By that I mean open source software. Yes, there are problems in this golden age namely that the gold isn't flowing to all the most vital projects. We need a large amount of money to be taken from rapacious proprietary software purveyors and distributed to open source projects. That is clear.
Note: this is only a thumbnail/outline of some ideas. Do with them what you will.
Advantages of the golden age of software
For creators and consumers, the vast amount of quality software, and the improvements (with significant impetus by AI) is amazing and salutory.
In particular, the following categories or types of software:
- Run on own computer, local server, or own cloud.
- Run on linux (Debian) and Android.
- Run on AMD hardware, specifically iGPU (integrated graphics) Ryzen and Radeon (660m-890m).
Drawbacks and disadvantages
- The price of hardware is through the roof (what hardware giveth, software taketh away).
- Valuable projects used but not monetized.
- Open source licenses abused.
- Proprietary software riddled with bugs, spyware.
- Government spying, overreach.
Some projects of note
These are not (necessarily) new projects, but they are making a difference in my day-to-day:
- Docker, Dockge
- ROCm, Vulkan
- ComfyUI
- llama.cpp
- Grist
Anti-Adobe projects
Once more, for the cheap seats...
- Inkscape
- GIMP
- Scribus
- OpenShot
- Darktable
- Audacity
- Blender
- Natron
Anti-Microsoft Projects
Once more, for the cheap seats...
- LibreOffice (desktop apps, incl. Write, Calc, Impress, Draw, Base)
- OnlyOffice (online collaboration, self-hosted)
- ProjectLibre, OpenProject, GanttProject
- diagrams.net, Penpot
- Mattermost, Rocket.Chat, Jitsi Meet
- NextCloud (though OnlyOffice is a lightweight alternative)