There is no god damn way this is the real world right? It's 2023 and the following programs(things) have been in a piss poor state for a long damn time. Either barely functional (if at all) at best or non-existent. Open source or not, people have broken ass implementations and cheap copies that don't get the jobs done, with braindead UI.
Nope, don't even say it, it's included.
Thunderbird. Bloated browser(we'll get there) based and clunky. The system tray has to be third-party because you know, some morons decided that tray icons are 'too confusing for users' (read: small brained and shouldn't be programming). There's a set that are all GTK/QT based but I can barely tell apart. All of those are bland and could be easily mistaken for Gedit at a glance. Some of those can have multiple accounts that make sense, some can't apparently. Other clients include electron bloat, chroot/docker bs or some type of full web server based crap that has shit interfaces, lack of readability/use and don't even attempt multi account, even with plugins that's bonk. Most of this leaves Thunderbird the best and most common. I still go with simple but crummy old GTK client(s) because they use less memory and are more responsive (you know, if you're not currently pulling mail or searching or doing anything that may block closing or interacting with the whole program -.-). Even Microsoft Outlook isn't what it used to be, I heard. Did the web kings like yahoo and g-mail just swipe everyone to the curb?
No, doesn't exist. Most of 'em are for Windows, even though I am impressed some of those are open sourced. The idea is kind of simple: here's some hex, in a text box - ok go. CLI editors are garbage and not really usable. There are a few open source, yet outdated or abandoned, GUI ones out there for Linux. But even the paid crap is seemingly a clone of those. Search? May work... Highlighting, tagging, diffing (CO-RECT-A-FUKING-LY) - don't get your hopes up. Segfaulting too, it's amazing how you can fuck up what is essentially text-editing that bad. It could be easier to do a git diff on a web page with proper highlighting like github.
You know, I wasn't going to put this in here, but when I started formatting and checking things after all of the other sections, so many things went wrong. I'm not talking about full blown IDEs even. Gedit I deal with. Most others I've tried are mediocre. Notepad++ was(is) the least "wtf" if you ask me. Finding with Ctrl+F only working the first time until you close the find sub-window. Libreoffice doing some weird replace or spellcheck fixing. Easiest to use vim.
https://youtu.be/4EkFde6n5aY?t=111
The obvious - Chrome, you get pretty much one choice - Chrome. Now, you can go with Firefox, and I do whenever I can. But none of it's the same anymore. Firefox has a lot of issues, from the company corpo side down to the infectious web tech that I would trade back for Flash if I really think about it. Besides that Chrome(ium) takes wayyyy too long to compile. Code's complex, sure. But the fact it takes 50% of the time of an entire OS is just BS. Killer part is it's used in so many places like electron apps (most chat 'desktop programs') or side web based libraries. Plenty of people have gotten into this topic before so I'm not going to waste my breath. Embedded telemetry, crypto currency, privacy issues, yada yada. Only way to get less than 1GB out of a browser is an empty about:blank window ffs. Everything web is too convoluted and we're running out of options.
Another horse that has been beat to death.
Seriously Google, what are you thinking? I swear these mfs are just breaking their own knee on purpose. Adding random keywords to the already randomized order of top buttons for images/videos/news/maps? Why? Just...fuking why? Obviously ads and the general disintegrating state of search as a whole. But it's just pathetic.
Then again, this stems from a company that decides to name things with a simple <common and hard to search word> + <company name>. What do you expect?
Ooooooh fuckin boy. VOIP. Softphones. You know...that thing that was supposed to revolutionize the world when Skype was a big thing not owned by Microsoft and Zoom was still a twinkle in its daddy's eye. Linphone is the only thing I almost got working. I say almost because, the UI is TRASH. All these years and they still haven't gotten something you can primate smash to add an account and send a text or make a call. And the worst part is, they know it's trash, because I've seen mailing list and forum questions where it's admitted. To top it all off the whole software stack seems to be 'library-ized' into separate parts, but I'm not aware of anything that uses any of those. Could be in a single big file for all I care. Beyond that are paid programs and the all too common "Microsip with wine".
As already mentioned, most chat is web based. Fair enough, I can see the usefulness of that. But my god are these people idiots. No one likes any of these. Some programs there is no way anybody tested because no user will remember every single message and have to click 1000 times a day to open up new shitly implemented threads. All threads usually do is make me wonder why chat programs aren't a god damn forum. Well, they are, they're just the absolute worst attempt at a real-time forum in half a dozen ways. I remember AIM (AOL Instant Messenger. That's America-Online for anyone born after 2000) being a better UI, responsiveness and overall experience than any of the Slacks, Zooms, Skypes, Mattermost of today. (No I'm not listing the 10 or 20 some Google branded chat programs, are you crazy?)
And again, like e-mail, most of these are so obviously copied homework it's a joke. What the fuck are you possibly adding? And why are half of you adding export features to these other competitors' chat software? Come the fuck on.
I hate RetroArch. There, I said it. A lot of varying consoles and Windows vs Linux versions. Some work better on Windows. There's plenty of projects that have been dropped, which I can understand. No one is going to upkeep changes like ffmpeg, or *gag* Wayland, forever. Just unfortunate. Most of the time I find configuring controllers the hardest part. Maybe some tweaking for settings or quirks of w/e game or system. Mupen has been in a weird state for a while. I find the GUI is just a lost cause and it's easier to kill it and re-run than fight with anything not working in the window.
I will say one positive thing.
Dolphin is the mother-fucking-shit.
This is kind of a tack-on but I'm still frustrated that most languages are scripting interpreters and the compiled stuff is still largely crap syntax and slow to compile when everything is actually just operations going 'beep-boop: add, subtract, move memory please'. I've been told to try Rust but there are a few things that bother me about its main selling point, along with package management (which even Linux can't get 100%) of the language itself that breaks various pieces of software that rely on it. I just want a meta-programming (use the lang to self describe a per-procesesed expansion better than C/++'s horrible macros), dynamic-executing (a lot to ask for RWE hacker-ish morphisms, I know), that can be compiled quick and do something complex in as little lines of code as a scripting language. Out of everything here this is the biggest ask.
If you've been paying attention, all of these are desktop side. There's far too much to put a list of the mobile space. When smartfones became a thing I was excited to soon get a mini computer with a keyboard (RIP Blackberry) that I had root on, and could put any standard software on (cross compiling ARM was pain). That died quick and now we have all these rectangles with 100s, 1000s of shit programs that barely do Unix philosophy, 'one thing well'. There are a few things that were either directly designed with fones in mind, or just happen to be better than the desktop equivalent. But for the most part I'd say everything in this list goes double for any Android or iPhone.
I know how hard it can be to 'force' yourself to work on a piece of software you won't get money for, or are too drained to bother with after a job. I also know how life can suk your soul away and you loose whatever passion, vision or just plain love for whatever it is you wanted to work on. Updating issues and dealing with assholes giving you shit for something that is FREE can be a motivation kill. But, at the same time I see paid software that has as many bugs (sometimes more) and clearly doesn't drive motivation. It really feels like nobody cares anymore. Like the grand luster of tech and the internet has already withered away as quick as everything became exciting and innovative. I started writing this pissed, now I'm kind of sad.
My wishlist is long and demanding, but at the same time a simple courtesy. If anybody out there is able to do a little better, can you?
With that said ... https://youtu.be/KpWqTjLn7Fg HAND :)