I read Manuel Moreale's post on "app defaults" and thought it was an interesting idea to think about the software I choose to use so here's mine:

• Mail Client: Apple Mail at work, Proton Mail at home
• Mail Server: Proton Mail
• Notes: Obsidian / Keynote
• To-Do: Obsidian
• Photo Shooting: Canon DSLR (I don’t have a smart phone)
• Photo Management: Google Photos (but want to move away from Google)
• Calendar: Google Calendar (Also want to move this away from Google)
• Cloud File Storage: Filen
• RSS: Inoreader (but wouldn’t recommend)
• Contacts: Good question…
• Browser: Firefox!
• Chat: SMS when out and about, WhatsApp when I have to, Signal when I don’t have to, and Discord at work
• Bookmarks: Technically have a Pinboard account but haven’t added in years, tend to put stuff straight into Obsidian now
• Read It Later: Don't do that
• Word Processing: I don’t think I do that? Maybe Obsidian is enough.
• Spreadsheets: Google Sheets (yup…)
• Presentations: Keynote
• Shopping Lists: Paper (the physical stuff, not an app)
• Meal Planning: Don't do meal planning
• Budgeting and Personal Finance: Google Sheets
• News: Spectator magazine, once a week
• Music: Spotify
• Podcasts: Not listening to any currently, but have used Pocket Casts
• Password Management: Bitwarden
• Code Editor: Vim if I’m being quick, VSCode if it’s complex, and Xcode if I have to

One of the surprising things about going through this list is the software I don't choose to use.

WhatsApp for example - I've used WhatsApp since it was $0.99 a year and not owned by Facebook, I like the model of paying for something so I was the customer rather than the product being sold to advertisers. Unfortunately it's hard to choose not to use WhatsApp anymore as there's too much expectation and organisation done on WhatsApp. People expect you to be there.

Then there's the bloated crashy mess that is Xcode, which you have to use for iOS development...

There’s still more Google in this list than I’d like. I've been looking at hosting my own PhotoPrism to replace Google Photos but have never quite got round to it, and I worry I wouldn't keep it up to date with security updates if I did.

I've not yet thought how to replace Google Sheets - I make use of Google Forms going into Google Sheets quite a lot, particularly for budgeting and keeping track of spending, so I don't think LibreOffice would quite work for me.

Once you've been given something for free and it's got its tentacles into the way you work / live / operate, it's very hard to change.

I'll think I'll try and find some other "app defaults" blog posts and see what changes I can make for the better.