GIT -- You have no idea how much better it is to be able to use git to push changes to a remote repository and have high confidence the copy is intact.

It is WAY better than a stack of floppy disks with the words Project Name / Backup mm/dd/yyyy on them.

Blender by a country mile. Free forever, cohesive and powerful, and growing to boot. It's a shining light in the darkness; the platonic ideal of what free software can be.

SumatraPDF. Best pdf/epub/mobi/cbz reader.

"WordStar"

In its original persona on both CP/M and MSDOS I used it as a text editor. On Linux I use "jstar" which is a WordStar clone, as one of the alter-egos of "joe".

I could also use "wordtsar" but "jstar" works for me. I even rename "jstar" to 'ws' to maintain my imprinting over nearly 40 years of usage.

Spotify.

This is a highly controversial choice. Most artists and a lot of people (including many of its own users) are critical of the company.

However the music explorer in me can't help but feel gratified, every day.

Octoprint (3D printing job management)

Flipboard (news reader, still the best UX)

Google Docs. I use it every day and it's a pleasure.

Arduino IDE. Eagle (Free PCB Layout tool). LTSpice.

Ffmpeg and pretty much any free IDE.

1. Scrivener 2. Reeder 3. VLC