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Main Area and Open Discussion => General Software Discussion => Topic started by: zridling on January 24, 2020, 10:10 AM

Title: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: zridling on January 24, 2020, 10:10 AM
There are perhaps hundreds if not thousands sitting out there. There are some that are still available on the web(!) in some form, such as VuePrint. Can you think of others that should have never died?
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: MilesAhead on January 24, 2020, 10:46 AM
Here is a program I used to make MP4 files compliant so that my set top box would play them.  MkvToMp4 (https://www.videohelp.com/software/MkvToMp4)  The last rev was in 2013.

It worked especially well in batch due to the multi-threaded implementation.  The function was to make an output file that was MP4 compliant by demuxing, fixing the audio to meet the standard, then remuxing.  The program is portable.  I had an external SSD in a docking station.  The program along with input, intermediate and output files should all be on the SSD.  Due to the lightning fast random access characteristics of the SSD I would watch the progress bar zip through the files.  The video was not reencoded.  Only the audio track was modified.

For those with a Western Digital set top box or something similar it may still be very useful.
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: mouser on January 24, 2020, 10:53 AM
zaine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: superboyac on January 24, 2020, 11:57 AM
zaine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)(https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/MOL.GIF)
-mouser (January 24, 2020, 10:53 AM)

indeed...the master makes an appearance!
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: superboyac on January 24, 2020, 11:59 AM
A long lost great one(s):
Powermarks
MP3rat
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: mwb1100 on January 24, 2020, 12:29 PM
The one that comes to mind for me is WordStar, a ground breaking word processor from back in the character-mode CP/M & DOS days.  It didn't successfully make the jump to graphical environments.  They got killed by WordPerfect and MS Word.

Pioneered the use of the ESDX 'diamond' for cursor movement (when the Ctrl key was held down).  Way back then keyboards didn't always have dedicated arrow keys.  Made far more sense to me than Vi's HLJK scheme. 

I just threw out an old manual/floppy box from the 80's that I had kept around for nostalgia reasons.
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: 4wd on January 24, 2020, 12:31 PM
For those with a Western Digital set top box or something similar it may still be very useful.
-MilesAhead (January 24, 2020, 10:46 AM)

Common problem with a WDTV Live was it couldn't handle MKV's that had compressed headers, (I still have and use one), remuxing to use uncompressed headers made the files playable, format translation wasn't necessary.
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: cranioscopical on January 24, 2020, 02:32 PM
WordStar, a ground breaking word processor
-mwb1100 (January 24, 2020, 12:29 PM)
I was seriously ticked off when WP beat them out. Threw away mine last year having not used it for decades.
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: IainB on January 24, 2020, 02:50 PM
Could someone give me a link(s) to information sources about Zaine? I don't think I've heard of that proggy before.
I'd add Lotus Agenda to the list anyway.
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: KynloStephen66515 on January 24, 2020, 03:22 PM
ENCARTA!
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: Deozaan on January 24, 2020, 03:33 PM
Could someone give me a link(s) to information sources about Zaine? I don't think I've heard of that proggy before.
-IainB (January 24, 2020, 02:50 PM)

Here you go: Zaine (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=127) :P




zridling is Zaine. :D (check his signature at the bottom of his post)

Mouser and others are just glad to see him again after a long absence. His previous post was 5 years ago.
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: kunkel321 on January 24, 2020, 03:52 PM
Google Desktop Search.
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: 40hz on January 24, 2020, 05:58 PM
Ronstadt’s Financials. One of the best financial and business planning tools ever developed.

FoxPro - The PC database to end all databases.

MaxThink (single pane outliner) along with Houdini and the rest of Nils Larsson’s brilliant programs for writers, thinkers, and planners. His hypertext authoring programs anticipated much of what HTML does. Definitely tools ahead of their time.

