Why Still Using Shapefiles?

[BarryNorthey]

I am updating my notes on the pros and cons of shapefiles vs file geodatabase. Esri has documented the limitations of shapefiles and has long recommended using the no longer proprietary (file) geodatabase format instead, yet I see that many posters are still using shapefiles in ArcGIS Pro. Other than interfacing with third party software that only accepts shapefiles, what other reasons are there for continuing to use them? Serious question, not a criticism.

[jcarlson]

Good points! My org is a small government body, so we're pretty much only working with data that we're already hosting on our public maps anyway.

That situation of "I need some extra fields" is still one of the spots where QGIS really shines. Having ad-hoc "virtual fields" has saved me so many needless downloads of feature services.