We have a lot of threads where we compliment what we use and criticize what we don’t. How about a thread where we only compliment what we don’t use? Nothing backhanded, just genuine appreciations.
This is inspired by a conversation I had tonight with someone who couldn’t think of a single reason someone would pay more than $50 one time for Excel. Really, nothing? It doesn’t stand out in any way you can imagine someone valuing?
I’ll start, as a known DEVONthink user. EagleFiler is a pleasure to browse. The design looks light and comfortable, but you don’t feel like features or deep browsing and searching are hidden from you. It’s a significant upgrade over Finder without making you miss Finder’s simplicity. It’s stable and its sync is reliable and low-maintenance.
It looks good, too. Here’s an example of what I mean. This draws you in.
Conversely maybe a thread about what we do use but don’t like?
Anyway in the spirit of the original post I will add OmniFocus, something I used for a good few years and admire both the actual software and the ethos of the company. Its attention to detail is incredible OF4 must be on the longest Beta in history (except maybe NVUltra) and while it’s no longer for me, I really do respect it.
Conversely I use DEVONThink but actually really dislike it, can’t put my finger on why just every time I open it I wonder why I persist. A powerful mess would be my summation of it.
I think Things is gorgeous. I don’t use it, although I do open it often and play with it because it’s just so darn beautiful. (And it’s inspiring for me as a designer.)
I think Capture One is easily the best all-in-one photo editor on the market. It’s absolutely bananas good. (I use Lightroom Classic because legacy library, Photoshop integration, etc.)
Cubase is an incredible DAW.
I think Linea on the iPad is the best illustration app on the platform if Procreate isn’t for you.
Finally (for now), Basecamp and Hey! are two platforms I wish I could use at work without introducing friction. So many great features.
I’ll be honest, a great many of the apps that are discussed here and on the podcast sound awesome but I’ve no use for them. Omnifocus and Devonthink are definitely in that list. I wish I’d had them while I was still working and raising a family. As much as I’d like, I still can’t live without Excel. Word, not so much. I’m still on the fence with Obsidian.
I don’t use either of them, but for the short time I used them for, their ease of use, simplicity, yet having automation hooks was super good. In a different world, they would be my choice of software!
This app (PWA) - I swear, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more beautiful, minimalistic interface. I used it for three days back in September. I then convinced myself that since there is no way to import previous journal entries (yet) I just needed to stick w/ plain-text journaling, which I did. For awhile. But there is evidently some sort of internal resistance to journaling in VimWiki because I haven’t done it in forever. As a matter of fact, since adding a Mac Mini and doing most of my early morning computing here, I haven’t set up my Vim/Kitty environment at all. This should probably tell me something, although I’m not sure what that is.
I’ve enjoyed the look and feel of both Things and Todoist, but at the time I tried them, neither had the Review function from Omnifocus which I need to use to keep me on track.
Great topic! We need more positivity in the world.
I’ve always wanted to love LaunchBar, and think it’s a great app. Well maintained, respected developer, great design. It never clicked for me, but I always thought that it was an example of great Mac development.
Keyboard Maestro. I bought it. I bought the Mac Sparky videos. I know if I bought it first, years ago that I’d be using no other keyboard automation tool. However it would be too much of an investment in time for me to learn it and utilize it to a greater extent over my current collection of programs (Alfred, TextExpander, Better(Touch/Snap)Tool, and built-in macOS keyboard features).
Honorable Mention to OmniOutliner. Nice tool but any outlining I do is done satisfactorily in Scrivener or even Pages.
I wish I wanted to journal the way Day One is set up to be used. I’ve always liked the look and feel of the app, and I’ve tried several times to make it mine. But when I do that I’m always reminded that a journal for me is usually more like a really wordy to-do list, not something I keep for posterity.
Same for GoodNotes and Notability. I can’t stop looking for ways to use them, because I always enjoy noodling around with them. But it never sticks, because notes, for me, are not meant to live on as beautiful artifacts, in and of themselves. They’re meant to be mined and discarded.
I also wish I could write in Omni Outliner. I like using the app, and I know people use it to write, especially to write first drafts. And I tend to think and write in something resembling outline fashion. But literally doing it in an outlining app never feels right to me.
Rewind is a fascinating idea that is way overpriced. (As is the nice looking Raycast Pro edition …)
Fantastical and 1Password are both nicely done. Alas, I am no longer in the target market. Very sad.
Warp is a nice terminal app and Fig a nice terminal enhancer, but I don’t get why I need to login to use either. Really, login to use a terminal app? Oh well. (Ditto for fancy web browsers.)
ChatGPT is promising. But I can’t do the mental gyrations others do to rationalize that it is currently useful. I guess I’m just not smart enough to use it. (I didn’t think the emperor was al the well dressed either.)
Sorry, @cornchip I don’t think my comment is quite in the spirit you were really asking for. I guess I should have heeded my mom’s advice about not having nice things to say …
I really appreciate, but will not use, Apple’s own suite: Pages, Numbers and Keynote. The interface and interaction model is totally mac-assed --as one could expect, of course-, but sadly I need to use MS Office and the cognitive load of using both things and Google Suite just made me abandon Apple’s tools. But they were a delight to use when I was using them when they were released.
I’ll also add to this list Finances 2, I got really interested on the app, however I didn’t use it because the app is a zombie, no further development but still works.
