Software that's enjoyable ... software that's a drudgery

Posted by Paul Korm
Feb 22, 2015 at 12:06 PM

I would to my list of delightful software

DayOne—both the desktop and phone/tablet versions; powerful features but keeps it all hidden away to let you do the main thing you’re there to do: a quick journal entry.

I think that’s one sign of enjoyable software—it’s not all in your face with how clever it is. On the other hand, software that’s so clever it is hard to decipher (like Tinderbox) are difficult to appreciate.

On the web, I very much enjoy LucidChart—it just keeps getting better and the owners are so friendly.

That’s another aspect of delightful software: there’s a real person at the other end of the support@ email address who will engage in a conversation about their work, listen to comments and act on the good ones, and politely tell you why a bad suggestion is a bad idea. In the real world I favor family-owned small business for this reason, and in the software world I favor owner/builders who want to know their customers.