The 10 Software/Apps I Live, Work & Slowly Go Blind By By mollie  [89 more lists]

Yesterday, my iPhone died. For a few terrible hours I thought I had lost everything - literally. My music, my calendar, my contacts, my email, my notes, my bookmarks. Basically, my entire life. Luckily, the genius demi-gods at the Apple Store fixed my most precious accessory. But, first they had to wipe my poor baby completely clean, so she could be reborn into a new phone that actually functioned again.

At the same time, we switched email servers at work. Which anyone who doesn't have a dedicated IT Department can tell you is about as much fun as taking Michelle "Bombshell" McGee to synagogue with you on Yom Kippur. Oh, and my Outlook, which has been slowly wheezing it's way towards an untimely death for months now, picked yesterday to finally give up the ghost. So, I spent all night last night & most of today reconfiguring my life. Literally.

Now that I'm slowly starting to feel technologically (and physically, emotionally and mentally secure again), I'm starting to reflect on the whole experience of the past 24 hours. Of watching my technological life flat-line, and having to (sometimes ruthlessly) cut out the cancerous programs that were preying on it (bye bye Outlook and iTunes 9.1, hello Gmail & itunes 9.0).

Suffice it to say, the whole thing got me thinking about software. And specifically, what pieces of the software I stare at all day every day are really essential. And, what pieces I could probably live without (only if I absolutely had to). And so, without further ado, here's my list of the 10 pieces of software - other than the obvious entries of iPhone OS & the software that makes my beloved Acer Aspire run day to day - that I find to be most vital to my technological survival. And yes, these ten pieces of tech are totally worth slowly going even blinder than I already am from staring at screens all day.