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Ten Applications That Changed Computing
bfire writes "The term 'killer app' gets tossed around quite liberally these days. Nearly every piece of software released seems to be pitched as having the potential to send shockwaves throughout the IT world. In reality, there have been precious few applications which have truly changed the computing industry over the years. This article lists some of the top ten true killer apps that changed computing, from Phil Zimmermann's gold standard in encryption, PGP, to Dr Solomon's groundbreaking anti-virus toolkit, to Mitch Kapor who took the idea of VisiCalc for Apple and created Lotus 1-2-3 for DOS." Typical for top-10 lists, the choices seem pretty arbitrary — what changed your corner of the computing world?
MS Paint
Squirrel!
Whither, Mavis Beacon?
Bonzi buddy.
How did people live before they had a malware purple ape on their desktop?
No matter how you measure it (number of copy cat programs, efficiency and failure rates, importance to computer science), this program tops them all. Where would we be without it?
XML causes global warming.
"Ah the days of watching the Extensions loading."
I found the march of Extensions and Control Panels imbued an almost Zen contentment as each one of those little gems added more and more usefulness to the Mac OS.
And with enough of them, you had time to grab an extra cup of that sweet, sweet office coffee as the machine booted for the first time in the morning.
Guaranteed! This comment 100% Anthrax free!
Oh the days of ignorance and when system administrators didn't bother locking out the computer from installs. I installed that at work back in 2000 and was on Amazon surfing for a book called The Multiorgasmic Man: Sexual Secrets Every Man Should Know. Bonzi Buddy popped up and naturally my speakers were blaring and decided to tell the entire cubicle section I was in what I was looking up.
I run Ubuntu skinned to look like a Mac on a PC. Go figure.
Clippy definitely changed my life. If not for little Clippy, I would still be trying to format that letter. I think everyone here can agree that the ability to detect when a letter was being written was nothing short of magic.
I can't speak to a "killer app", but I think we can all agree that there is a killer filesystem!
Anybody want my mod points?
I'm so glad that PGP has been honored on this list. Let us take a moment to reflect what life would be like had Zimmerman not put his freedom on the line to write PGP.
1. Without PGP, almost everyone would send their emails in the clear. Today, cleartext email is the exception, not the rule.
2. Without PGP, emails, blog posts, and the like would be unauthenticated. Today, with the ubiquity of digital signatures and the public's expectation that they be valid, its virtually impossible to impersonate someone else or misquote them.
3. Without PGP, huge volumes of personal data aggregated onto easily transportable laptops and DVDs would be vulnerable to petty thieves. With the strong encryption tools in wide use today everyone can rest assured that their personal can't fall into the hands of some crackhead who broke the window of a bureaucrat's car.
Clearly, PGP has changed computing. No no, PGP has changed the WORLD!!
I can tell you it affected my life a great deal when I worked in prepress (commercial printing). Everyone called it Ragemaker.
If Nalgene water bottles are outlawed, only outlaws will have Nalgene water bottles.
Sorry, we'll keep it down.
emacs has a mode for that!
IranAir Flight 655 never forget!
whooooosh
That is ok. Before your generation, it was early leisure suit larry that introduced a lot of kids to computer games.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
That's an excellent list. Sadly, you oughta add VB.
How about no.
Online porn* took care of the "don't have to leave home" aspect.
*That includes the "Jenny cam" as well.
Shai Schticks:"You don't make peace with friends, you make peace with enemies"
The caffeine jag after the fifth reboot of the morning, however, was never so sweet.
Occasionally real work could get done.
My English teacher taught me that "seperate" was an adjective and "separate" was a verb. Or maybe it was the other way around, since it turns out she was just making crap up.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
That one went so far over his head it was in space and made no sound. I'd call it a feat to miss that one.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
If you're going to link it, link it right.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I'd say *whoooosh* yourself :D
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9. Napster/xTorrent/Amazon/iTunes/eBay/and other Business Distribution online apps
Ten is too short a number for categories, but these IMHO all started billion dollar industry segments
Actually, number 9 also threatens to shut down a billion dollar industry. ;)
Switch back to Slashdot's D1 system.
I know, right! Without VB, how would we ever trace an IP address?