Qmodem - a telecommunications program that was the gateway drug for the emerging online generation. For many it provided their first taste of the magic of online through the BBS world before the advent of the public Internet. (Anybody remember Rusty n Edies, FidoNet, and Boardwatch Magazine?)


Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: mouser on January 24, 2020, 06:48 PM
I know what web page I miss: Zaine's Great Software List.

In 2005 it was the bee's knees, and somewhat of an inspiration for donationcoder..
https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=8988

[ You are not allowed to view attachments ] (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=8988)


Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: city_zen on January 24, 2020, 07:10 PM
Pocomail (http://www.pocomail.com/home/index.php?option=content&task=category&sectionid=2&id=7&Itemid=28) and Barca (http://www.pocomail.com/home/index.php?option=content&task=category&sectionid=2&id=9&Itemid=27)

The best email software I've ever used. Sadly, it went the same route as many other email clients
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: MilesAhead on January 25, 2020, 09:27 AM
For those with a Western Digital set top box or something similar it may still be very useful.
-MilesAhead (January 24, 2020, 10:46 AM)

Common problem with a WDTV Live was it couldn't handle MKV's that had compressed headers, (I still have and use one), remuxing to use uncompressed headers made the files playable, format translation wasn't necessary.
-4wd (January 24, 2020, 12:31 PM)

One thing cool about the WD box, it would play HD resolution avi files.  My upconverting Philips DVD players would not.  It was insane to reduce avi files to ntsc only to upconvert them.  The WD saved me all that hassle.  Granted I did not come by 1080P avis every day, but still...   :)
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: wraith808 on January 25, 2020, 12:13 PM
For those with a Western Digital set top box or something similar it may still be very useful.
-MilesAhead (January 24, 2020, 10:46 AM)

Common problem with a WDTV Live was it couldn't handle MKV's that had compressed headers, (I still have and use one), remuxing to use uncompressed headers made the files playable, format translation wasn't necessary.
-4wd (January 24, 2020, 12:31 PM)

I just use MakeMKV and have had no problems with my WDTV Hub nor Live playing them.
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: MilesAhead on January 25, 2020, 02:18 PM
For those with a Western Digital set top box or something similar it may still be very useful.
-MilesAhead (January 24, 2020, 10:46 AM)

Common problem with a WDTV Live was it couldn't handle MKV's that had compressed headers, (I still have and use one), remuxing to use uncompressed headers made the files playable, format translation wasn't necessary.
-4wd (January 24, 2020, 12:31 PM)

I just use MakeMKV and have had no problems with my WDTV Hub nor Live playing them.
-wraith808 (January 25, 2020, 12:13 PM)

Nice program.  I have a registered copy.  Unfortunately I no longer have the desktop PC with BDROM, TV, set top box etc..   :(

Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: Shades on January 25, 2020, 02:52 PM
Quick and brief searches revealed nothing about the author anymore. His website doesn't exist anymore either.

But that doesn't mean his software, EDXOR, isn't a surprisingly versatile text editor, which packs a whole lot of punch in such a small executable. The installer is only 35 KByte (not a typo) in size. But you'll need to get acquainted with it by yourself, there isn't much help available.

A more complete description (and download) you'll find here: https://www.softpedia.com/get/Office-tools/Text-editors/EDXOR.shtml (https://www.softpedia.com/get/Office-tools/Text-editors/EDXOR.shtml).

2013 was the latest version (v1.65).
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: xtabber on January 28, 2020, 09:34 AM
Borland Reflex (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borland_Reflex)
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: mouser on January 28, 2020, 09:38 AM
xywrite text editor: http://www.xywrite.com/
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: xtabber on January 28, 2020, 01:58 PM
xywrite text editor: http://www.xywrite.com/
-mouser (January 28, 2020, 09:38 AM)

+1 !!!

xywrite was a lot more than a text editor.  It was an advanced word processing system that, within a purely text-based environment, anticipated many of the capabilities of today's web browsers.

And it was FAST!

