Not a replacement for Photoshop

Simple but powerful image editor

"The image editor for humans"

Feature packed with high quality results

Perfect for those intimidated by Photoshop

Download Acorn 4.0.3 in Softonic

Google's satellite imagery software has truly changed the way we look at the globe. The application lets you zoom in on any part of the world and for some places, observe from a few meters away.

Google Earth not only displaces satellite images but it also includes terrains and sometimes 3D reconstruction of buildings. You can look for directions and businesses, just like in Google Maps and pinpoint areas or draw on maps straight in Google Earth.

Google Earth includes a very wide, and constantly increasing library of layers, which you can add to the map to enrich your experience. You'll find all sorts of information, from historical landscapes to national parks, regions where you can find endangered species or tourist spots. Google Earth will also showcase more news related information such as forest fires or tsunamis.

But Google Earth is not limited to terrain, and with every new version, it adds new sources of satellite imagery and information about other areas in the world. Say you're really into stars; then you should turn to the Space mode and navigate among the constellations. Or, if you prefer exploring the seas, enable the Water surface option and learn all the secrets about oceans and marine creatures. What's more, the latest version lets you travel in time by providing you with a new Historical Imagery function that allows you to see the evolution of certain locations during the past few years.

Moving around in Google Earth is incredibly intuitive thanks to the multiple navigation tools. Some areas will show less information than others, and Google Earth is known to use up a substantial amount of bandwidth, but it remains a fascinating piece of software. Recently updated to include Google Street View, you now don't have to make the choice of which Google mapping tool you want to use when planning routes and inspecting the globe.

Google Earth is as of yet an unequaled application. Browse around the world, zoom into streets, gaze at the stars or dive into the ocean. Millions of possibilities.

Download Google Earth 7.1.1.1580 in Softonic

OpenOffice for Mac is a free powerful office suite that provides a good replacement for Microsoft Office for Mac.

OpenOffice for Mac is a multi-platform and multilingual office suite that is compatible with all other major office suites (meaning it will open and edit Word, Powerpoint documents etc) and best of all, its absolutely free to use.

OpenOffice for Mac includes the key desktop applications, such as a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation manager, and drawing program with a user interface and feature set similar to other office suites. It may not be quite as polished as Microsoft Office but considering you get all this for nothing, you really can't complain. The six components OpenOffice for Mac comes with are Write, Calc (spreadsheets), Impress (presentations), Draw, Base (database management) and Formula (mathematical application).

There are some drawbacks to OpenOffice for Mac of course. Occasionally, you will experience formatting or printing issues when using documents that have been made in Microsoft Office. However, the main one is that since it is largely based on Java, it can be rather slow and unresponsive particularly when opening new files. This has certainly been improved in the latest releases but its still a sluggish old thing compared to Microsoft Office. The numerous settings and buttons that come with it can also be a little overwhelming too and it would be nice to see it made a little simpler and streamlined in future releases.

If you're strapped for cash or simply don't want to install Microsoft software on your Mac, OpenOffice for Mac is an excellent, if slightly imperfect alternative.

Download OpenOffice for Mac 3.4.1 in Softonic

Aperture could be defined as 'iPhoto on steroids'. It's a complete photo organizer and viewer, easy enough for the amateur, but with the powerful tools that any advanced user would need. Plus it features a comfortable interface that hardly takes a few minutes to get used to.

Aperture lets you import images from various resources (including your photo camera), organize them in an intuitive way and optimize or fix them if necessary. When ready, sit back and enjoy them in a fullscreen slideshow, or use them in various creative projects such as a book, an album or a web gallery.

When I said Aperture was a bit like iPhoto, I wasn't exaggerating. This new version includes Faces, the popular facial recognition technology implemented in the last version of iPhoto. But Aperture goes a step beyond and also includes Places, another special technology that geolocates your images using the information stored in metadata by some cameras. However, I have to say that this feature wasn't working properly: the map took ages to load and controls were over-sensitive – which made map navigation a real pain. It even caused a program crash while testing it.

