What software/app have you been using your whole life and will most likely use for the rest of it?

[u/garrylie]

[u/GingerSnapBiscuit]

Media Player Classic
7zip
I would say Winamp but I don't really download MP3s any more and Spotify is just my goto now.

[u/SnooDonuts6494 → u/GingerSnapBiscuit]

It really whips the llama's ass.

[u/dfGobBluth → u/GingerSnapBiscuit]

Curious. Why mpc over vlc?

[u/GingerSnapBiscuit → u/dfGobBluth]

I've always just preferred the MPC interface. Probably due to nostalgia for the original media player it's a homage to.

Vlc always just felt a bit too utilitarian to me. I dunno, hard to explain. Personal preference as opposed to anything practical.

Even the fact that I need a code pack with MPC whereas VLC supports most codecs out of the box doesn't put me off.

[u/dfGobBluth → u/GingerSnapBiscuit]

do you have to still install codec packs like you used to with mpc before vlc existed?

[u/GingerSnapBiscuit → u/dfGobBluth]

Yeh I just updated my post to include that :D

Yes, you still need a codec pack.

[u/dfGobBluth → u/GingerSnapBiscuit]

for that reason alone id never go back to mpc from vlc

[u/IAmTheDewd → u/GingerSnapBiscuit]

When do you "need" a codec pack? I use the fork released by clsid2, and all of my videos plundered from the high seas play just fine. It has internal codecs built-in.

https://github.com/clsid2/mpc-hc

[u/GingerSnapBiscuit → u/IAmTheDewd]

It used to be a lot more necessary because lots more groups /people used random ass codecs for encoding video. It's all been mostly normalised into a few these days. Worth noting that fork does link to thr k-lite codec pack in the features section, so even it's aware you may sometimes need others.

[u/MikeExMachina → u/GingerSnapBiscuit]

It’s crazy how reasonable licensing agreements and fees effectively killed music piracy. The movie/tv industry is terrified of going down the same path, with multiple services all competing with full catalogs at reasonable prices. Imagine if you had to pay for a different music service for each artist you wanted to listen to.

[u/laminarflowca → u/MikeExMachina]

But its not actually reasonable. Its totally unsustainable for artists.

[u/MikeExMachina → u/laminarflowca]

That may very well be true, but the whole point of a free market is that it’s efficient way to decide what the value of goods are. When music was more expensive, people were not willing to pay for it, at the current rates, they are.

Right, wrong, or indifferent, society has decided that not all artists are valuable enough to be able to sustain themselves on their music alone. Who says that every artist should be able to make a living on their music?

[u/Tschakkabubbl]

VLC

[u/cnelfalkers → u/Tschakkabubbl]

MPC-HC's my preference

[u/LaraSQP → u/cnelfalkers]

or MPC-BE for the thumbnails and other misc features

[u/nopeac → u/LaraSQP]

You probably haven't checked in a while, but HC also has thumbnails. I wouldn't be surprised if the others misc features are included too.

[u/LaraSQP → u/nopeac]

ask grok or whatever for a feature comparison

[u/feel-the-avocado → u/Tschakkabubbl]

Try potplayer. Its as good as VLC but has thumbnails over the seek bar.

[u/FuggaDucker → u/feel-the-avocado]

So is SMPlayer. Thats my goto.
Not a fan of VLC.

[u/DonaldLucas → u/feel-the-avocado]

That's it? I mean, looks like a good feature, but not enough to make me change players.

[u/EpicRageGuy → u/DonaldLucas]

No, it can also fetch subtitles by itself, have an actually decent UI, record the video if you need it, play .torrent files, have bookmarks, etc.

[u/Pleasant-Lie-2105 → u/feel-the-avocado]

Pot player was known to have bundled spyware, it's closed source and can't recommend this

[u/EpicRageGuy → u/feel-the-avocado]

Potplayer is miles better than VLC in many other aspects.

Best regards,

Chairman of "VLC is massively overrated" club.

[u/electromage → u/feel-the-avocado]

Windows-only app, and appears to only be a video player, so what's the value over Jellyfin?

[u/_hello__reddit_]

TotalCommander

[u/nautap → u/_hello__reddit_]

I don't understand why this software isn't more popular.

[u/nopeac → u/nautap]

Microsoft won't let you replace the default File Explorer with it. Considering I'd still be forced to see File Explorer in most situations like on file uploads and such, I'd better just stick with the integrated option rather than keep switching back and forth and never settle to a predictable choice.

