For me, Google video search, Google books (Internet Archive is good, but doesn’t always have the same stuff), Adobe InDesign (but in the process of learning LaTeX), and Typewise. As for the Google stuff, I liked Whoogle a lot, but almost all their instances seem to have been blocked or shut down. Also, apologies if this is repeating an earlier post.

  • Captain Beyond@linkage.ds8.zone
    0·
    3 months ago

    I don’t understand why we spend so much time praising proprietary software in these communities.

    As to your question, I have a separate Windows machine for gaming, but that’s it. I keep one foot in the free world and one in the proprietary. As for productivity tools I can’t think of a proprietary tool I “can’t quit” or that I would pick in favor of a free tool.

    Fans of proprietary software have this weird belief that free software users choose inferior tools for purist or idealist reasons. This is offensively ignorant. No one chooses bad tools on purpose; we just consider freedom to be part of the criteria of a good tool.

    • phoenixz@lemmy.ca
      0·
      3 months ago

      Most of the times -for me anyway- not only are the tools free (as in freedom) and free (as in beer) but also simply vastly superior to paid alternatives. I never get why people pay and then put up with shit, or use some SaaS platform where they are the product and get spied on and still put up with so much shit that they would be double better off by switching to something open

    • AVincentInSpace@pawb.socialEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      A tool with fewer features that is harder to use is by definition an inferior tool.

      we just consider freedom to be part of the criteria of a good tool.

      You just described choosing an inferior tool for ideological reasons.

  • Father_Redbeard@lemmy.ml
    0·
    22 days ago

    Obsidian. Plain text files with as many or as few plugins as you want. All versions of the app look and behave the same (other than mobile, but at least android is kinda close). Nothing stored in a database file, no manipulation of the text files themselves (looking at you, Joplin). I’m open to another option but so far, nothing is as elegant and platform agnostic as Obsidian.

  • IrritableOcelot@beehaw.org
    0·
    3 months ago

    Just a comment – for InDesign-type work, I find something like Inkscape (or Scribus) easier to work with than LaTeX. I usually only use LaTeX for things where the layout needs to be pretty but not customized. Its possible to use it for design, but not a good use of time.

  • brisk@aussie.zone
    0·
    3 months ago

    Podcast Addict I really want to use AntennaPod, but I can’t do without priority podcasts.

    Also Feedly. Feeder (FOSS) is so close, but doesn’t allow different sorts for different feeds.

  • Showroom7561@lemmy.ca
    0·
    3 months ago

    Google Earth and Google Street View.

    Even after all these years of using them, I’m still amazed.

  • cestvrai@lemm.ee
    0·
    3 months ago

    Rhino for CAD.

    However, I have been using OpenSCAD for parametric design more than the Grasshopper extension.

    Thankfully, skipped ArcGIS entirely for QGIS and Python GDAL wrappers.

  • Pantherina@feddit.de
    0·
    3 months ago

    Proprietary firmware on Google Pixel, blobs in Dasharo Coreboot.

    On Android there are tons of video and image editors embedded in Whatsapp, Telegram, Instagram, Snapchat, Tiktok etc. but nothing comparable.

    I find Desktop video editors confusing but I use Footage (GNOME) and “OpenVideoEdit” on Android.

  • Uninvited Guest@lemmy.ca
    0·
    3 months ago

    Square Launcher on Android. Tried a whole bunch of other launchers but keep coming back to the windows tile interface. Scrollable vertically and horizontally puts so much within reach so quickly.

  • mister_monster@monero.townEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    FolderSync on android. It’s the only automatic sync application I’ve found that syncs to mydrive.ch.

    Also a couple of UI apps, BarLauncher, which is a notification thing that let’s you put app icons to launch from the notification drop down, and LaunchyWidget, like a scrolling “fence” to dump app icons in on your home screen. They’re both so simple, I’m surprised that nobody has built FOSS versions of them.

    On my PC I don’t use any proprietary software at all.

  • clumsy_cat@beehaw.orgEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    I feel LaTeX is not a replacement for inDesign. It would be a replacement for something like word. maybe try scribus?

  • CbtB@lemmynsfw.com
    0·
    3 months ago

    Discord has friends locked in. IRCcloud is so convenient. Tap to pay app is too useful. The app that controls my heat and AC is going to be a big project to replace. Spotify has family locked in. All the garbage running on my car would be nearly impossible to change.

    GBoard is one I’ve tried to ditch a few times and end up coming back to. :(

    • hedge@beehaw.orgOPEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      Tried AnySoft keyboard?

      I’ve never understood the appeal of Spotify; I’m used to owning CDs, FLAC, or mp3 albums.

      • BolexForSoup@kbin.social
        0·
        3 months ago

        I’ve never understood the appeal of Spotify

        1. Tap search
        2. Select artist/album/song
        3. Play anywhere instantly

        I also like having physical copies/my own files organized for my home server. But to not even understand why people use Spotify…?

        • hedge@beehaw.orgOPEnglish
          0·
          3 months ago

          I’m just old I guess, and rather set in my ways. I remember not being able to search their catalog to see what they had or didn’t have without signing up, but that was quite a long time ago. I think Spotify may short change its artists, but at the same time I’m guessing it’s probably a lot cheaper than buying albums.

          Can’t you also do 1,2,&3 with YouTube as well?

          • BolexForSoup@kbin.social
            0·
            3 months ago

            Youtube doesn’t let you listen to videos if you navigate away from the app or lock your screen. You have to pay for YT music to be able to do that.

            And I agree with you about not using spotify, but again, there are certainly advantages to it. The pros just don’t outweigh the cons/match our values.

            • hedge@beehaw.orgOPEnglish
              0·
              3 months ago

              I think you can do that with Invidious or FreeTube…? NewPipe will let you do that, I’m pretty sure.

              • BolexForSoup@kbin.social
                0·
                3 months ago

                Sure but they are not as effortless/not as feature rich as spotify and can be tricky to run on iOS. Google et al are also actively trying to break those projects these days. I say this as a daily freetube user.

      • aStonedSanta@lemm.ee
        0·
        3 months ago

        Convenient. Haven’t run into music it doesn’t have. I didn’t use it for years but a few months ago got roped in and now I’m stuck lol

      • CbtB@lemmynsfw.com
        0·
        3 months ago

        I’ll give it another try. It’s been a year or more.

        I could switch away from Spotify but family wouldn’t like it and we share a plan.

  • Björn Tantau@swg-empire.de
    0·
    3 months ago

    Just games. And I am thankful for all the open source implementations as they are almost always vastly superior to the original releases.

    Thank you John Carmack for releasing the sources to your games!

    • sic_1@feddit.de
      0·
      3 months ago

      I wanted to fully switch to Linux and FOSS for a while now but specialised software like CAD and image editing are either non existent or completely useless for professional purposes in their FOSS versions. What angers me most is that most is them could run on wine easily if the developers did some minor changes so it seems intentional.