Besides these organizational features, Aperture includes a bunch of interesting tools to enhance your pics. You can tweak the image's balance, exposure, color and light values, levels and more with easy-to-use slides. The so-called Adjustment presets let you apply quick, frequent fixes to images in just two clicks. Finally, the all-new precision brushes help you fix the problem with extraordinary accuracy.

Other features in Aperture I found specially interesting were the possibility to share your images online in MobileMe, Facebook and Flickr right from the program, and to create printed copies of your photos – which always works as a nice present for grandma.

Aperture is an excellent photo application, there's no doubt about that. But in a way I felt disappointed when testing this new version. I expected to have more editing and drawing tools, and – why not – support for layers and masks. I found the controls uncomfortable and hard to manage, and my overall impression was one of disappointment.

Aperture is a powerful photo organizer and viewer that includes a handful of features to view, fix, optimize, enhance, share and enjoy your photos!

Download Aperture 3.4.4 in Softonic

Benvista PhotoMagic is actually five photo utilities in one, designed to give you maximum control over the retouching, printing and modification of photos.

The five tools included are PhotoMagic, PhotoArtist Express, Express PhotoClean, PhotoZoom and PhotoEffect Express. The fact that the package is split into five does make it a feel a little spread-out and clumsy but everything can be opened through the central application, known as Shortcut PhotoMagic. However, this doesn't change the fact that each application does tend to take a while to open.

The five utilities together offer you a wide variety of options from drawing tools and special filters to a variety of frame templates that add a classy finish to your photos. Probably the most noteworthy feature of Benvista PhotoStudio is the way it handles zoom and resizing enhancements. There is no noticeable loss of quality in expanding an image, which is often a problem with lesser photo packages. Overexposure problems are also handled very well as is red-eye removal.

Overall, Benvista PhotoStudio is a comprehensive if somewhat spread-out and slow package that will cover just about any photo need.

Download Benvista PhotoMagic 1.3 in Softonic

Important Note: NeoOffice 3.3 is now Donationware and requires a donation of at least $10 within the last year to be downloaded. However, version 3.2.1 which supports up to Lion OS X 10.7 is still free to use.

NeoOffice is a welcome open source alternative to the pricier Microsoft Office and iWork'08 office suites. The application carries with it all the applications that you'd expect: word processing, spreadsheet, presentations, database and drawing.

You'll find the interface of NeoOffice and the range of tools in the office suite very similar to what you'd find in Microsoft Office. However, NeoOffice does load up much faster when opening up any document. Most tools open up in a new window so make sure you don't have too many open, otherwise the interface will look really cluttered.

All the different applications in the NeoOffice suite work well and are more than worthy replacements to the options available in Microsoft Office and iWork'08. The presentation tool is the only one I was disappointed with, as it doesn't offer as many templates or tools as I expected to create a shiny, professional presentation.

You'll find very thorough help docs and excellent wizards to master all elements of NeoOffice. NeoOffice has been most recently updated to be Mountain Lion compatible with Retina Macs. Please note that although NeoOffice used to be free, since NeoOffice 3.2 and above, it requires a donation of at least $10 a year before you can download it.

Although the presentation tool is a little weak, the rest of the applications in NeoOffice make for a very good free office suite.

Download NeoOffice 3.3 in Softonic

The new Adobe Illustrator CS6 uses the same interface style as the rest of applications in the Adobe suite: a clean, almost minimalist window with reduced toolbars, nested windows and support for tabbed documents – which makes it easier for you to work on several projects simultaneously. Then most notable improvements is that it produces ever crisper graphics, especially for web and mobile devices, more fluid vector painting and the possibility to work on 100 artboards at once. One particularly useful new addition is the ability to convert layers to PDF pages using multiple artboards.

Adobe Illustrator is the perfect tool for all kinds of design. Whether you’re a professional web designer or you just want to create a poster and some invites for a friend’s party, your creativity will be boosted with Adobe Illustrator's impressive set of drawing tools, brushes, color processing tools and gradient effects – not to mention the wide array of filters and special effects with which you can add the final touch to your drawing.

