Gigaom says

[bill]

I recently picked up a Nexus 5 an am guilty of enjoying the Google/Nexus version of Android. I've been telling myself for months that I'm going to put Cyanogenmod on it, but I can't bring myself to make the move yet. That said I hardly use any of the default Google apps. Maps and YouTube are the ones I can't find decent replacements for.

[Brad]

I'm not sure I would bother with Cyanogenmod. Unless you are worried about privacy the pure Android on the Nexus line is really good.  I agree though on the apps, I barely use the G default apps and have replaced most.  That has been the biggest challenge, finding apps that will do things as I want them to do.  They are there but I went through a bunch of calendar apps trying to find one that had month settable as the default view and also sent out notifications plus didn't have a weird layout plus was free.  Crikey, androind makes you work!

[Rupert]

If I didnt want Google apps, I would definitely go for Cyanogenmod

Simply because the you dont have to install any gapps.

For Calender, I use
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=netgenius.bizcal&hl=en-GB

sorry, Hijacking this thread.  Perhaps we need a new thread:
http://th3core.com/talk/water-coolerextra/so-what-apps-do-you-use-on-your-android-and-other-stuff/

and  thanks ergophobe for the Gorg