File Managers Part 2 – OSX

Preamble

Greetings, this is second part of the File Managers review and is concerned with OS X File Managers.  I have to admit that my day to day computer at work runs Windows Xp/Vista but the computer I use at home is a Macbook Pro running OS X 10.5.  This kind of gives me an interesting comparison view between the Win and the Mac camps for all kinds of things from IDE’s to compression and yes, with File Managers.

So this is post is a gathering of what I consider to be the top file managers for OS X. As with previous posts, I will list 3 to 4 file managers for OS X that I think (just my humble opinion here) are the best in the free, open-source and commercial categories.

The slant on this is that I am constantly looking for a File Manager (or Finder alternative) that compares with the features I have found with Total Commander or Servant Salamander on Windows so that the transition back and forth is as painless as possible.  So far, I am not too thrilled – yet…

See Part 1 for my review of Windows File Managers. Here is what I rated the Windows File Managers on what I am going to rate the OS X File Managers on:

• dual pane
• multi-tabbed
• icon overlay
• built in compression and compression navigation
• intuitive to use
• simple to config
• ftp
• favorites
• built-in viewers

Even so, it is going to be somewhat long but I do hope it will be of value.  Small note: I chose to go with a 1 to 5 star rating for the Tidbits based on my opinion of how useful any given feature might be.

Let me just state that these are my picks for file managers and are not influenced by any of the vendors/creators of the file managers that will be reviewed. Please take the time to leave comments and let me know what your favorites are and also give it to me straight when you have information that will clarify or correct this post.