I just think Microsoft Word is actively making the entire world less efficient. It's not made to produce documents that are easy to read. Don't have an obvious contender though. LibreOffice Writer just tries to be the same shitty product but free, LaTeX is way too technical and has horrible error handling. Markdown usability and quality breaks down if you make any serious use of tables and figures.

Since I'm not a US citizen I also think it's a threat to our country that our entire administration and every company is dependent on storing documents in an effectively proprietary format controlled by a US company, on cloud servers controlled by a US company. If compelled by the US government, Microsoft could put all of EU to a halt with the flick of a switch. National security calls for formats as central as this to be open standards supported by multiple competing products.

Markdown (.md) could and should be used for simple, somewhat structured text files. It's easy enough to learn, and WYSIWYG editors are abundant as well.

.tar.zst

People should stop using .tar.gz or .zip

They both are not horribly bad, but .tar.zst is just the best option we have, as zstandard is pareto optimal

https://insanity.industries/post/pareto-optimal-compression/

Linux

I use arch btw

GrapheneOS

GrapheneOS is the best android custom ROM by far. It is more secure, it gets updated very often and security patches land on my phone faster than I hear about them. It is way more performant than the default ROM that ships with Pixel Phones, my battery lasts for days if I don't use the phone.

At first I was very sceptical, as I want to be sure I can rely on my phone. But it is super stable, way better than the Samsung ROM I had before.

Open source file formats in general. I've personally known friends who have lost access to their old works because it was using some proprietary file format that only one abandoned proprietary software they don't have access to anymore can read.

AV1 for video. Just running my video files through it gets the same quality at 1/10th the size. Thought I was having a stroke.

This is a bit more low tech, but you mention technique, and I think people should hand write things more. At least, for first drafts.

You neurologically process things in a different way when you use your hand in that manner, and the act of transcribing your own work into a computer or device is an incredible editing measure in its own right. It forces commitment and flow, which is so precious in our time of short attention and focus.

Also, its good to be fluent in both skills, because you never know what could happen to your body. Realizing you haven't extensively used a pen or pencil much in years is a pretty fucky kinda feeling from a motor dexterity perspective.

Kind of a moot point these days, but I always wished OGG pushed MP3s out of the way. It generally has better audio quality, lower file size, and is an open source format. MP3s had their patent die (I think) and file storage has become less of an issue, but damnit OGG was perfect for the 00s. My plex server is still full of OGGs (I can't hear the difference with uncompressed, but my hearing is bad).

Par2

it can be used for protecting any kind of data from data corruption, disc rot, bit rot, and accidental or malicious damage.

Good luck with JXL. It won't take off on the web because Google killed it as I recall. But it might be nice for your local collection. 👍

Convert from folders to labels/tags.

The folder system was based off of physical folders and cabinets, which has limitations that don’t exist in the digital space. Labels/tagging offers so much more usable metadata.

.txt is an amazing format that can be opened by an enormous number of file readers and editors. It’s cross-platform and cross-decades.

Next time you’re distributing something in .docx, consider including a txt file so that people can read it next month too!

I think if someone made a highly efficient cryptocurrency that was pegged to a specific value and the owners of said crypto kept their hands out of the cookie jar, then it'd potentially be very useful.

I used to be very, very anti-crypto, but with banks and companies like MasterCard and Visa banning websites from being able to host NSFW content, I've started to shift towards "maybe crypto is good for some things". It sucks, I don't like crypto, I think it's generally extremely inefficient. However, if someone could come up with a cryptocurrency that was relatively secure, power efficient, had a stable value and had a morally stable team behind it, then I'd be tempted to support it.

Edit: yeah, I know it's not a popular take, but the alternative is letting banks, credit card companies and payment processors dictate and impose their will on the internet. I'd prefer not to use crypto, but like, what else can you do? Do you really think the US government gives a fuck? Even if they did, do you really believe the Supreme Court is gonna let the US government tell companies that they aren't allowed to restrict what people legally spend their money on?

Sex work is still work, whether it's on OnlyFans, Gumroad or Patreon, and if someone wants to pay for it then the sex workers and nsfw artists deserve to be paid.

Edit 2: also, bans on NSFW content often disproportionately affect members of the LGBT community because LGBT stuff tends to get classified as "adult content" even if it's completely safe-for-work. Considering things like KOSA and the current push against people who are LGBT in the US (like myself) it's not hard to imagine a near future in which it's hard to make money as freelancer and a member of the LGBT community.

Edit 3: honestly, I feel dirty talking about crypto this way. If anyone has a better idea that doesn't involve relying on geriatric, out-of-touch politicians or blatantly corrupt Supreme Court justices, feel free to chime in.

Plain text. It's the most readable of files. It's the only thing I use for true record keeping.

The .opus audio format. People need to stop ripping everything to MP3, it's inefficient and a flawed compression format. Opus is better than it and AAC.

compact.exe, it's a built-in tool in windows for compressing executables. there's an open source GUI too, very useful for compressing games and the compression is "transparent" so you can still play the games after compressing. there's more info on the page I linked

Windows PowerToys :)

Kind of the opposite of what you're asking for, but I hate pdf and wish it would go away. It's an awful file type to have to work with