For a while now, I have been toying with the idea of having a machine with nothing but what I have dubbed “simple apps” on it. A simple app, in my mind, is an application that provides a bare minimum of features for the task at hand. I’m on a Mac so for me some of these would include:

• TextEdit – The built in text editor for Mac OS X. This has just about everything one really needs to commit words onto the page and share it with others.
• Notational Velocity – A great application for small notes and “snippets”. I have mentioned this a few times before.
• Fluid – Fluid creates site specific browser instances. This is crucial for me because a lot of apps I use are web based. Instead of having a full browser open with tabs for these applications, I can create a single instance for each and switch between them as if they are a desktop application.
• TaskPaper – A very clean and simple list manager that saves it’s files in plain text.

I am sure there are many more simple apps out there. I am also sure I am not the only one who prefers a good non-cluttered app. Let’s start a list in the forums.