Communicate? Mostly E-mail. I used to run my own mail server at home (initially Linux, then OpenBSD), and then gave up. The amount of maintenance necessary is just too much: you need a rather complex sendmail (multiple domains), an imap server like dovecot, these days you need secure DNS, and so on. Another nail in the coffin was that some of the transport mechanisms we've used for connecting the server at home have blocked port 25 (unfortunately, due to living in a remote location, we haven't always had the choice of picking good last mile access service providers). The extra few hours per week of maintenance were just not worth it. So today the e-mail is done by a very good ISP, whom we fully trust (sonic.net).
E-mail clients? Whatever is convenient. I used to use Thunderbird and Eudora. These days I've switched to using MacOS mail; it does the job with no hassle. My wife uses Outlook. We occasionally switch to a web-based e-mail client (our ISP provides one), which works better in remote and low-bandwidth situations, or when you don't have your own laptop with you. I haven't even asked what my son uses. On the android cellphone, I use the standard e-mail client (it calls itself "gmail", but it can connect to any ISB that supports imap). Works fine too.
IM? A whole variety. MacOS iMessage, Facebook messenger, the native SMS of the cell phone, WhatsApp (both cellphone and laptop), Google hangouts, and probaby a few others I forgot. Unfortunately, not all people are reachable on one single such network.
I have to occasionally use IP-based telephony, such as Skype or Facebook calls. On average, my experience with those is bad; landline service works best (and even that only has a reliability of 2-3 nines at our house), and cell phones have reached the point where they mostly work (but nowhere near 100%).
I don't use FreeBSD (or any *BSD or Linux) as the desktop in production any longer; personally I just use multiple Macs and an Android phone, but there are other devices in our household; so none of the apps above are FreeBSD specific.
E-mail clients? Whatever is convenient. I used to use Thunderbird and Eudora. These days I've switched to using MacOS mail; it does the job with no hassle. My wife uses Outlook. We occasionally switch to a web-based e-mail client (our ISP provides one), which works better in remote and low-bandwidth situations, or when you don't have your own laptop with you. I haven't even asked what my son uses. On the android cellphone, I use the standard e-mail client (it calls itself "gmail", but it can connect to any ISB that supports imap). Works fine too.
IM? A whole variety. MacOS iMessage, Facebook messenger, the native SMS of the cell phone, WhatsApp (both cellphone and laptop), Google hangouts, and probaby a few others I forgot. Unfortunately, not all people are reachable on one single such network.
I have to occasionally use IP-based telephony, such as Skype or Facebook calls. On average, my experience with those is bad; landline service works best (and even that only has a reliability of 2-3 nines at our house), and cell phones have reached the point where they mostly work (but nowhere near 100%).
I don't use FreeBSD (or any *BSD or Linux) as the desktop in production any longer; personally I just use multiple Macs and an Android phone, but there are other devices in our household; so none of the apps above are FreeBSD specific.