But much of its speed and power came from implementing its own hardware interfaces internally, rather than relying on the operating system for screen and print drivers.  That was not sustainable as the personal computer industry expanded exponentially and also moved to a graphical environment.

Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: zridling on January 30, 2020, 01:42 PM
Google Desktop Search.
-kunkel321 (January 24, 2020, 03:52 PM)

Oh wow, I had definitely forgotten this one. Google's killed more of its own apps than any company in history!
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: superboyac on January 30, 2020, 04:44 PM
man, there are so many i'm forgetting.  software pre-iphone was so nice, generally speaking.  Before the iphone, windows software still had really nice IMO interfaces and lots of cool features.  then, as the pressure mounted to be similar to ios apps....these softwares became more cloud oriented, touch oriented (so all those nice features went away), and the whole poweruser environment we once had went away.  i mean, powerusers were already the minority back then, but now it's almost entirely gone.
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: ShadowMaster on January 30, 2020, 08:23 PM
HiJaak Pro was a great screen capture and graphic converter that was included with corel trace as of the last version i had used
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: app103 on February 01, 2020, 12:41 AM
Let me dig into my archive of forgotten software setup files....

Not including the plethora of web apps that are no more, here's my contribution to the list of apps I wish never died:


And games too numerous to mention.
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: oblivion on February 10, 2020, 09:10 AM
(Anybody remember Rusty n Edies, FidoNet, and Boardwatch Magazine?)
-40hz (January 24, 2020, 05:58 PM)
One part of that. I ran a FidoNet BBS right up to the early 2000s -- 2:25/108 -- and may have been among the last phoneline-based systems.

One of my old USR Courier modems was repurposed as the hardware part of an automated fax system that was finally switched off for the last time less than two years ago.

[Fun fact: not sure it was much used but I used a Courier for dialin access to my work system back in the mid 1990s. Security was handled with a password provided via whatever the heck comms program I was using, after which the Courier dropped the line and dialled back the number associated with that password. Hack that! :)

Oh yes. The whatever the heck comms program was probably Telix (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telix). That was pretty awesome too.]

And I just turned 58 on Friday. Which, given the above, is suddenly starting to sound believable. :)
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: hamradio on February 10, 2020, 05:54 PM
(Anybody remember Rusty n Edies, FidoNet, and Boardwatch Magazine?)
-40hz (January 24, 2020, 05:58 PM)

One part of that. I ran a FidoNet BBS right up to the early 2000s -- 2:25/108 -- and may have been among the last phoneline-based systems.
-oblivion (February 10, 2020, 09:10 AM)

Speaking of FidoNet/BBS in general I remember...

Synchronet BBS Software (http://www.synchro.net/) a long time ago and appears it is still going pretty good.
(Has support for Telnet, FTP, SMTP, POP3, IRC, NNTP, and HTTP according to the website.)
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: Lolipop Jones on February 11, 2020, 02:29 PM
FoxPro - The PC database to end all databases.
-40hz (January 24, 2020, 05:58 PM)

Ay-men to that!   I started my work life with Foxbase running on MS-DOS.  All I asked was for a weekly data dump of our COBOL financial files and I could put together reports in half a day that would take the mainframe guys 3-4 days to debug and run.

Winamp
-app103 (February 01, 2020, 12:41 AM)

