This is a list of software that I actually like so much that it doesn't make me want to write my own alternative. This is a rare property which usually means that the software doesn't suck too much.
Note: I will not include common Unix tools. Some of them are great too but you probably already knew that.
- dtach
- git
- lua
- msgpack
- msgpack-rpc
- nano (seriously!)
- nginx
- ragel
- redis
- zeromq