as a stand-by.
Others That Caught My Eye
- Adium - instant messaging application that can connect to AIM, MSN, Jabber, Yahoo, and more. No audio or video support yet.
- AMSN - An MSN client for Mac which supports video. There is no more MSN Messenger development for Mac, by the way.
- Transmission - A torrent client. Useful for quick downloads.
- FontExplorer X - Font management program with plug-ins for Adobe software.
- OpenSong - an application to manage lyrics, chords, lead sheets, overheads, computer projection, and more.
- Asaph - similar to OpenSong.
- MacSword - Bible program. I would sooner use the Gospelcom Bible search myself, because all translations are free.
- Miraton - a sound sample playback program for live performances. Kind of fun!
- Cosmic Painter - Ever paint on a spinning canvas? Try this!
Tools to keep your computer safe
- AppleJack - a utility that lets you fix things when you boot into single-user mode.
- Cocktail (last free version) - use for system maintenance. I hear OnyX and MacJanitor are similar.
- SMARTReporter - watches your hard drives and reports malfunctions.
- ClamXav - This is a virus checker. You're likely only going to find Windows virii with it!
For the geek
Apple's X11 - This is your ticket into a world of free software written for Unix-based systems (like Linux, BSD, or MacOS X). Visit the website for a better explanation.
FinkCommander - this tool makes it easy to download and install software which is normally installed using the command line.
RSyncX - Use this to automate backups of your files.
XCode - Apple's development tool for software. You need this to make universal binary programs for Mac.
JPilot-DB - provides a desktop application for creating and editing database files that can be read on the Palm with pilot-db.
Cronnix - an easy way to edit command-line tasks that run regularly on your computer. FYI it's not as user-friendly as scheduling things using iCal or Automator (MacOS 10.4+ only).
MAMP - a stand-alone Apache-MySQL-PHP server which is great for testing software without need for uploading to another server.
HenWen - a GUI interface for the SNORT network intrusion detector.
SquidMan - a MacOS X graphical installer and manager for Squid, a "personal" proxy server.
Don't forget...
Macs come bundled with iPhoto, GarageBand, iDVD, iMovie, and more. So those are sort of free.
That's it! Go to it, creatives!
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NeoOffice
Audacity
Firefox
Cyberduck
TextWrangler
NetNewsWire Lite
MPEG Streamclip 