Not forgotten by me!  Still use it almost every day.
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: Wuffke on March 24, 2020, 10:42 PM
For me it was WinXP. I'm still using it (among all later versions of Win) since I am using programs I need for work that have never been upgraded for later Win Versions. WinXP is actually the master sys to network all computers running later systems. WinXP still proves to be the most stable system. Win7,8, and even 10 are crashing (not often of course!) WinXP doesn't. The system runs 12 hours 7 days at average. The only problem is now to not get good graphic cards anymore that would run with XP. So far I failed to find an nvdia for my system. The old graphic card gets weaker and weaker, it won't supply any more dual screen, and when it fails completely, that would be the end of my XPeriance. Very sad!
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: MargotLinda on March 25, 2020, 04:39 AM
This 'ol lady still misses  XP Pro :(!
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: YannickDa on March 25, 2020, 05:52 AM
I'm still using Powermarks, BrainWave Generator, Jaangle (portable), WinChime, HotBasic, JauntePE, Space Empires III (v 1.17, november 1998), Jasc Image Robot, MangaMeeya, Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7, Bekky Mail, Bit Che, Acid View, BiromSoft Calc, NotPad, PolyEdit, TextPad 4, 3D Color Changer, CatFood Fortune Cookies, AXE 3.4, Jazz UPX, Naevius Directory Watcher and WinSpy 1.7.
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: tomgee88 on March 25, 2020, 10:35 AM
Lotus 123, the best spread sheet I ever used when working 30+ years ago.
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: oblivion on March 25, 2020, 10:47 AM
Lotus 123, the best spread sheet I ever used when working 30+ years ago.
-tomgee88 (March 25, 2020, 10:35 AM)
I liked CA SuperCalc better -- for what little it's worth. Similar in many ways but SuperCalc had something that was just awesome -- it worked out whether what you were typing was a number, text or a formula and just acted accordingly. So the prefixes you had to type in 123 (or pretty much anything else before or since) to identify what you were entering in a cell -- no need. Lovely. :)
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: reynolds_john on March 25, 2020, 12:34 PM
The one that comes to mind for me is WordStar, a ground breaking word processor from back in the character-mode CP/M & DOS days.  It didn't successfully make the jump to graphical environments.  They got killed by WordPerfect and MS Word.

Pioneered the use of the ESDX 'diamond' for cursor movement (when the Ctrl key was held down).  Way back then keyboards didn't always have dedicated arrow keys.  Made far more sense to me than Vi's HLJK scheme. 

I just threw out an old manual/floppy box from the 80's that I had kept around for nostalgia reasons.
-mwb1100 (January 24, 2020, 12:29 PM)

Holy cow that brings back memories. I used it in MCAS Iwakuni, Japan while stationed there in 1988. If you took a few to learn the syntax you could really do things very quickly. Thanks for the memories!
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: Chris on March 25, 2020, 07:47 PM
To store contacts, telephone numbers, addresses etc I still use PSA Cards. https://psa-cards.software.informer.com/
I registered the program years ago but is no  longer available or supported.
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: oblivion on March 26, 2020, 11:28 AM
Holy cow that brings back memories. I used it in MCAS Iwakuni, Japan while stationed there in 1988. If you took a few to learn the syntax you could really do things very quickly. Thanks for the memories!
-reynolds_john (March 25, 2020, 12:34 PM)
WordStar was awesome for touch-typists. You could do everything without moving your hands away from the home keys. Sure, there was function key support too -- later on, anyway -- but anyone who'd learned it properly could bash out documents faster than anyone working on pretty much any other platform.
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: DanR on March 26, 2020, 03:04 PM
X-News.
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: dantheman on March 26, 2020, 08:39 PM
Barca +1 email client (already mentioned) for sure!!  :-*

Digsby IM client (could check most popular ones).

Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: autohost on March 27, 2020, 10:14 AM
I'm still using Powermarks, BrainWave Generator, Jaangle (portable), WinChime, HotBasic, JauntePE, Space Empires III (v 1.17, november 1998), Jasc Image Robot, MangaMeeya, Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7, Bekky Mail, Bit Che, Acid View, BiromSoft Calc, NotPad, PolyEdit, TextPad 4, 3D Color Changer, CatFood Fortune Cookies, AXE 3.4, Jazz UPX, Naevius Directory Watcher and WinSpy 1.7.
-YannickDa (March 25, 2020, 05:52 AM)
Oh!  I see several here I loved!  WinChime and Paint Shop Pro 7.

I'll add another plug for WordStar.  I used it on my dad's Kaypro II in the mid 80's.

