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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?

#761

Post by GordonS »

david_p wrote: post #568
skrebbel wrote: post #384

Jasc Paint Shop Pro - before Corel picked them up and gave the software a horrible identity crisis. It had all the right features for graphics editing targeted at the web. Mixing vector layers with raster layers, both fully featured, is still something many modern programs either don't have, or half-ass. And it was dirt cheap, compared to the competition.

I still have PSP v7 installed. Using it as an image viewer and photo editor almost daily. I'm also using it to draw in vector mode. It's so fast, so lightweight, and so fully featured.

Same here, as I still haven't found anything with a similar feature set that I can quickly edit images with :(

I've tried Paint.NET and others, but none of them feel as intuitive to me.

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

#762

Post by jackson1way »

skrebbel wrote: post #384

Jasc Paint Shop Pro - before Corel picked them up and gave the software a horrible identity crisis. It had all the right features for graphics editing targeted at the web. Mixing vector layers with raster layers, both fully featured, is still something many modern programs either don't have, or half-ass. And it was dirt cheap, compared to the competition.

Yes!! I loved Jasc Paint Shop Pro too. Until this day I have a PSP7 copy from like 2002 with me. Corel completly ruined it.

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

#763

Post by Fnoord »

lytedev wrote: post #305
selimthegrim wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not still a thing?

I think he was recommending it as a modern alternative?

Both kinda.

Yes, it is still a thing.

It is amazing software yet also amazingly expensive [1] for those trying to get into the field, or not from a first world country.

[1] https://www.hex-rays.com/cgi-bin/quote.cgi

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

#765

Post by Youden »

jerrac wrote: post #321
cpcallen wrote: post #30

Aperture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aperture_(software) I would happily pay for an update that fixed outstanding bugs and ensured compatibility with future versions of macOS. It would be nice to have some new features, too, but it is basically "good enough" as it is and I dread the day I can no longer run it. I'm really not sure what I will do. The claim that Photos was going to be a meaningful replacement for Ape…

You could try Luminar 2018. Library management is coming, and it's developing tools are (IMO) better than lightroom. It's also very reasonably priced. That plus an Ubuntu vm for importing via shotwell is what I use.

> Library management is coming

Specifically, the date is December 18. There's also a (small) discount if you buy in the next 8 days: https://skylum.com/luminar

Not involved at all, just discovered this while looking around.

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

#767

Post by MasterYoda »

bhauer wrote: post #156

* Windows Phone. We need a third viable option in the mobile space. This week we are concerned about the loss of a browser engine, recognizing this is unhealthy for the market. Windows Phone was terrific in many ways and recent concepts by fans such as @boxnwhisker (Harry Dohyun Kim) [1] show how beautiful the Metro design could be today. * Microsoft Image Composer. A little known sprite-oriented graphic arts program…

> We need a third viable option in the mobile space

Agree. It feels like apple respect users privacy which is great, but are you not interested in ios you are stuck with android and how google collects everything about its users, which feels really bad. I also think that "google play store" is rather bad. So it really needs competition here and a 3rd option.

What I really hope is that Microsoft (which have the muscles) should embrace android fully and build an "MS android app store" and an ecosystem around it for android so there could be an real option and competition to google and "google play store" on android.

WP died a lot because it did have to few apps. But because this should be android, developers shouldn't need to convert any apps, just simple upload the same app to "MS android app store" too, more or less. This way they could get a lot of apps in their app store and fast. To get developers to upload they could give better deals (ex lower %) and for users they could give an better user experience, focus on privacy like apple to differentiate them self from google and play store etc to get traction and popularity.

If MS did and got some traction, smartphone manufacturers would have an real option not to be forced to install play store and all googles apps just to be able to sell their phones, because there whould be an viable option for it users to download all android apps they want anyways. And competition is always good for consumers. At least for me, I would love to buy an android phone without google, with someone that respected and focused on privacy, and with an good app store out of the box.

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

#768

Post by mcv »

froindt wrote: post #723
freehunter wrote: post #364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking of railroad simulation games, Sid Meier's Railroads! is still one of my favorite games of all time, even though it doesn't work on any system with more than 2GB of RAM. Everything about that game was perfect. Nothing has matched it since.

How does Sid Meier's Railroads compare to Railroad Tycoon? Growing up I played Railroad Tycoon II and Monopoly Tycoon a lot, which actually gave pretty good lessons in business. Issuing bonds at 7% are annoying to pay back, understanding overhead costs, etc. Also, for what it's worth, Railroads seems to be on Steam for $9.99. Pretty sure it'd work with more than 2 GB of RAM. There's also a bundle with Railroad Tycoon…

I've also seen some version of Railroad Tycoon on gog.com. They're great with older games.

But all of those are pretty complex games. Great for me, but not so much for my kids. Choo Choo Steam Trains was aimed at a younger audience; still challenging, but soon perfect for my 4 year old train nut.

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

#769

Post by JacobiX »

Softimage|XSI : 3D animation, modeling and rendering. It was used in the film, video game and advertising industries as a tool to generate digital characters, environments and visual effects. It has a unique user interface with some pretty awesome features. Autodesk acquired the Softimage brand and 3D animation assets from Avid for approximately $35 million just to kill it some years later. Edit: add info about Autodesk

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

#770

Post by newscracker »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #743
swlkr wrote: post #700

1password before the cloud only version

You can still buy it. The cloud version is optional.

It’s almost impossible to buy the standalone (non-subscription) version. When I (re)checked a few months ago, there (still) was no link or support article about how to buy this. AgileBits follows a dark pattern of keeping this hidden. If it wants money from people who like the standalone version, it shouldn’t make it next to impossible to figure out how and where to buy it or upgrade to it.

As far as I’m concerned, this version might not as well exist.

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