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Re:Ask HN: What software has improved your life the most? by shubb on Saturday September 19, 2020 @09:39AM (#24527349)
Okcupid - although recent dating apps are apparently more challenging, at least for a time dating sites helped nerdy people find each other, and have those awkward 'do you want to date me' conversations in a safe way.
Re:Ask HN: What software has improved your life the most? by softwaredoug on Saturday September 19, 2020 @02:21PM (#24529432)
Probably some software in a medical device that helped with some simple preventive medical procedure
Re:Ask HN: What software has improved your life the most? by quickthrower2 on Saturday September 19, 2020 @07:46PM (#24531033)
Yeah whatever software they use to help discover, develop and trial vaccinations too.
Re:Ask HN: What software has improved your life the most? by rikroots on Saturday September 19, 2020 @09:41AM (#24527358)
Word processing software. I remember my first job as a lowly admin assistant in the Civil Service where my job was to manage with the team's post, file lots of pieces of paper, and deal with the Divisional Typing Pool ruled by the fearsome and never-to-be-forgotten Mrs Kagan. Word processors not only changed the office organisation structure forever, it saved me from having to approach Mrs Kagan to ask for a letter to be retyped because my boss wanted to add a couple of words "just here, and here - today if possible ... please?".
Re:Ask HN: What software has improved your life the most? by anotheryou on Saturday September 19, 2020 @09:23AM (#24527249)
well I guess we have to exclude the staples, right? operating systems, infrastructure, messengers, browsers, navi apps.

I love:

org-mode

autohotkey (windows)

firefox add-ons and userscripts

an alternative keyboard layout (and QMK for a hardware implementation)

kodi

calibre

sumatra pdf

well and including historically: I learned programming through macromedia flash

Re:Ask HN: What software has improved your life the most? by TheTrotters on Saturday September 19, 2020 @09:26AM (#24527261)
Anki. Spaced repetition + testing effect made learning (math, in my case) much better and more efficient.
Re:Ask HN: What software has improved your life the most? by ab510 on Sunday September 20, 2020 @02:04PM (#24535866)
How did you use Anki(what kind of flashcards?) for math?
Re:Ask HN: What software has improved your life the most? by tobbob on Saturday September 19, 2020 @06:36PM (#24530767)
H.264 compression, or whatever makes video on the internet work.
Re:Ask HN: What software has improved your life the most? by quickthrower2 on Saturday September 19, 2020 @07:45PM (#24531028)
Fast cheap bandwidth and storage too then.
Re:Ask HN: What software has improved your life the most? by slmjkdbtl on Monday September 21, 2020 @08:25AM (#24542476)
Xiami, Douban, Spotify, Youtube, Bandcamp, SoundCloud, Wikipedia, RateYourMusic, Soulseek, ... no music no life!
Re:Ask HN: What software has improved your life the most? by alfonmga on Saturday September 19, 2020 @09:40AM (#24527355)
Stand (https://getstandapp.com)

It reminds me to stand up once an hour.

Re:Ask HN: What software has improved your life the most? by vegadodo on Sunday September 20, 2020 @10:49PM (#24539317)
git, vs code

I do most of my homework on vs code, and use git to track and archive all my coding-related stuff to private repo. Seriously, it gives me peace of mind and euphoric joy when I finish my homework and push to the repo.

Re:Ask HN: What software has improved your life the most? by kyranjamie on Saturday September 19, 2020 @09:23AM (#24527254)
Google Maps
Re:Ask HN: What software has improved your life the most? by meiraleal on Sunday September 20, 2020 @04:25PM (#24537101)
mIRC and its "powerful" mIRC scripting. Writing bots in 1999 was more interesting than nowadays.
Re:Ask HN: What software has improved your life the most? by caseyscottmckay on Saturday September 19, 2020 @08:58PM (#24531282)
Vim, Intellij Idea, Java, Python, Bash
Re:Ask HN: What software has improved your life the most? by sloaken on Saturday September 19, 2020 @09:07AM (#24527163)
Solitaire - LOL

Internet browsers - almost any one.

GUI compilers / dev environment

GIT

Excel

Word

Re:Ask HN: What software has improved your life the most? by kirubakaran on Saturday September 19, 2020 @09:38AM (#24527340)
Emacs

Linux

Lisp

Python

I owe them pretty much everything.