A newer one (early 90's) that I liked was 386Max!  A DOS program, it allowed the user to load memory-resident programs and drivers in the unused memory space between the 640k and 1meg area, so that more of the 640k space was available to regular DOS programs.  It also allowed easy configuration of the memory above the 1meg mark to allow programs to use Extended and/or Expanded memory.
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: YannickDa on March 27, 2020, 10:43 AM
It appears WinChime has been updated recently by its author to be compatible with Windows 10.
An update coming 15 years after the last one !  :Thmbsup:
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: oblivion on March 27, 2020, 12:46 PM
A newer one (early 90's) that I liked was 386Max!  A DOS program, it allowed the user to load memory-resident programs and drivers in the unused memory space between the 640k and 1meg area, so that more of the 640k space was available to regular DOS programs.  It also allowed easy configuration of the memory above the 1meg mark to allow programs to use Extended and/or Expanded memory.
-autohost (March 27, 2020, 10:14 AM)
Now that brings back memories. Quarterdeck QEMM/386 and DESQview. All that extra memory and multi-tasking DOS apps too. (Should have mentioned it above when I was reminiscing about the BBS -- DESKview let me run a BBS and use the PC for other things at the same time. Sounds trivial now, but pre-Windows that was kind of revolutionary. Not cheap but once you had it you never, ever wanted to do without it again...
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: rjbull on March 27, 2020, 03:57 PM
Now that brings back memories. Quarterdeck QEMM/386 and DESQview. All that extra memory and multi-tasking DOS apps too. (Should have mentioned it above when I was reminiscing about the BBS -- DESKview let me run a BBS and use the PC for other things at the same time. Sounds trivial now, but pre-Windows that was kind of revolutionary. Not cheap but once you had it you never, ever wanted to do without it again...
-oblivion (March 27, 2020, 12:46 PM)
+1   :up:

DOS with QEMM, DESQview, and 4DOS (or NDOS) as command processor was a greyhound and the fastest, most responsive and productive system I ever had - provided you didn't want graphics or the Internet.  <deep melancholy sigh>

IIRC, QEMM contained speeder-upper memory management technology that Quarterdeck called Virtual Real-time Object-Oriented Memory Management, or VROOMM for short.  I hope somebody got a small prize for dreaming up an acronym as twisted as that.
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: drgnfli133 on March 27, 2020, 07:16 PM
Battlefield 1942
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: Dormouse on April 05, 2020, 12:24 PM
Winamp - It was bought from AOL by Radionomy, and they promised to continue development, but they don't really seem that interested. A 3rd party that used to be part of the Winamp team at AOL, has taken up patching it and developing plugins to extend functionality under the name of WACUP, in the hopes of eventually releasing his own replacement
-app103 (February 01, 2020, 12:41 AM)
And the original developer, who sold it to AOL, founded Reaper, one of the best DAWs, which is still going strong - last release 3rd April.
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: panzer on April 05, 2020, 04:54 PM
  • Winamp (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winamp)

-app103 (February 01, 2020, 12:41 AM)
Winamp is still around:
https://winamp.com/
https://webamp.org/
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: m9833 on April 07, 2020, 07:50 AM
Chimp Notes (https://chimp-notes.software.informer.com/2.0/), probably my first auto saving note taking and outlining software. I use ResophNotes (https://resoph.com/ResophNotes/Welcome.html) and Simplenote (https://simplenote.com/) now But still have fond memories of Chimp Notes (https://chimp-notes.software.informer.com/2.0/).
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: JulianASmith on May 11, 2022, 12:43 AM
Greetings Scary Taskbar Girl,
I've only recently got my PC back running after more than two years. I noticed that the Yahoo Weather widget isn't functioning--again!  I went to the Donation Coder site to look for the fix you made available four years ago.  When it didn't work I posted a message to you on 5/09/'22 to ask you about it.  In searching further on the site I came across your post about it, that appears to have been dated 2/01/'20.  In that post you indicated that you would have to re-write the widget. 
I'm writing to ask you is there anything I can do to encourage you?  Would another donation be helpful?  Please let me know.  Thank you.
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: flamerz on May 22, 2022, 09:11 AM
I'm missing spartan clipboard.
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: rjbull on May 22, 2022, 02:43 PM
I'm missing spartan clipboard.
-flamerz (May 22, 2022, 09:11 AM)
If it was your favourite, OK, I understand - but there are an awful lot of good alternatives...
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: ibay770 on May 26, 2022, 11:37 AM
The one that comes to mind for me is WordStar, a ground breaking word processor from back in the character-mode CP/M & DOS days.  It didn't successfully make the jump to graphical environments.  They got killed by WordPerfect and MS Word.

