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DOS (now COMMAND). LOL.
Progress has killed it, but you are confusing KILLER APP with SPECIFIC APP...
BRIEF => most features available in most editors nowadays (port of emacs, LOL).
Lots 123= Spreadsheet (Still have one)
Oracle = Database = Still have 3..4
But the world has moved a LOT since these tools were created. They were valuable in their time.
Currently I use ActionOutline a thousand times a day. It's windows based, and I am looking to create a web based alternative so I can access it from my phone and other devices.
Does this decrease the Value of an indispensable tool, NO! will I stop using AA at some point. Yep.
But I will replace it with a Cloud Based tool where my data is backed up and stored, and potentially secured in even better ways. Potentially making some aspects shareable with other people, which simply cannot happen the way it works today.
So, of all of those tools you had, if you look back at the tool itself, not the BRAND... Did it just get absorbed into the life and times of other tools?
I used to write batch files. I prefer Python now.
I used to write quick and dirty EXE Files. I can do much in a Javascript window.
We move on, our tools change...
I also had corded drills, and 12V cordless drills. My dad has a crank (hand drill). Things have improved...
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Hm, that would be tough. My first computer with an OS (CP/M) was prePC. I eventually got WordStar on it and to this day, all my IDE's/editors/word processors all use WordStar control sequences for editing. I wrote an AutoHotKey script to translate the WordStar control sequences to the particular editors sequences.
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Zip Chunker Pro (ZCP) so files could fit on floppy disks, pkzip/pkunzip
I actually still have a copy of all three for posterity's sake.
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Yup.
Absolutely yup.
The only relic I have is that the directory I keep all my personal files/documents/everything-else that ms-has created "libraries" for is still the directory that I used all those years ago, whose name is the name of a shareware word processor I used in prehistory.
I've been very glad of that many times, because ms deletes library files, when it feels like it.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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I'm sorry to tell you that the best word processor ever, many years ahead of its time, was Word Perfect.
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The Semware Editor. Used since the late 80's. Based on the Wordstar diamond, the reason I still use it. There's an almost-finished Linux version, which I usually use for an editor.
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Yes! Quicken for DOS. Still one of the best programs ever written.
FormerBIOSGuy
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Apparently I'm an exception, I was working with unix professionally before I bought my first home PC. Linux wasn't available yet, but I went over as soon as I heard of it and never looked at a MS OS again except at work.
The thing is, to answer the question what applications of that period do I still use? well, practically ALL OF THEM. A linux user of 2019 (at least one who always prefers CLI) is an animal of almost the same species as a unix user of 1990. A lot of the commands have evolved and became more sophisticated, but basically it's still the same ls, cd, du and some dozens more as 30 years ago. You don't need to learn to drive again with every new car model.
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Are pregnant women body builders?
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Never throw anything away, Griff
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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And do they treat the baby as an Invasion of the Body Figure Snatchers?
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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If your cousin's mother's going to have a baby, is she Pregnaunt?
Ravings en masse^ |
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"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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That's a material design concept for swollen interfaces ?
«Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?» T. S. Elliot
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I stumbled upon this wikipedia entry about Peter Norton when I saw a question about "The Pink Shirt Book" (see the wiki entry for explanation).
This is a great story of using all your resources and turning a setback into a positive.
Peter Norton - Wikipedia[^]
from wikipedia entry When the IBM PC made its debut in 1981, Norton was among the first to buy one. After he was laid off during an aerospace industry cutback, he took up microcomputer programming to make ends meet. One day he accidentally deleted a file. Rather than re-enter the data, as most would have, he decided to write a program to recover the information from the disk. His friends were delighted with the program and he developed a group of utility programs that he sold – one at a time – to user groups. In 1982, he founded Peter Norton Computing with $30,000 and an IBM computer.[2]
Keeping Marketing Simple
wiki entry The company was a pioneer in DOS-based utilities software. Its 1982 introduction of the Norton Utilities included Norton's UNERASE tool to retrieve erased data from DOS disks. Norton marketed the program (primarily on foot) through his one-man software publishing company, leaving behind little pamphlets with technical notes at users group meetings and computer stores. A publisher saw his pamphlets, and saw that he could write about a technical subject. The publisher called him and asked him if he wanted to write a book. Norton's first computer book, Inside the IBM PC: Access to Advanced Features & Programming (Techniques),[3] was published in 1983.
Fantastic (and smart) how he kept the business so small.
from wikipedia: In 1984, Norton Computing reached $1 million in revenue, and version 3.0 of the Norton Utilities was released. Norton had [only] three clerical people working for him. He was doing all of the software development, all of the book writing, all of the manual writing and running the business. The only thing he wasn't doing was stuffing the packages. He hired his fourth employee and first programmer, Brad Kingsbury, in July 1985. In late 1985, Norton hired a business manager to take care of the day-to-day operations.[6]
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I got his book when Windows 3.0 came out. It had the source code for the DefaultWindowsProc in it which was very interesting and the only place I have ever seen it. It contained the funniest goto label I have ever seen : ICantBelieveIActuallyUsedAGoto.
"They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"
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Rick York wrote: It had the source code for the DefaultWindowsProc in it which was very interesting and the only place I have ever seen it.
The 16-bit version may be found in the 16-bit SDK (or DDK; I forget which). The 32-bit version was never released as source code.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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Norton Utilities were fantastic, back in the day - if you didn't have a copy, you probably needed one fairly soon and found a mate with one. Not sure I ever worked for a company that actually bought a copy though ...
Now? Pure bloatware designed to be removable only by nuclear strike on the HDD
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Never throw anything away, Griff
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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OriginalGriff wrote: Norton Utilities were fantastic, back in the day
OriginalGriff wrote: Now? Pure bloatware
It is an interesting contrast that seems to display how that small companies often do things better.
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Could be, but I think it's more the company that is run by people who know what they are doing, that have a passion for it, as opposed to accountants who ... let's be charitable ... know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Never throw anything away, Griff
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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OriginalGriff wrote: company that is run by people who know what they are doing, that have a passion for it, as opposed to accountants who ... let's be charitable ... know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
I agree completely.
And, generally, those positive details you mention are only carried out by small(er) companies.
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You can get medium - and even pretty large - companies that are run by people who care, and it shows: look at Williams F1, Mercedes F1 - separate companies, huge staff, unbelievable amounts of money and boy, do they care about what they are doing!
And you can get small companies run by accountants and we all know what they are like to work for or deal with.
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Never throw anything away, Griff
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Very good points!! +5 LifePoints to you for making me think.
Now, I am even more interested in how someone keeps those larger companies caring and motivated.
And, you're correct, of course, about some small companies too.
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Small companies focus on the product.
Big on sales.
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OriginalGriff wrote: Now? Pure bloatware designed to be removable only by nuclear strike on the HDD The one who did the "Norton Removal tool" won his place in heaven with it...
I, however, was in love with their "norton ghost" for backing up. If it would work in Win10 and UEFI I would probably continue using it.
M.D.V.
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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