This might sound hyperbolic but as a .NET developer JetBrains Rider is a real joy to use IMHO. I think being paired with an M1 Mac is probably part of what makes the experience great for me.
That IDE/hardware combo beats anything I've ever developed on in my career. By a long way.
Shameless plug but I mention it and a few of my other favourite software tools here:
The other "sparks joy" software I use regularly are Sketch - which after a lifetime of using Adobe products felt like a breath of fresh air when I switched to it - and Proxyman which is hands down the best HTTP interception/proxy software I've used on the Mac (and iOS).
What's insane to me is that Kagi is so good for the relatively little funding they have. Maybe when they have the subscriber numbers of Netflix they can reduce their monthly fee (not that I even personally think they need to), but for now I'm quite happy to pay them for a good service.
I'm increasingly a big fan of very direct revenue models. I pay for the product. I am *not the product*.
It's not just search either, their summariser tool is great, their Mac browser Orion is really impressive, and their attitude in general - eg. promoting signal over noise in everything they do (see Kagi Small Web), is just extremely refreshing.
> I highly recommend reading Private Eye's special report
Agreed. For those more audio inclined, I linked to these in another comment but I originally discovered their reporting on this via their "Page 94" podcast:
Great list. I second these recommendations!!
Special mentions for: Alfred, Bartender, Daisy Disk and ColorSlurp