Favorite Defunct Software

I miss winamp! just a example!

No. One simply cannot get parts for an ICL 4120 any more.

I miss the "original" spreadsheet, VISICALC, and its simplicity!

I agree wholeheartedly. I still have a copy of the original Visicalc for Apple ][. And the Apple ][, though I haven't turned it on in years.

Hooker

I don't know what OS your running. The old Cardfile.EXE that was with NT is 32 bit. It will run on Windows 7.

There a copy here http://discussions.virtualdr.com/showthread.php?198802-RESOLVED-I-Need-the-old-...-quot-cardfile.exe-quot

I've long since moved on (and now have a laptop running 64 bit Windows 8) but thank you for sharing.

I was hoping to clear your desk of that old machine!

I still use QBASIC very occasionally, it still runs under XP.....

I had a small printed circuit CAD program, called SMARTWORK (if I remember correctly), but I ran it using 2 x 1.2Mb Floppies and no hard disk on a 286 machine.

I even wrote a "Converter" in QBASIC, so that I could use an HP Plotter for the foil printing, as the program only supported a US Plotter that I had never heard of, I built in scaling to allow a plot to be made final (actually any) size .....luckily all plotter commands were in a form of English, so it wasn't too difficult really...as is the HP Plotter language. Worked fine for many years. Still got the plotter somewhere I think.

The printer output was also there, but it always printed double sized, for photographic reduction, but that was too complicated for us at the time....though I did experiment with copiers, but the reduction was not always linear with respect to width & length, chips would not fit in both directions..... bigger for checking was easier on the eyes though.

I and a colleague made a lot of PCBs using that system, I still have a PI metal detector made using it....

Later I bought Eagle CAD 2.0 many years ago, it would run also on two floppies, I was then using 2 x 1.44Mb.

Today I use Eagle v5.40, not the newest, but it has no failures that affect my work.....also a really great package and the small size PCB version (BUT OTHERWISE FULLY COMPLETE), latest version, is still free to download and use, more than enough for most hobbyists with its schematic, capture and the rest.

Translators were not so good 15 years ago so I started one using QBASIC (hungarian to portuguese). Very primitive, still better than commercially available ones at the time.

I had no problems with my (first) translator, even then, as I wrote the translator myself. I had never done one before and no one to ask either, though I have written a few since in a mixture of BASIC and machine language - but that is all many years ago now.....

Iif I do say so myself, it worked perfectly and translated the files far faster than the HP Plotter could plot....in spite of the speed limitations of QBASIC then on 286, 386 or 486 PCs...though today it runs far faster even on WinXP once you have the right folders organized.

I do not know personally if QBASIC runs on any later version of Windoze or not.

I remember lotus notes and Lotus 123, before M$ took over and you have to relearn your system/software with every new version.

I miss the original. $100, version of MathCAD. Before PTC bought it. They don't seem to believe in affordable anything.

I agree. Still have the original 3.1 ver. Runs just fine on xp and I use all the time.

Any Microsoft OS before 8. I would even prefer Vista.

FOCAL, CAL, FORTRAN IV, MACRO-8, PAL-8, MUMPS! I know my age is showing but those were some fun programming languages.

FORTRAN for DEC (DCL)...ahhh, the VAX days!!!

I bought a copy of Mathcad 4 many years ago and used it until my old laptop died. Unfortunately, my new laptop runs Windows7 and won't run this 16 bit program. Too bad, it was simple to use and had Maple built in.

Apparently there aren't very many long-term Mac users here. I really miss Hypercard!

Although it was originally based on bitmap B&W graphics, it could do a lot. I had my entire household electrical system on it. I could click on any light or outlet, and it would instantly bring up the circuit breaker panel with the appropriate breaker highlighted. If I then clicked on the breaker, it would return to the plan of the house with all items controlled by that breaker highlighted.

I now have much higher resolution vector drawings, and of course color, but don't know of a way of making items into buttons that will open other drawings.

I used to use a program called Paradox. It wasn't the easiest to learn, but very powerful. I forget how to use it now. Another one was MS Basic. It was very easy to write your own programs with it.

Paradox is alive and well (still being used anyway) in the US Gov't.

Old contracts never die...they just enact more options.

1. "ClassicClipboard"

Good old days when you ask the publisher to purchase it and he asks for what purpose I like to use it. When I tell him that just for simple use to capture more than one before pasting he give me the link for free edition.

I had been using it till XP but win7 refused to open it.

