MacHeist 3 Bundle - some great apps

In the unlikely event you haven't heard of the MacHeist 3 Bundle allow me to introduce you.

MacHeist is a collection of applications available for a dramatically reduced price. A significant portion of the proceeds go to a variety of 10 different charities, which you can designate when you purchase or simply let MacHeist evenly distribute to all.

I've heard some people complain that this devalues ISV software, a claim I find ridiculous. The single most challenging problem every ISV faces is getting people to learn about their software. The more people that are exposed to it, the more likely you are to "get the word out". It also gives the ISVs the opportunity to be associated with a really good cause; as I write this blog post over $342K have been raised for charities. Everyone wins in this scenario; the buyers gets a great deal, the ISVs get some great exposure and the charities get money at a time when donations have dropped precipitously during this economic recession.

That said, most people buy MacHeist not out of a desire to support a charity but because they see a great bargain on one or two applications in the collection, would likely pay $39 just for that application alone and then get a bunch of bonus applications too. The charity angle is another bonus. That was the case for me.

What I Really Liked
Though World of Goo is normally only $20 the game is so much fun I consider it a buy at $39. The animation, sound effects and play of the game are simply outstanding. Having been a big time gamer in the PC world with first person shooters I tended to avoid puzzle style games; World of Goo is rapidly changing my opinion. Now I'm hunting for more games like it!

Picturesque, which is normally a $35 application, allows you to do some really cool treatments to photos, framing them up, placing them on angles and creating beautiful drop shadows. Though I've been pretty happy with the cadre of different applications I use for basic photo editing the stuff that I can do quickly with Picturesque is really nice. Note the graphic at the top of this blog post? That took just a second with Picturesque.

Kinemac is a rather large application that normally carries a pretty heavy price tag of $300. Though I've only started to play with it Kinemac looks like a really slick way to create 3D animations of text and objects. I've been wanting to dress up some video tutorials I've been putting together for SharedStatus and I'm hoping Kinemac will help me create a nice intro animation.

Those were my big three and easily worth the price of admission. Virtually all of the applications, with the notable exception of the bonus Big Bang Board Games collection, installed and worked fine. Big Bang Board Games apparently needs to phone home to its server in order to start up properly and the server was overwhelmed initially. That's very bad form in my book; I don't care for apps that phone home on startup but if you do that at least add in code that will fail gracefully, not bomb out the app.

If I was into cooking I'd likely enjoy SousChef, which really looks interesting. To paraphrase Richard Nixon however "I am not a cook", to say nothing of a chef. I love the ability to place your Mac in full screen "recipe" mode so that it becomes a partner in the kitchen.

As of today there are only 4 days left to purchase MacHeist. If you're thinking of buying it do it soon because if they cross the $400K donation mark to charity it will unlock BoinxTV, something I personally would really like to try out. In addition web development tool Espresso and task management tool The Hit List will be unlocked if they can sell enough copies.

Was there an application in the bundle that you really liked that I didn't mention? Drop a note in the comments and fill us in!

Comments

Anonymous said…
Don't forget Acorn. Use Picturesque for photos, but Acorn is awesome for other graphics.
Tobias O. said…
Did you notice that Delicious Library is also (at least somehow) part of the bundle now?
You can get it but tweeting some text on twitter _after_ you have purchased the bundle.
RG-6 said…
It really is an incredible value.

The addition of Delicious Library 2 pushed me over the top.
Anonymous said…
I'm hoping that Espresso will get unlocked, and also BoinxTV. But otherwise, the whole bundle is great, a no-brainer buy!
Unknown said…
My favorites from the list:

- The Hit List* is a fantastic task tracking tool.
- World of Goo (really, really well done game; and I'm not a fan of puzzle games either)
- Picturesque (very clever little graphic effects program)
- WireTap Studio (capture and manipulate audio)

I'll play with iSale, Delicious Library 2, Acorn, Kinemac, Boinx TV* and Espresso* but they're not something that calls out to me.

* when or if they're unlocked
David Alison said…
@akmassey: I played with Acorn briefly but I'm already using Gimp for that type of work. I'll have to give it another go though since it does seem to load VERY quickly (unlike Gimp).
MattF said…
It looks like the versions of the various applications may change over time: Espresso was originally 'Publicbeta4' and is now '1.0', and BoinxTV was '1.2', but is now '1.2.1'.
David Alison said…
@Matt: I'm sure one of the appeals for the ISVs is that they get a shot at upgrade revenue down the road as well.
Neil Anderson said…
WireTap Studio was the convincer for me. I've been looking at this app for a while and the bundle was just too good a deal to pass up.

In the brain games department have you tried Enigmo?
Anonymous said…
MacHeist told me that Americans that don't like the way they do business...well, we can kiss their butts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And they could care less how much our economy is suffering over here!!!!!!!
Chinkster said…
Don't forget to check your "Loot" in the forums. I did, and discovered ANOTHER game...

http://www.frogames.com/minione_racing/

May not be for you, but the grandkids...? ;-)

They also just added Times:

http://www.acrylicapps.com/times/
David Alison said…
@Anon: Nice, uh, focused outrage.

@Chinkster: Grandkids?!? Well good morning to you too. ;-)

That "Loot" section in the forums took me forever to find.
Michael said…
Okay, there's 2 days to go and I'm more than a bit confused.

Does $39 buy you the (unlocked) apps? Or do you have to undertake all sorts of missions as well (or are they just there for the fun of it)? I watched the first mission video and her bizarre Eastern European accent left me more confused than ever...

I'm pretty keen on Espresso - should it become available - but I'm buggered if I can work out what exactly is going on...
David Alison said…
@Michael: Yes, the $39 buys you the unlocked apps, though Espresso and Hit List are not unlocked yet. Basically once you buy you have two areas to check: your online receipt and the Loot section in the forums. The online receipt gives you your license keys and a download link for each application. I don't really understand why "Loot" is off the forums (took me a while to find it) but some applications are there as well.
mudman said…
The "Loot" was really part of the reward(s) that were given out to those who were participating in the "missions" or the Heist part of MacHeist. If all you did is buy the bundle - that's great - but you missed out on all the pre-sale excitement ;-]

Well, there's always next year!
Anonymous said…
SousChef was worth the bundle for me and that's saying a lot. In the same way I hope for world peace, I've always thought it would be cool to have my recipes on the computer but never followed through with any of the demo's that I've tried over the years. But now, having several favorite shows on FoodTV, over the last few years I find myself getting recipes off of their website rather than reach for a cookbook.
So besides all the cool techies stuff that SC can do, it is the bomb for importing all those loose recipes that you might have downloaded and named goodness knows what. Boy is it EASY to import a text recipe!!! Just open your recipe, click and drag to copy the text. Go to SC, click import, the text shows up without even pasting! Then just click and drag different portions of the text and label as ingredients, directions, name, chef/show, category, as little or as much as you want. IT'S DONE! Also handy substitutions and conversions.
Great Mother's Day gift!
Vermonter17032 said…
I agree about Picturesque. I'm also expecting to get some use from Acorn. I hope The Hit List opens, because that's the application I'm most salivating for.
Don said…
MacHesit is one of the best things about the Mac community and one of my favorite times of the year!

As Mudman said the loot is part of the rewards for participating in the missions which is one of the great things about MacHeist. The loot is on the dashboard at macheist.com\welcome.
Addicting Games said…
Hi I also like World of Goo! I think it is an amazing game (the music is among the best) This game is a brilliant metaphor for humanity with surprisingly relevant messages about resource, industry, development, and progress. Anyway, if you have time, take a visit to my Download Games website.

Melvin

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