eWeek's Peter Coffee has compiled his idea of the 25 killer applications of all time. "Microsoft's Vista has widely inspired the 'Why do I need that?' question, which past 'killer applications' have answered in different ways for different platforms during three decades of personal computing."
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Member since:2006-10-08
"This is about "killer apps"...I'm not sure an OS can be considered an "app" in this sense.
I agree. At least the author recognized "Windows 3.0" and MacOS being operating systems and not applications. :-)
"If so, then DOS should also be considered...and UNIX for that matter. And of course Linux. :-)"
No, I have to disagree. DOS - if you talk about MS-DOS - is hardly to be considered an operating system because it lacks essential funcionalities every OS has to offer (at least according to standard DIN 44300): proper control of program execution, tools for hardware and software maintenance and for error detection. MS-DOS does not offer these.
"Lists such as these are in fact very subjective...one could also have added [...] Cubase, which has revolutionized musix and SFX mixing...they're not any more specialized than, say, Mathematica. "
Special solutions such as Mathematica you'll find in educational contexts and research only. Even "Internet Explorer 1.0" isn't that famous it should be mentioned here. But it's the authors (very subjective) list, so I won't complain about what he considers to be a killer app - even if nobody knows it or it's an OS. :-)
Member since:2005-07-02
No, I have to disagree. DOS - if you talk about MS-DOS - is hardly to be considered an operating system because it lacks essential funcionalities every OS has to offer[...]
True, but it did hold the crown as the most prevalent PC "Disk Operating System" for quite a few years (considering that Windows sat on top of it until Win95). So it may not have been a true OS, but if OS can be included in the killer app list (which, as I said, still seems dubious to me), then MS-DOS should also be considered, for all its faults.
Member since:
2005-07-02
This is about "killer apps"...I'm not sure an OS can be considered an "app" in this sense.
If so, then DOS should also be considered...and UNIX for that matter. And of course Linux. :-)
Lists such as these are in fact very subjective...one could also have added Softimage, who helped spark the 3D graphics revolution, or Avid, who brought non-linear editing to the mainstream (so much that now linear editing is all but dead), or Cubase, which has revolutionized musix and SFX mixing...they're not any more specialized than, say, Mathematica.
Edited 2006-12-16 19:11