16 Aug 2006
The Greatest Software Ever

I can pretty much go along with this. Here's the list they came up with:

  1. Unix
  2. IBM's System R
  3. gene-sequencing software at the Institute for Genomic Research
  4. IBM System 360 OS
  5. Java language
  6. Mosaic browser
  7. Sabre system
  8. Macintosh OS
  9. Excel spreadsheet
  10. Apollo guidance system
  11. Google search rank
  12. The Morris worm

About the only changes I'd make would be to toss Java and replace it with C/C++ and to replace Excel with VisiCalc, which was the originator of the spreadsheet idea and which started the whole spreadsheet craze that Excel and Lotus rode in on. I'd probably toss the Mac OS, too, and replace it with either the original from Xerox PARC or X-Windows from MIT, which together formed the conceptual basis for both M$ Windows and the Mac OS.

Information Week has an piece on the 12 greatest pieces of software ever. It also notes some that didn't make the cut and why. Their weblog covers 5 others that didn't make the cut.

(link) [Slashdot]

07:39 /Technology | 2 comments | permanent link