As with any other vector drawing tool, Adobe Illustrator feels really complex for first-time users: toolbars full of strange icons, many new functions and features to learn... Luckily the program includes a bunch of templates to get you started, as well as a thorough help section where you'll find the answer to all your doubts and problems.

Adobe Illustrator is seamlessly integrated with the rest of Creative Suite 6. You can easily import and export projects and content from the latest versions of Photoshop and Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver is particularly well supported this time as Illustrator now allows dynamic authoring and testing support for content management systems like WordPress, Joomla!, and Drupal.

Adobe Illustrator is the reference when it comes to vector designing and drawing. It features an impressive set of tools, filters and effects and is perfectly integrated with other Adobe apps.

Download Adobe Illustrator CS6 16.0.3 in Softonic

iDraw is an advanced drawing application in an intuitive interface. The program is useful if you need to draw up designs or animations. iDraw has a good set of editing tools, such as scaling, tapering or bulging.
It offers many different shapes to work with and thanks to complex Bezier paths you can easily create your own. Importing any image or text is also fairly straightforward and quite useful to draw up more complex figures.
However, iDraw has been known to flip import images. Nothing too troublesome there though, all you'll need to do is rotate the image to its normal position.

The interface is well laid out and you can adjust shape settings anytime. Tools to fill shapes with colors and other objects are also accessible from the right side of the interface.
We recommend using iDraw if you need to create drawings or animations. It's particularly useful for beginners wanting to get to grips with all the drawing tools.

Download iDraw 2.2 in Softonic

If you've never tried mind mapping, then you might be surprised at what it can do for you. You'll make connections and see opportunities that you may not have considered before.

There's plenty of software out there to help you do the job and XMind is definitely one of the better ones with the huge added bonus that it's absolutely free. To get started, you'll have to sign up for an XMind account which is quick and painless. Once you've done so, you have an online space where you can easily collaborate on projects and share them with others.

Using XMind is simple. Just add a central topic and then right-click on it to add subtopics, labels, notes, and much more. Editing the boxes is easy and you can select from a number of styles and fonts. You can also change the structure at any time by right-clicking or dragging and dropping different elements. You can even add audio (although not video) and fishbone charts. XMind is much neater and far more logical than trying to draw a mind map on a piece of paper due to the way it adds elements in a structured order.

XMind is an excellent free mind mapping application that may not be the most sophisticated out there but in terms of ease of use, it can't be beat.

Download XMind 3.3.1 in Softonic

If you've never heard of the X Window System then the first thing to realize is that it has absolutely nothing to do with Microsoft Windows.

Rather, The X Window System (more commonly known as X or X11) is a computer software system and network protocol that provides a graphical user interface (GUI) for networked computers. In a nutshell, it enables you to build GUI environments such as by drawing and moving windows on the screen and interacting with a mouse and keyboard.

Since it's an open source project, there are many implementations of The X Window System and Apple X11 is the most popular implementation of the X Window System that makes it possible to run X11-based applications in Mac OS X. It's based on the open source XFree86 project which is the most common implementation of X11. Apple X11 includes an X11 window server, Quartz window manager, libraries, and basic utilities such as xterm.

You'll need to be well versed in network computing and programming to work out how to use Apple X11 but you can be at least assured that this is the most important implementation of The X Windows System on the Mac.

Download Apple X11 2.6.5 in Softonic

Why struggle with a mixed bag of presentation applications when you could consolidate all of your presentation making proficiency and talent into Aurora 3D Presentations? So, what could you do with Aurora 3D Presentation? To start, how about an interactive menu that automatically launches slideshows, websites, or application? Or a virtual wall of pictures and information arrayed in a rotating circle, or a flowing and elegant curving animated arc around the viewer?

When your goal is to stimulate your prospective clients’ interest in your material, you certainly don’t use mere words to deliver your message! Instead, you want to make sure to use stylish and engaging graphics, charts, and images!