Pioneered the use of the ESDX 'diamond' for cursor movement (when the Ctrl key was held down).  Way back then keyboards didn't always have dedicated arrow keys.  Made far more sense to me than Vi's HLJK scheme. 

I just threw out an old manual/floppy box from the 80's that I had kept around for nostalgia reasons.
-mwb1100 (January 24, 2020, 12:29 PM)

"ESDX 'diamond' for cursor movement (when the Ctrl key was held down" can you clarify what this means?  Also whats stopping someone from writing an addon for wordperfect to do the same?
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: ibay770 on May 26, 2022, 01:45 PM
For me it was WinXP. I'm still using it (among all later versions of Win) since I am using programs I need for work that have never been upgraded for later Win Versions. WinXP is actually the master sys to network all computers running later systems. WinXP still proves to be the most stable system. Win7,8, and even 10 are crashing (not often of course!) WinXP doesn't. The system runs 12 hours 7 days at average. The only problem is now to not get good graphic cards anymore that would run with XP. So far I failed to find an nvdia for my system. The old graphic card gets weaker and weaker, it won't supply any more dual screen, and when it fails completely, that would be the end of my XPeriance. Very sad!
-Wuffke (March 24, 2020, 10:42 PM)

Sounds like you would enjoy this: https://archive.org/details/WinXPIntegralEdition-211221

It's a team effort to keep xp running on modern hardware.
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: ibay770 on May 26, 2022, 01:48 PM
I know what web page I miss: Zaine's Great Software List.

In 2005 it was the bee's knees, and somewhat of an inspiration for donationcoder..
https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=8988

[ You are not allowed to view attachments ] (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=8988)
-mouser (January 24, 2020, 06:48 PM)

A more modern version here: https://github.com/Awesome-Windows/Awesome
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: 40hz on May 27, 2022, 09:38 AM
Two of my old favorites were FoxPro and Rbase. Rbase (my fav) actually could reasonably claim to be fully relational. Rbase had the better built-in query language and programmability of the two. I mostly used the BCD edition of Turbo Pascal when I needed to do any real FoxPro programming. But FoxPro was the absolute performance leader due to its indexing optimization technology FoxPro called:Rushmore.

From what I could gather, it was somehow “indexing the indexes” in the database as those more knowledgeable than me claimed. Sort and lookup speeds were utterly phenomenal for the era and PC platforms available. Instantaneous compared to the competition. But both were exceptional database frameworks.

My big “thing” back in those days was inventory management and MRP II, which has since been replaced by ERP. (PC type CPUs technology and software of that era lacked the horsepower and resources needed to run a genuine ERP program.) Something I had a fair degree of expertise in back then. I did a lot of development and programming for SMB clients with those two databases back in the days when I was still mostly a programmer - or “coder” in today’s vernacular.  ;)

I also very much miss Microsoft Money. Superior in every way to Quicken AFAIC.  :Thmbsup:
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: ibay770 on May 27, 2022, 01:44 PM
HiJaak Pro was a great screen capture and graphic converter that was included with corel trace as of the last version i had used
-ShadowMaster (January 30, 2020, 08:23 PM)