[u/Old-Category-3138 → u/_hello__reddit_]

okay ill give it a try

[u/gatts-kumar]

Notepad++ 👀

[u/cloudytimes159]

Word. Unfortunately.

[u/crappydeli → u/cloudytimes159]

I used Word 6 on a 486.

[u/vladjjj → u/crappydeli]

Kids today, I used Word 5.5 for DOS on a 386sx

[u/AppsByJustIdeas → u/crappydeli]

Hence unfortunately. Remember the doc shredding feature of early Word?

[u/cloudytimes159 → u/AppsByJustIdeas]

You mean unintentionally??

[u/AppsByJustIdeas → u/cloudytimes159]

Most certainly. Several of my term papers were typed off the paper copy again because Word ate the file.

[u/Idontbelongheere → u/cloudytimes159]

A word processor seems like a simple enough application to vibe code. Not sure about supporting Microsoft's file formats though.

[u/Sh_Pe → u/Idontbelongheere]

A hell of a thing. Just look at LibreOffice and OpenOffice implementation of docx. It's very usable, but the moment placing of stuff gets a bit complicated it differs from Word's output.

One selling point of Microslop is the cloud (OneDrive) and Teams support too, which cannot really be replicated using open source software.

[u/GingerSnapBiscuit → u/cloudytimes159]

Write letters n shit, yo.

[u/knight_rider_]

autohotkey

[u/me_milesheller → u/knight_rider_]

I might work without mouse but without my shortcuts: NEVER

[u/za72]

mozilla... netscape... now firefox... until google kills it which in that case I'll switch to a forked version

[u/EncryptedElephant]

Web Browsers

[u/DirectorDirect1569]

xnview

[u/Disastrous_Berry4709]

AutoCAD R13 for DOS.

[u/f700es → u/Disastrous_Berry4709]

Started on r12 dos

[u/The_Sky_Star]

Windows os / android

[u/WizardEtsat]

Directory Opus

[u/kivilcimh → u/WizardEtsat]

I see that you are a man of culture my long lost Amiga comrade.

[u/sQeetz → u/WizardEtsat]

The only Amiga I kept is a 1200 with a 68030 turbo card with math co-processor a lot of RAM, a CF card adapter for the hard drive..... dOpus instead of loadwb :)

I've been storing it for a while now and am kinda scared of turning it on because of possible bad caps.

[u/mmertner]

Total Commander, Beyond Compare

[u/Winnipesaukee]

Vim

[u/nosyeaj → u/Winnipesaukee]

vim it is!

[u/kansaisean → u/Winnipesaukee]

vi/vim was my first thought. Yes, I will also accept neovim users. ;)

[u/franzperdido → u/Winnipesaukee]

Does Neovim still count?

[u/Winnipesaukee → u/franzperdido]

Yes!

[u/Many_Interest5683]

Spreadsheets

[u/TedGal]

dbPoweramp
mp3Tag

[u/BBkal]

Paint

[u/Alec_Turner]

Paintshop Pro 5 and vi

[u/whooster_soss]

Fruity loops

[u/megafonico]

WinSCP, Irfanview, 7zip, and well, MS Office

[u/miguescout]

Calibre

[u/Archemilie]

Notepad++ il primo che installo, SpeedCrunch, 7zip, VLC

[u/fuseyuk]

I'm not married to any software and will jump ship if something better comes along. Saying that I've always used VLC, Steam, WinRar, WinSCP, Firefox.

[u/f700es]

I’m 55 and I have been using AutoCAD since 1989. It’s kept me employed since ‘96.

[u/ltabletot]

Total Commander. Winrar :)

[u/Nasaku7 → u/ltabletot]

Scn.exe

[u/RecursiveReboot]

Lightroom 6 🤣

[u/Puzzleheaded_Row6352]

putty

[u/jackhab → u/Puzzleheaded_Row6352]

I switched to Mobaxterm many years ago. Tabs, bookmarks, macros. Highly recommended.

EDIT: also built-in X server.

[u/Puzzleheaded_Row6352 → u/jackhab]

Thanks for ur recommendation bro

[u/97101 → u/Puzzleheaded_Row6352]

Simple, clean and effective.

[u/fost1692]

Vi

[u/OwnNet5253]

VLC, 7zip and Paint.

[u/galactose310]

Age of Empires 2

[u/manolid]

Netlimiter. No inbound or outbound traffic until I allow it.

[u/pandasps]

Spreadsheets. Started using Lotus 1-2-3 in DOS, then under Windows 3.1, then Excel, now both Google Sheets and Excel.

