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Ask HN: Which abandoned proprietary software would you resurrect?

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Re: Ask HN: Which abandoned proprietary software would you resurrect?

#371

Post by tptacek »

IfOnlyYouKnew wrote: post #124
andrewmcwatters wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When getting directions, you could designate a number of areas on the map as “avoid area”. It's noteworthy, because I've only seen this feature in Rolls-Royce navigation in recent times.

It does seem somewhat paranoid. Might be useful to exclude certain routes with an easy interface, but tremendously harmful by seemingly legitimizing the myth of “no-go” areas that has recently become a favorite talking point of the alt-right in my (perfectly safe) country.

I don't disagree about "no-go" areas, but since the comment to which you replied didn't mention those, and your own comment set off a sprawl of off-topic comments, I wish you hadn't written this here.

Re: Ask HN: Which abandoned proprietary software would you resurrect?

#372

Post by itsyogesh »

With all the comments regarding the resurrection of Windows Phone, I really want to know the developer experience that came with developing WP apps. I haven't had a chance to work on it, but was there any way something like flutter or react-native could have saved the ecosystem.

Re: Ask HN: Which abandoned proprietary software would you resurrect?

#373

Post by bootlooped »

ioman wrote: post #46

Microsoft MapPoint. This was a phenomenal piece of mapping software and had features I haven’t been able to find in any of the online map replacements. When getting directions, you could designate a number of areas on the map as “avoid area”. You could map all sorts of census data. Want to colorize the map based on crime rate divided by median home price? No problem. You could import lots of data from a spreadsheet a…

I would resurrect Microsoft Streets and Trips. I have never used it, but my father still does, and swears it is better than any online mapping software. Part of the reason I would like to resurrect it is that then I would no longer have to figure out how to install his ancient CD copy of it on whatever netbook he buys every 2-3 years.

Re: Ask HN: Which abandoned proprietary software would you resurrect?

#374

Post by kevindong »

Mailbox.

The cross platform email client bought and abandoned by Dropbox. To date, I have not found a cross platform (or really any single platform) app that's as fast as Mailbox. I don't know how they did it, but everything felt truly instant. All of my devices would simultaneously ring when an email arrived. Archiving/deleting/snoozing emails instantly synced across all platforms (including the web Gmail client).

The aesthetics of Mailbox remains unmatched by any email client available today.

Re: Ask HN: Which abandoned proprietary software would you resurrect?

#376

Post by IAmEveryone »

tptacek wrote: post #371
IfOnlyYouKnew wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does seem somewhat paranoid. Might be useful to exclude certain routes with an easy interface, but tremendously harmful by seemingly legitimizing the myth of “no-go” areas that has recently become a favorite talking point of the alt-right in my (perfectly safe) country.

I don't disagree about "no-go" areas, but since the comment to which you replied didn't mention those, and your own comment set off a sprawl of off-topic comments, I wish you hadn't written this here.

I believe the mention of Rolls-Royce, in association with “avoid area” may (legitimately) create the impression that this is a feature for pearl-clutching snobs afraid of “dark people” coming for their women and other belongings.

It’s perfectly okay to consider this and still say the feature’s benefits are overwhelming. But the rabiat outburst of denying even the possibility is an indictment of the posters more than the suggestion that triggered them.

Re: Ask HN: Which abandoned proprietary software would you resurrect?

#378

Post by armitron »

jvagner wrote: post #230

Qmodem Not really, except: I was thinking the other day that massive communities like Facebook and Reddit suffer because EVERYONE's allowed in, to an unlimited degree. Everything reverts to the newbie state and every sh*t post can define the threads. Remember dial-up? BBSes had limited lines and you'd have to set your (non-multi-tasking) computer to redial so you could visit your BBS. Moderators, paying members would…

I think what you describe has more to do with the population in general than the artificial limits of the various mediums.

In BBS and early Internet days (pre-95 or so), people who were using computers were highly intelligent. Certainly above average.

These days, everyone and their dog is on the Internet. The masses have moved in and thus the medium shifted to accommodate them, by dumbing itself down to the lowest common denominator. With the shift away from a knowledge repository to advertising and consumerism ("the spectacle") the SnR has dropped significantly.

In cybernetic terms, during the early years of the Internet, the space acted upon you, by programming you. Thus, if you lacked knowledge, you had to put in the time and educate yourself in order to explore and learn to use this new space efficiently. Cyberspace forced you to get better.

These days, the opposite happens. The masses act upon the space and dictate its evolution, downwards.

Looking back, I can't help but mourn what could have been but I also feel enormously lucky to have lived through it all.

Re: Ask HN: Which abandoned proprietary software would you resurrect?

#379

Post by dmitrygr »

protogenes wrote: post #147

PalmOS (the original one)

Working on bringing this (os5) back on modern cheap microcontrollers. For fun. So far, I have it booting on an STM429 Dev board. I post occasional updates in /r/palm

(I'm the guy who was palmpowerups)

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