Download Aurora3D Presentation 1.09.07 in Softonic

Sweet Home 3D allows your imagination to run wild without you having to lift a finger or costing you a cent. Apart from being a very useful interior design application, it's also a hell of a lot of fun, allowing you to mix and match furniture with ease, take virtual walks around your creations, and indulge yourself in designs you'd probably never be able to do in real life.

Sweet Home 3D offers more than 50 different pieces of furniture, ranging from beds to lamps and desks tables, but you can import even more from the developer's website. To create your rooms, all you need to do is drag and drop elements into the grid view and you'll see them building up 3D in the viewing screen below. Once you've done this, use the virtual visit tool to get a 3D preview of what it looks like and talk a walk around.

The latest version adds a new level of realism to Sweet Home 3D. This includes a new ability to handle rounded walls, the possibility to store points of view, a new compass and even light and sun management to accurately show how your designs react under different conditions. They've also added a much needed auto recovery function if Sweet Home 3D crashes.

These are the basics and Sweet Home 3D is extremely easy to get to grips with. Unfortunately, the graphics are not great - many pieces of furniture look blocky, but its designed to give an idea of what an arrangement will look like rather than a perfect picture. You can take a photo of your finished design, which you can then send on to friends to view who won't need Sweet Home 3D to view it. The fact that it's based on Java shouldn't put you off either - it works very smoothly with virtually no delays in placing furniture or creating previews.

Sweet Home 3D is an excellent solution for all those that daydream about redesigning their home, or even for professionals that need a basic mock-up.

Download Sweet Home 3D 3.7 in Softonic

Unique in the market, was developed from a new concept of integration WEB, which allows viewing and use of resources as well as cataloging WEB comments with the information available. Basemagic Pro has an module for recording conferences and meetings, audio or video and classified.

Students, professionals, schools, journalists, etc.. Universal application adapted to all areas professionals, with the possibility to carry and use from a USB stick. Versions available for Mac and Mac / Windows.

Download BASEMAGIC PRO MAC 1 in Softonic

Unlike the typical "one click" effects, which are based on preset templates, GMX-PhotoPainter's creations are made stroke by stroke and lets the users paint interactively and change painting settings in any stage of the painting process. Each brushstroke is rendered by its sofisticated Paint Engine which extracts topological information about source photograph, and color information

This software is for Digital Artists, Painters, Photographers and Students. It requires only a few minutes to learn and is perfect for any hobbyist or professional who wants to create realistic paintings from photos.

Download GMX-PhotoPainter for Mac 2.1.0.3397 in Softonic

With an outstanding graphic interface, a wide range of features that can compete with any other image editor, PaintSupreme provides users with a very cool environment for creating and polishing their images. With this tool you get access to layer based image editing, color adjusting tools, selection tools, painting & retouching tools, text tools, various filters, transform tools, & vector tools. Add, support for Wacom graphic tablets, you get a powerful versatile and flexible image editing app

The fact that PaintSupreme is user friendly in appearance & in use, is a major benefit as this ensures wide appeal to all users from the novice - to the professional designer, with very powerful capabilities normally found in more expensive products

Download PaintSupreme v1.5 in Softonic

Growly Notes lets you capture just about anything all in one place. It's a great tool for organizing research projects, trips, to-do lists, or journals. In addition, its equally competent at creating scrapbooks of random images, web links and video clips.

Like OneNote, the great strength of Growly Notes is that it can contain almost anything, including formatted text, images, movies, audio clips, PDF files, tables, lists, web and file links, and drawings you create in Notes. You can place things anywhere so you don't have to worry about inflexible templates or rigid rules. You can separate ideas and brainstorming sessions into tabs which you can navigate very easily.

It's impressive that Growly Notes offers for free many of the features of a highly polished application like Curio. Growly comes amazingly close to OneNote in many aspects with the bonus of a slick OS X interface of course. However, some of the more advanced features of OneNote - such as integration with OneNote web app and syncing with Outlook aren't possible in Growly Notes.