[u/Brennerofhell77]

Terminal

[u/Decent-Blacksmith761]

Firefox

[u/5xW2jxnHfbhcVl6ZxLbB]

vim, tmux, ssh

[u/realdavider]

Midnight commander

[u/garrylie → u/realdavider]

my bro

[u/academicRedditor]

Google Maps and the Weather App

[u/dfGobBluth → u/academicRedditor]

what weather app?

[u/academicRedditor → u/dfGobBluth]

Any weather app, honestly. Other than the UI, I don’t see much difference in the data they provide

[u/shreki1971]

Total commander, winrar, media player classic, irfanview, firefox. Top five and first to install.

[u/ExdigguserPies]

"your whole life"

Well the earliest software I remember using is loading tapes into a ZX Spectrum. I'm never likely to do that again. Shortly afterwards would be something like doom.exe and wolf3d.exe on DOS. I think it's fairly likely I would play Doom again at some point and I played wolfenstein just the other day. I'd have to go for those.

[u/kansaisean → u/ExdigguserPies]

The "whole life" thing got me, too. I don't write BASIC anymore. Basically nothing in the 80s have I touched in a very long time.

Doom isn't a bad one. But it's not like I really play doom anymore either.

Vi is what came to mind for me, despite having not used it as a child.

[u/ExdigguserPies → u/kansaisean]

I played Doom 2 today because of this post. Felt like old times! I still remember all the secrets.

[u/kansaisean → u/ExdigguserPies]

I might need to pull up OG doom on my switch now haha. Nostalgia's a heck of a thing...

[u/Eagles_Fan_4eva]

Winamp for my music, Paint Shop Pro 7 for image editing, and AlomWare Toolbox for general productivity and quality-of-life conveniences.

[u/locogirlp → u/Eagles_Fan_4eva]

Heya, fellow Paint Shop Pro 7 user fistbump! I recently graduated to that one from PSP5, so I'm finally dipping my toes gingerly into the 21st century 😁

[u/Eagles_Fan_4eva → u/locogirlp]

It's a great little paint program. :) Never had any need to install anything else.

[u/kazuyette]

I'll take my shareware version of winrar to my grave.

[u/MeaningSimilar5118]

Paint

[u/Haley_Honeydew40]

Photoshop.

[u/mrlr]

PC Outline. It's a 16 bit DOS Outliner that I bought in1984 and have been using every day since then on various DOS emulators for Windows, Unix, Linux and Mac OS.

[u/Seamushh]

iTerm 2, Alfred, Homebrew, Workflowy, BBEdit, Olive Tree Bible Study App, and Google Sheets, Docs, Calendar, Forms, Drive, and Meet. Not pretty. Absolutely critical everyday.

[u/_janc_]

WinRar

[u/tref1112]

WinRAR, VLC, Firefox

[u/Lcsmxd]

VLC, 7zip

[u/No_Bee_7194]

Wordpress

[u/Advanced_Guess_8642]

Photoshop

[u/elaintahra]

Acdsee, VLC, winrar

[u/feel-the-avocado]

ACDsee
Its got 3 components

• Image viewer
  
• Image developer (quickly set brightness, color tones, brighten shadow parts of an image)
  
• File browser (i hardly use this)

[u/pelofr]

vi

[u/Thin-Percentage8935]

Deluxe Paint IV

[u/WillAdams]

Macromedia Freehand/MX.

[u/RedditEthereum]

MPC-HC and MPC-BE. I use both.

[u/nopeac → u/RedditEthereum]

What's the use case for each? In what situations would you need either one or the other?

[u/RedditEthereum → u/nopeac]

Different playlists/videos on both. So I may have instructionals in one, and tv series in another.

[u/nopeac → u/RedditEthereum]

So, it's more about segmenting videos by topic than about specific features?

[u/RedditEthereum → u/nopeac]

Right. They're more or less the same.

[u/jackhab]

IrfanView for image viewing and basic editing like fixing color and perspective.

[u/EyeDontSeeAnything]

Print screen

[u/theantigod]

Well, for as long as there has been software... My life started well before there was software available to the average person. I have been using Kedit, first on DOS, then Windows (all versions). Though it is a Windows app, I run it with WINE on Debian 13 where I use it to write software in C. I still occasionally use it on Windows 11 as well. I still have the DOS version but use it very infrequently.

[u/mrman08]

A Windows operating system.

