> I would advocate people getting more familiar with their package manager.

Personally, I think these kinds of lists and the package manager don't compete with each other. On one side, you list the software packages. The other side is where you get them/ where you package or publish some if you are a developer. For example, if you are from another OS and just came to linux and you wonder: how can I edit videos on Linux. I don't think searching from the package manager is more valuable than this list. It gives people more choices, a wider look, a quick skim like you go shopping.

> Plus there are nice graphical package management tools like the Ubuntu Software Center.

I swear half of the softwares I found on this list (with my usage, not all of them) is not in the Ubuntu Software Center.