Linux... but I guess I'm not really surprised. Most of what's so good about it is a result of it being free.
Ask HN: What software is so good you are surprised it is free?
11–20 of 98 posts
Re: Ask HN: What software is so good you are surprised it is free?
#12Well obviously not free but waaay to cheap: sublime
For free: visual studio code
Re: Ask HN: What software is so good you are surprised it is free?
#13gcc and llvm!
And the myriad of languages build on top of them, mainly Rust these days ;)
Re: Ask HN: What software is so good you are surprised it is free?
#14Trello, draw.io, visual studio code.
+1 for Trello, I've been a very happy user for years now.
Re: Ask HN: What software is so good you are surprised it is free?
#15Scikit-learn. The guys have done, and are continuing to do, an amazing job and the output is completely free. There is some funding involved, but the ultimate value/cost ratio is ridiculously high.
"How Open Source is Really Maintained" comes to mind: https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1280/1*Q_8HbGbbfEmAjwPqB...
Re: Ask HN: What software is so good you are surprised it is free?
#16Ffmpeg & vscode
Re: Ask HN: What software is so good you are surprised it is free?
#17emacs, especially with butterfly mode (https://xkcd.com/378/)
Re: Ask HN: What software is so good you are surprised it is free?
#18VLC.
Pretty much my entire development stack.
The programming community in general is bloody amazing. I feel very grateful to be a part of it.
Re: Ask HN: What software is so good you are surprised it is free?
#19Podcast Addict. I paid like $1.99 to remove the ads from it, I feel super guilty that I can't somehow give more.
Agree, this is an awesome app. You can give the dev more BTW - they have PayPal and other ways you can give them more money. Send them an email
Re: Ask HN: What software is so good you are surprised it is free?
#20Signal (https://signal.org/)