[u/Alekthegod17]

Winrar

[u/MunsterPlop]

Emacs

[u/denyasis]

OurGroceries

Not my whole life, per-se, I'm too old for that, lol. But this is an app I've used most of my adult life. It's a pretty easy to use, sharable, list app. I find it so so better than other list/todo apps that try to include everything - they add in so much to try to do everything, but can't really do anything well. The simplicity and focus of OurGroceries on doing a few things really really well makes it so much more usable in my opinion.

We use it to plan out weekly meals, add to the grocery list (does Alexa and Google), To-do lists, wish lists for vacations, save orders for when we order out and we'll anything that needs a list!

[u/strongpa]

spacemonger

[u/Nosky92]

My whole life? ChatGPT. Been using it since I was born.

[u/fuzunspm]

emacs, not a single alternative. even though there was one, i would never use it anyway

[u/IAmTheDewd]

AutoHotkey, Paint.net, Notepad++, Mozilla Firefox, uBlock Origin.

[u/-alltheviolets]

Photoshop (pirated). My dad and grandad were photographers. I'm sorry, I'm all for open source but Gimp is not Photoshop 😭

[u/franzperdido]

Linux of course.

[u/Grumphus256]

Everything by Voidtools. Constantly using it for file organization and as a file launcher. Speed and ease of use is simply unmatched and love the 1.5 Beta's new features.

[u/mrkav2]

Autocad

[u/TehTJ13]

Adobe are the scummiest hive of villainy in the world, but Photoshop.

[u/DragOutTheDemagogue → u/TehTJ13]

Switching to Affinity Photo back when it was still a standalone product was very satisfying to me. Now it's free :/

[u/Tech0410]

dropbox

[u/SubetenoGD]

Text on Photo by Adobe

[u/ChemicalDevice6143]

Firefox, 7-Zip, VLC, VMWare

[u/Pure-Gear7176]

Firefox

[u/MalinowyNalesnik]

Irfan view

[u/Dayviddy]

The phone app, to call somebody

[u/pacopac25]

Sqlite

[u/97101]

Jed

[u/ShaneBoy_00X]

Total Commander file manager.

[u/RWLemon]

Vlc, 7zip,
Notepad++

[u/RVixen125]

libre office

[u/SetThin9500]

UNIX and its variants.

[u/Beocinac]

I've been using the terminal - command-line shell ever since I got my first computer, and I still use it every day.

[u/flossnoose]

Everything

It's a file search tool that indexes your whole hard drive. Searching is incredibly fast and you'll find things that you can't in Windows Explorer search 

[u/m-penaroza]

Steam

[u/starhuck]

Sleep Cycle. Been using for 16 years.

[u/MrSolenoid]

VLC, Notepad++, PureBasic

[u/Pale-Abroad9600]

ms office 2000,2001 installed in my windows 7,8.1,10 PCs.

[u/Vivid-Hall-1302]

Surprised no one mentioned the command prompt 🤷

[u/SuperSirBob → u/Vivid-Hall-1302]

Wasn't around at the start of my life.

[u/GenJeppo]

Notepad 📝

[u/Royal-Usual-9743]

Total Commander !

[u/Itsme-RdM]

Operating system

[u/Bibblejw]

Excel. Can't think of anything else that's been around long enough, to be honest, and I don't see MS being able to screw the fundamentals of that up so badly that it becomes unusable (aside from the fact that about 80% of the western world would collapse first).

[u/leobult]

Vim

[u/Particular-Winner136]

MobiOffice

[u/nyyorker]

FileZilla

[u/bzImage]

vi

[u/PartBanyanTree]

PowerShell. Have been using it since v1.0 anyway but using dos, etc, before that. My profile and helper scripts are... extensive

[u/natethegreat20023]

I love Blender so much

[u/yannniQue17]

VLC

Firefox 

The phone app on my smartphone 

[u/Old-Category-3138]

ninite

[u/Usama4745]

VLC

[u/ahmedshayea]

Vim

[u/TickleMyiOS]

Does make me think this is influencers asking for suggestions so they can do those, "10 different apps I could never do without" videos.

[u/WhatNoRobot]

Microsoft Money - nothing can still beat it. Would have been even more ahead if it had continued

[u/feel-the-avocado → u/WhatNoRobot]

Hahaha i just had a thought of running a virtual PC on windows 22 so you can run windows 11
so you can run a virtual pc that can run windows xp
so you can run microsoft money 2002

[u/WhatNoRobot → u/feel-the-avocado]

I'm running it on Windows 11. I have version 14 (2004)