The Apps and Products You cannot Stop Using

Some time ago, I wrote about a guide of note-taking apps and tried to stop using Evernote and I was searching for an alternative. It hasn’t happened. Then I begin to think about the apps or products that I cannot simply stop using or quit.
I will talk about the apps (web, mobile) and products that I cannot stop using and cannot find or don’t want to find a replacement.
Don’t forget! If you know good apps and products that can attract me or readers, please let us know via comment area!
Evernote (multi-platform): Price and performance are top. I am not just using it to take notes, also scanning documents, boards, business cards etc. to have the paperless life — hint: I love paper and fountain pen — The best part is you can search in these documents too. I am managing projects and ideas here too. I couldn’t find any better replacement because Evernote is not a just note-taking app for me. Technical note taking is really painful and I am using another app (I am not so happy so not to mention the name here). I also don’t like to-do feature of Evernote and not using this feature.
Things (macOS/iOS): It is a project management tool for me. I am using JIRA at work. JIRA is good but so many features are involved so I just see the bird’s-eye view and want to be informed and alarmed — Things is superhero here. I also tried Todoist which is also really good to-do app from my point of view but there is a serious problem about iOS sync. I contacted them several times but the problem couldn’t be solved and I would like to use an app which I can trust fully.
Vim (multi-platform): Yeah I know — There are real lovers and haters. It seems very old school but I still love to use it. It is not an IDE but especially I am using it for fast editing, opening big files, and coding without hassle. I can also use the bare version but I also like to add some functionalities as well as syntax coloring. I can share which plugins I am using as another Medium article later on.
IntelliJ IDEA (multi-platform/no mobile): I was using Eclipse and when I met with IntelliJ IDEA, I never looked back and I bought ultimate edition. It is not just a Java IDE for me, I am also writing Go, Python and NodeJS with it. It is nearly perfect for my needs and I really like to use it. I don’t mind about its price because, for me, it is really worth it.
VirtualBox (multi-platform/no mobile): I am Mac user but I like to use Linux server (especially Ubuntu and Debian) because I like to install necessary applications for my projects. Brew is a very good tool for package management in macOS environment but after staging/development version of the projects, I need to install necessary applications in production too and yes, there is not brew available — I know I know, you are a fan of containerization but I am not for every project.
Spectacle (macOS): I met with this app very late but I am the huge fan of it. There are several window management tools for Mac but this is the best I’ve ever used because you can manage everything with the keyboard — No need to catch the window title with mouse pointer! What a great idea!
Google Environment (multi-platform): I am using Gmail, Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Calendar and Google Hangouts very heavily for my work and private life. So I am also a Google Chrome user to have better compatibility. As I am open source believer, this is a little bit weird behavior and I know Google is collecting a lot of data but there is not any other option for me. This is a really good environment to be mobile. I am not using Microsoft Office last 2 years and I am still comfortable with the idea. I have Microsoft Office products installed on my laptop because I cannot force clients to use Google apps but for my own work, I don’t need to use Microsoft Office.
Microsoft Visual Studio Code (multi-platform): I also met this app very late as Spectacle but I really like to use it. I guess this is the only Microsoft product (from day 1!) that I am using and they are doing a very good job — As I am old Sublimer, I moved all my direction to VS Code. I appreciate Sublime Text and thankful to its developers especially for version 2. The reason I gave up using it that they didn’t give enough support for version 3 and it was too late to have version 3. There are a lot of options for text and source code editor but for me, the best one is VS Code. I also tried Atom but every time, I turned back to VS Code. It is faster and less cluttered for my taste and doing a very good job with Go and Python.
I am still unsure to give up but these are the products that I am using heavily and cannot replace them till now:
iPhone: My first iPhone was the iPhone 5 and it was a legend. My mother is still using it and I guess it was the best iPhone that Apple has been produced. I am saying this after my screen was pink — It was the fastest and the most enjoyable iPhone ever. I am using iPhone 6s Plus and now, it is struggling about speed, getting hot like hell while updating apps. I need to buy a new mobile phone this year and I would like to switch Android platform. I am not using any of Apple app on my mobile so I guess it is a fair switch. I had bad memories about Android before iPhone 5 but I guess Android is not like as old times. I am still unsure about which mobile phone I should go with. I have several thoughts from cheap but performant ones (like OnePlus 6) to expensive ones (like Google Pixel). I am also considering Samsung but bit skeptical because of their Samsung Experience burden and their enjoyment about fireworks-mobile-phone.
MacBook Pro: I am Mac user after a custom desktop computer with Windows 98 and I’ve never regretted it. I am writing this article with 2017 MacBook Pro. This week my h-key began not working unless I push it very hard. Normally, I am using an external keyboard and I don’t like the dust in general so I clean the dust of my working space and home frequently. I guess it was the 5th or 6th time that I am using my MacBook’s keyboard directly and what a joke, h-key was not working properly. I bought air-pressure spray and tried to make it work around 30 minutes. Now it is working pretty well but I was like “WTF is that!”. I am paying nearly double to a product and it is not working just because of very basic thing: Dust! I was reading this type of articles and thought it is because these people don’t care about their laptops carefully but I realized that it is not the case. I also checked the Apple store nearby me (there is one in my city) and there wasn’t an available booking. I was happily using Macbook just because of the operating system which has all I need: terminal, simplicity, no upgrade cost (it should not just about money, also about time), simply back up and you can use nearly everything that you can use in Windows except games in general and I don’t need games in Mac. I can also use Ubuntu for example without any hassle but app environment is not like Mac, I need to use online editions of most of the apps that I am using and some of the important ones are not exists inside Linux environment. I am considering to move to Dell XPS models with Ubuntu and pro tablet with a keyboard for fun. It will take at least 3–4 years because currently, it is not a must to change the laptop.
I think that Apple begins to create products more expensive than they deserve. It was not the case for around 4 years ago. I pay more money if the product is stable and if the company helps me with support where ever in the World. It was Apple. Now It is not. I begin to feel that Apple products are just an expensive accessorize and Apple is using their name which has no direct relation with their values for customer anymore. iOS is getting an update like an endless loop and each update brings another headache. Rechargeable batteries are defective by design but no one tried to slow down the machine after update except Apple. I am very curious that what the hell they are trying to do. They can have the best developers, testers, project managers etc. but Apple is failing so simple as a newly founded startup.
What are the apps and products that you cannot give up? Share with us via comment!
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