Growly Notes is an excellent free Mac alternative to OneNote and is perfect for mind-mapping, note-taking and brainstorming.

Download Growly Notes 1.2.5 in Softonic

There's no better way to explain a project than via a diagram. OmniGraffle is an excellent application to create complex graphs, layouts or charts.

As with other Omni Group applications, OmniGraffle is very intuitive, and offers a well structured interface, with easy access to your projects, tools, styles and other menus. OmniGraffle is a great program partly due to the tools it includes like Bézier lines and shapes, stencils or connection magnets. To improve the looks of your shapes you'll have to work with visual styles and smart guides to improve the look and structure of your diagrams.

Apart from powerful tools, a good diagramming program needs to give you a clear outlook of your project, even if it is very complex. The outline view in OmniGraffle gives you a clear view of the whole diagram and comes in really handy ton control changes as you're working. You can also use the Automatic Layout inspector to arrange your project in the best way possible. In case you need to insert multiple areas in your project, OmniGraffle integrates subgraphs, to collapse more content into sections and keep your graphs clear.

OmniGraffle will also let you import Microsoft Visio VSD files, meaning you can work on diagrams with PC users and not worry about compatibility issues.

There's no doubt about it, OminiGraffle is a powerful application, replete with tools and styles to design great looking complex diagrams. It's no surprise then that the program has a price tag of $199.95, which not all users will be ready to pay.

If you're looking for a professional application to create complex diagrams and aren't worried about the price, then OmniGraflle is definitely the program for you.

Download OmniGraffle Pro 5.3.6 in Softonic

Now you do not need to handle a pencil to feel like an artist. All you need to create your original work of art is good taste and AKVIS Sketch.

AKVIS Sketch provides a convincing result and comes very close to hand-drawn works of a human artist. Getting a similar result with the standard tools would require expertise in image editing and extensive manipulation with layers, masks, brushes and applying filters.

AKVIS Sketch has a neat interface with a few sliders. At first you can process the image with the default settings and then touch up the photo adding color, or trying different techniques - from pencil to charcoal or watercolor.

You can make the hatching denser or finer and change the pitch angle of strokes. It is possible to save settings as presets for future use. Home users will be delighted by the neat result of the photo-to-sketch conversion.

AKVIS Sketch can bring much fun: a pencil portrait can be a good present for your relatives and friends, a watercolor drawing obtained from your last nature shooting can decorate your room.

The program can be helpful to designers who need to quickly bring images to one style for a web-site or an advertisement booklet. The program is available in two versions - as a standalone application and as a plug-in to a photo editor.

Download AKVIS Sketch Standalone v.10.1 (Home license) 12.5 in Softonic

SketchBook Express uses professional-grade tools that enable you to produce some highly impressive results. The streamlined interface allows for what is known as "gesture-based marking menus" which mean that different tools are available to you at the click of a mouse. However, to get the most out of SketchBook Express, you'll need a pen and tablet device.

There are many preset tools, including pencils markers, airbrushes, erasers, flood fill tools, blur, and sharpeners plus different drawing modes that enable you to quickly create circles, lines and rectangles. There's also a quick cropping tool to trim your images.

The impressive thing about SketchBook Express is even though it is quite basic in some ways, it feels like quite a professional drawing application. However, its the sort of sketch app that only decent artists or professionals will really get the most out of.

If you're looking for an MS Paint replacement, or just fancy a quick doodle, SketchBook Express is an impressive alternative.

Download SketchBook Express 5.2.2 in Softonic

The tools are pressure sensitive when using a pen tablet. You can have the tablet adjust the width and/or opacity of drawing. All tools have a keyboard shortcut, so it's incredibly easy to switch tools on the fly.

Automatically saves your drawing and selected toolset between sessions. Hide the menu bar to draw seamlessly on other full screen applications.

Activate Click-Through mode to allow your drawing to float on top of the screen while you control other applications. Desktop Drawing mode allows the drawing to be behind everything else so it feels like you are drawing on the desktop itself.

Academic and volume licensing available upon request

Download Ultimate Pen in Softonic