Software that's enjoyable ... software that's a drudgery

Posted by Dr Andus
Feb 21, 2015 at 02:52 PM

Paul Korm wrote:
> Enjoy in the sense that using
>this or that software is a pleasure because it is interesting and
>delightful in design and features. I’d be curious what software readers
>here use not just because of what it **does** for them, but for **how**
>it does that desired thing.

Yes, I couldn’t agree with you more. It’s probably not all that different from having your favourite tools if you’re a craftsman, which make your job more enjoyable. The interesting question is why some tools are more enjoyable to use than others, and whether the tool makers can affect that.

I have a fairly long list of tools that I get a kick out of using (CT, WriteMonkey, Bonsai, O4D, Surfulater, Boogie Board, NoteTab, SmartDown, Freeplane, PDF Xchange Editor, Screenshot Captor, WorkFlowy, AutoHotkey etc., etc.), and the ones I wish I didn’t have to use, like MS Word, Outlook, IE.

It’s interesting that the latter seem to be complacent corporate products produced by employees, as opposed to labours of love by one-man bands or open-source volunteers (several of them free or donationware).

Another category I’d add is software that I’d like to love, expect to or should love, yet somehow I don’t end up using a lot, such as Scrivener or OneNote (which seems to be an exception to the unloved corporate products), sometimes for reasons that I don’t quite understand myself.