Mattved's Toolkit
http://mattved.eu/ The software I use on a day-to-day as well as less frequent basis.
Data science
A calculator app that by default overrides calc.exe in system32. Win+R -> calc -> run and enjoy the simplest calculator experience there is!
One of the most basic powertools for econometric analysis. Deals with anything from univariate regression to anything as headdache inducing as ARDL. Never disappointed me, but does not do the best job visualizing and transforming the data. And does not handle panel datasets as well as one would desire.
For all that GRETL does not cut, there is R. Seriously, every data scientist should know it, unless they are the Python guys from Jupyter. R is easier to learn for a non-programmer and does not care how many spaces or line breaks you put in places. Yes, reading code of some people makes me cry in the corner.
Despite not having any strong competition, RStudio developers do a wonderful job, making work in R and preparing RMarkdown documents or Shiny apps far easier.
When somebody sends me a .sav file and I need to do basic editing to it, I do not need the dinosaur SPSS is on my PC. It crashes from time to time but restarts pretty quickly
I gave up on Tableau. Power BI supports R fields and makes a lot of stuff pretty easy. Tableau is great for executives who want fancy looking dashboards. PowerBI enables the data scientist to actually demonstrate their findings in a pretty direct way. Just copy-paste from RStudio, rename the variables appropriately, and run!
Educational software for Mathematics and (as I argued on their 2017 global conference) everything that has anything to do with mathematics. Graph your models, let users modify variables and demonstrate dynamics with one gesture on a touch screen. Made economic models far easier to understand for me (and those I had the honor to influence), especially the deductive ones.
Research and Writing
For PDF documents, which I consume in wholesale quantities, a fast-paced reader ignorant of all the fuss is key. Shame its Windows builds are obsolete nowadays.
The big one. Replacement for Word and PowerPoint. If not forced by a corporation, I do not intend going back. Because this software takes the freedom to make your documents total mess away from you. Because you can author papers with correct referencing, e-books, referenced notes in HTML, and so much more as easily as clicking alt F E (*). Extensibility and the options you have with LaTeX remain, but the graphical environment helps loads, especially for users coming from the standard text processors. Includes MiK TeX
Must have for BibTeX referencing. Although the environment written in Java is not the most stable one and from time to time, I have to restart the app, it never failed me fatally. And the number of ways you can import an article makes it really easy. So easy that you sometimes forget who wrote the piece your paper is so heavily based on. Sorry! The reference is still there!
Academic articles. I need them and I keep them. Although I own them legally, having paid for them through my institution or directly to publishers, the terms and conditions of other cloud storage services do not permit them to be uploaded. C'thulu praise Kim Dotcom!
Not all sources are easily obtainable. Researching shadow economy? Tor is a must have. I still cannot get around how to cite Deep Web sources, though.
Media
Books from Amazon, Alza, HumbleBundle, Everywhere! Put them in a library so that you can take the weight off your ancient Kindle 4, which you resist replacing.
Fast paced, supporting all image files known to man, including most RAW formats. Customizability is strong with this one, too.
Because I've been taking plenty of photographs lately and because you need file cataloguing anyway! Far better results than with Zoner, far cheaper than Lightroom but still just about catching up. And having a lifetime license? I'll take that ^^
For all illustrations for your papers, which Geogebra, R, or Dia won't cut (there isn't much, really), Inkscape is the way to go. It works with vector graphics enabling endless scaling and gives you the freedom even graphic designers are grateful for.
It is far from what Photoshop can do. But for basic drawing, especially using a pen-based interface (graphics tablet), Krita is the most awesome way to go. Comparable to the famous Japanese tool SAI paint tool, strikingly different in the license and the project maintenance, which is consistently live.
The basic video projects can be done in Shotcut. It requires some skill to deal with it, but for chopping up videos recorded in your lectures and creating jingles to keep the folks awake, it is great. Do not expect fancy effects, though.
Connectivity
I mean, use Chrome if you want. I just perceive it to be spyware.
Simple to use with its friendly interface. Makes dealing with server matters easy. The SFTP client could be better, but one can always use FileZilla as a fallback.
Monitoring server on the go and being able to fix most stuff from mobile phone makes juiceSSH a godsend. Although editing massive config files using a mobile keyboard gets clumsy, it can be done. And dealing with server on a bus is far more satisfying than having to spend time at home on it.
Block all ads. Because they take your time away. Whatever deserves it and allows it, I pay for with money. Don't give me the option, I will not feel bad about you getting no income from my visits to your site.
Seriously, whoever uses torrent P2P network from time to time, whatever the purposes, should use an open-source client like Transmission. There si seriously 0 need to use commercial platforms with ads inside.
The desktop app is resource-heavy and slowly getting obsolete. I recommend the Windows Store app.
Leisure
Gamers gonna game!
Nothing to say here. For communication while gaming, it is handy. Spends most of time turned off anyway.
Miscellaneous
What I did not fit elsewhere, yet
Yes yes yes yes. And the premium is worth it if you can't be fussed about continuously taking care of the basic tasks.
When you work on business process reingeneering, you kinda need something to visualize it with, while complying with your NDA and other company policies. Dia is offline and opensource and has friendly environment. Sometimes, the controls get a bit awkward, but it is golden!