Look how much you can capture at a time shift them in columns on the right Group and Group name.

Group opened is "Classic uploads"

Sorry I have no system to run.

I suggest to add "still working the oldest version"

Still the old version working

MimarSinam Q Utilities

It is still working while it was posted in win95 era.

It is is the first I knew to split files in the same directory or of your choice with partnames and 1 exe file to recombine.

WinZip the Anchor of compression had no idea at the time and we have to span on floppies as it was giving the same name to all spanned files but marking floppy number on each with the increment 1.

If any of floppies misbehaved you have to re-do for all new ones. A size of 1.14MB.

And I think that compressing a directory may be a dream, but it has.

Three tools:

1. Zip

2. Split

and the

3rd. Directory Compression.

2. IrfanViewer the oldest but one version.

When this was originally posted I noticed that it opened also all the part-files of an animated gif and icon files of all sizes.

But luckily it is free and for win8 also.

I currently have an old Intel BX440 mother with a 1.4 gig processor running Windows Longhorn (the Millenium that didn't get released because it was 64 bit and based on windows 2000) so I can use my dual Diamond Monster 3D graphics cards running SLI and playing Red Baron in full and glorious 3d complete with transparent cockpit!

My favorite "defunct" software ran on a now "defunct" computer -- the Atari 1040ST. I got mine in 1987. I was mostly attracted to its graphical prowess, but had an eye on using its MIDI interface somewhere in my future. Many musicians know of them. Although that is certainly not the only reason they were popular. And there are still enthusiasts around, easily demonstrated by surfing. (Ex.) The ST became known as a "Jackintosh," playing on Jack Tramiel's name, as the "poor man's" Macintosh. Additionally, ST floppy disks were compatible with IBM DOS disk format, unlike Mac floppies and made file exchange between the 2 systems easier. (I still have mine, though packed away. And it was functional at the time.)

The software? Most of what was written for it. At the time, much of the "higher end," productivity software ran circles around what was on the PC. (Ex: Dynacadd, Calamus, Cyber Studio, Pagestream, etc.) By today's standards they wouldn't seem so innovative, but, if the system had survived and the programmers of those fine applications had continued, (which many did, migrating to the Windows world), with a comparative hardware progression, I'm sure they would be the equal, if not better, than anything available today. ST programmers (and owners) were fanatical; as were Amiga enthusiasts. I miss the competition. (For those not old enough, you wouldn't know who Gary Kildall [from the article: almost a hundred other manufacturers!!] was, in this video, but he was in the thick of PC development -- also seen in this Bloomberg/BusinessWeek article.) A Wintel/Mac world is quite boring -- and, IMO, lesser -- without it. And free enterprise? Microsoft has a muddied history of business practices. A majority of us now use PC's powered by Intel and Windows, because it is convenient -- not necessarily by choice. Why hasn't Linux caught on more? Software already invested in for Windows? Or its lack of availability in Linux? Anyone care to comment?

In the beginning, superior hardware was being offered via these "68000" machines. But, in the end, the marketing power of IBM made the platform more attractive for software developers. Trying to port versions between 3 major OS's in the 68000 world was more work, even though, hardware-wise, it was easier. I also remember an 8MHz ST "feeling" about as snappy as a 20+ MHz, 286 Intel-based PC. Hardware could have mattered more than it ended up. Now we have lots of memory and HD space which have fostered bloatware. And I remember the first time software seemed to drive hardware -- video cards "optimized" to run Windows; i.e., to make it "seem" faster.

In the end, it is software variety and availability that supports (guarantees?) the hardware's market, much like VHS vs. Betamax in the video format wars. Also, the eventual move to non-segmented memory space (and the increase beyond the 640K base memory), made programming on Intel systems more pleasant for programmers. That was another initial advantage and attraction to writing for the 68000 systems. What's under the hood is, now, transparent, for the most part to the end-user. And how soon might the desktop PC become obsolete? It is, seemingly, becoming secondary.

I'd be interested in "what defunct computer you now miss", opinions... that is if anyone cares and/or is old enough for that to be a relevant question.

I still use Eudora, an email client, on an XP box.

It's authors were from the unix side of things so it tends to be self contained, and can be moved from PC to PC by installing and then copying the folders.

It has had a indexed search forever, interesting since that was such a biggie for Windows 7. I didn't realize Outlook primitive until I was forced to use it at work.

old version of google map for iPhone, pinball game in XP, Camedia 4 photo editing for canon 4000, windows media pro 9.