Greatest Software Ever Written?

I just came across an article published last summer by Information Week, titled: "What's the The Greatest Software Ever Written?". It lists 10 in order (according to the author). The original Macintosh OS comes in at #8.

"I can still remember the first time I sat down at a Macintosh at a hole-in-the-wall computer shop in Endicott, N.Y. I got that 'rocket science' feeling: I could see what it was doing, but I couldn't believe it. The Mac incorporated the power of object-oriented computing into the user interface, and users have never looked back. The first Mac operating system was great software."

Number one? UNIX.

Article on long side, but a good read:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=191901844&pgno=1&queryText=

Agreements? Disagreement? Omissions?

I am going to post a companion thread on "What is the Greatest Mac Software Ever Written?" (just to keep things separate).

There is a related sidebar article: "How Windows Measures On The Scale of Greatness" http://www.informationweek.com/news...5XP4KSQSNDLRCKH0CJUNN2JVN?articleID=191902050

Greatest Mac Software Ever Written?

Obvious choice: OS-X

But OS aside, lets go with apps.

My choice has to go with Aldus Pagemaker for the original Macintosh computer that launched the Desktop Publishing revolution. It was the first page layout software that printed out exactly the layout that you developed on screen. It was simple to use, yet powerful—and worked perfectly. It was the first program that operated the way my mind thinks. I loved it!

What do you think was the greatest Mac software ever written?

Soooo easy.

QuickSilver

how did I ever live without it

LOL.

Nice!

RIDE said:

Soooo easy.

QuickSilver

Click to expand...

so true.

Napster, not because it allowed copyrighted material to be traded but because it brought about the much needed debates about things like net neutrality and privacy on the net. It and programs like it are forcing people to take a good look at how information moves across, who sees, and attempts to regulate the net which for our generation is one of the biggest issues there is right now.

Truthfully, I'll probably have to go with AutoCad, Photoshop, Final Cut Pro as top contenders.

Not to sound like a gaming nerd, but I think that GLQuake and Unreal were also real groundbreakers also. Obviously the evolution of that technology has been great. The physics, texture, and lighting engines, etc. are really cool. Real-time rendering baby!

I reckon 'the spreadsheet' is up there. I don't think any particular one needs singling out (IIRC visicalc was the first popular one), but as a productivity tool it's top of my list.

Photoshop rates hightly as well, for me.

RIDE said:

Soooo easy.

QuickSilver

Click to expand...

hope I'm not threadjacking here, but I just installed QuickSilver and I'm not sure what's so great about it... doesn't Spotlight pretty much make this obsolete?

I tried QuickSilver once, and didn't really see what the fuss was all about. But then I'm firmly a mouse user.

There's an article on RixStep.com that berates QuickSilver for bloated file sizes.