What could it do that today's programs can't? You have Sharex for screenshots and Sagethumbs for thumbnails.
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: irkregent on May 27, 2022, 04:11 PM
Two of my old favorites were FoxPro and Rbase.
<snip>
But FoxPro was the absolute performance leader due to its indexing optimization technology FoxPro called:Rushmore.
-40hz (May 27, 2022, 09:38 AM)

Wow, is that a "blast from the past"!  I haven't heard that term "Rushmore" in this context since about 1994-5.  In my job at the time we were doing a lot of mailing list work and we found FoxPro to be a far better tool for manipulating that data than the antiquated database tool we were already using for in-house applications.
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: irkregent on May 27, 2022, 06:21 PM
A more modern version here: https://github.com/Awesome-Windows/Awesome
-ibay770 (May 26, 2022, 01:48 PM)

This is a great list.  There are a number of goodies there that I have never heard of.  Thanks for the point.
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: irkregent on May 27, 2022, 07:20 PM
PC-Write was, I think, the first software I personally paid for.  I used that character-mode word processor for years before finally succumbing to the seduction of Windows GUI writing.  I still have the PC-Write packet here somewhere.  I'm too sentimental to throw it out.
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: ibay770 on May 29, 2022, 12:40 PM
A more modern version here: https://github.com/Awesome-Windows/Awesome
-ibay770 (May 26, 2022, 01:48 PM)

This is a great list.  There are a number of goodies there that I have never heard of.  Thanks for the point.
-irkregent (May 27, 2022, 06:21 PM)

My pleasure.  I made a list (https://techmissingmanual.wordpress.com/2022/04/21/windows-software-to-install-after-a-new-install/) with the stuff I use personally.
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: brahman on May 31, 2022, 08:53 PM
Daytimer Organizer - my favorite PIM of all times. Never found a PIM so perfect ever again. It seems all PIMs become dumber and less customizable every year.

AMI Pro Word processor, the most easy to use word processor I ever worked with

Quattro Pro spreadsheet - the first spreadsheet that was actually fun to work with.

Synchronize It! and Compare It! - superb GUI design, I still use them to this day for small simple jobs - one can still buy them, they still work, but unfortunately not upgraded for many many years. Synchronize It! can even copy sparse files, which is extremely rare.

Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: irkregent on June 01, 2022, 09:16 AM
Synchronize It! and Compare It! - superb GUI design, I still use them to this day for small simple jobs - one can still buy them, they still work, but unfortunately not upgraded for many many years. Synchronize It! can even copy sparse files, which is extremely rare.
-brahman (May 31, 2022, 08:53 PM)

I still use "Compare It!" for source code comparisons.  For me, the killer feature is the ability to recognize the syntax of a rather obscure programming language (Progress' OpenEdge ABL) by downloading a syntax definition file written for some other text editor (I forget which one now).
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: wraith808 on June 01, 2022, 10:31 AM
Synchronize It! and Compare It! - superb GUI design, I still use them to this day for small simple jobs - one can still buy them, they still work, but unfortunately not upgraded for many many years. Synchronize It! can even copy sparse files, which is extremely rare.
-brahman (May 31, 2022, 08:53 PM)

Have they been forgotten? I thought they were still being sold? I use them all the time.

https://www.grigsoft.com/wincmp3.htm
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: irkregent on June 01, 2022, 12:29 PM
Synchronize It! and Compare It! - superb GUI design, I still use them to this day for small simple jobs - one can still buy them, they still work, but unfortunately not upgraded for many many years. Synchronize It! can even copy sparse files, which is extremely rare.
-brahman (May 31, 2022, 08:53 PM)

Have they been forgotten? I thought they were still being sold? I use them all the time.

https://www.grigsoft.com/wincmp3.htm
-wraith808 (June 01, 2022, 10:31 AM)

Maybe it is more like not getting the love they deserve!
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: Ath on June 01, 2022, 12:35 PM
Synchronize It! and Compare It! - superb GUI design, I still use them to this day for small simple jobs - one can still buy them, they still work, but unfortunately not upgraded for many many years. Synchronize It! can even copy sparse files, which is extremely rare.
-brahman (May 31, 2022, 08:53 PM)
I've been a licensed used for, AFAIR, over 20 year, and still use it at least a couple times a month, and sometimes even on a daily basis. Best compare tools ever :Thmbsup:
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: Joe Hone on June 04, 2022, 09:39 AM
Cool Edit Pro. It was the leading audio production software up until Adobe bought it from Syntrillium in 2003 and renamed it Audition 1.0. Then Adobe tampered with it and released Audition 1.5 which was plagued with problems. CEP is so stable that I visited a radio station in New Market Virginia in 2019 and that was still using it for radio production. I assume that was on a PC running Windows XP but I didn't ask about that.
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: sphere on July 11, 2022, 11:37 PM
A more modern version here: https://github.com/Awesome-Windows/Awesome
-ibay770 (May 26, 2022, 01:48 PM)

This is a great list.  There are a number of goodies there that I have never heard of.  Thanks for the point.
-irkregent (May 27, 2022, 06:21 PM)

My pleasure.  I made a list (https://techmissingmanual.wordpress.com/2022/04/21/windows-software-to-install-after-a-new-install/) with the stuff I use personally.
-ibay770 (May 29, 2022, 12:40 PM)
@ibay770 Have you used WinToUSB successfully?
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: ibay770 on July 14, 2022, 02:12 PM
I haven't tried the W2G yet, but I may try it out sometime.

A more modern version here: https://github.com/Awesome-Windows/Awesome
-ibay770 (May 26, 2022, 01:48 PM)

This is a great list.  There are a number of goodies there that I have never heard of.  Thanks for the point.
-irkregent (May 27, 2022, 06:21 PM)

My pleasure.  I made a list (https://techmissingmanual.wordpress.com/2022/04/21/windows-software-to-install-after-a-new-install/) with the stuff I use personally.
-ibay770 (May 29, 2022, 12:40 PM)
@ibay770 Have you used WinToUSB successfully?
-sphere (July 11, 2022, 11:37 PM)
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: ibay770 on July 14, 2022, 02:13 PM
Cool Edit Pro. It was the leading audio production software up until Adobe bought it from Syntrillium in 2003 and renamed it Audition 1.0. Then Adobe tampered with it and released Audition 1.5 which was plagued with problems. CEP is so stable that I visited a radio station in New Market Virginia in 2019 and that was still using it for radio production. I assume that was on a PC running Windows XP but I didn't ask about that.
-Joe Hone (June 04, 2022, 09:39 AM)

Interesting. Personally I like the UI of audition better, but here (https://www.rapencolectivo.com.ar/Programas/Cool%20Edit%20Pro%202.1_by_HellHacker%C2%AE/) you go.
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: ibay770 on July 14, 2022, 02:15 PM
Well perhaps you will like UltraCompare (https://www.ultraedit.com/products/ultracompare/) then

Synchronize It! and Compare It! - superb GUI design, I still use them to this day for small simple jobs - one can still buy them, they still work, but unfortunately not upgraded for many many years. Synchronize It! can even copy sparse files, which is extremely rare.
-brahman (May 31, 2022, 08:53 PM)

Have they been forgotten? I thought they were still being sold? I use them all the time.

https://www.grigsoft.com/wincmp3.htm
-wraith808 (June 01, 2022, 10:31 AM)

Maybe it is more like not getting the love they deserve!
-irkregent (June 01, 2022, 12:29 PM)
Title: Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?
Post by: ibay770 on July 14, 2022, 02:25 PM
You can run 16bit stuff on win10 with this (https://github.com/leecher1337/ntvdmx64)
Win11 doesn't work with it as yet, though
Claris EZ Business Cards
-app103 (February 01, 2020, 12:41 AM)