Windows XP. I still see it running ancient kiosks and machine tools.
Ask HN: What are the pieces of software that may last forever?
41–48 of 48 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are the pieces of software that may last forever?
#42AMI BIOS?
Re: Ask HN: What are the pieces of software that may last forever?
#43The Linux kernel. Just because it’s everywhere right now. Even in 1000 years when hardware has moved on, someone will want to virtualize/emulate some hardware that was running Linux.
Re: Ask HN: What are the pieces of software that may last forever?
#44SAP will last forever.
Re: Ask HN: What are the pieces of software that may last forever?
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am pretty sure a FOSS alternative to Matlab will win in a long term. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Octave .
While I have only worked in engineering industry for a few years, I have never seen any large scale, or for that matter any scale, use of octave. Are there example of companies replacing matlab with octave? I don't see that happening because of 2 reasons: 1. Octave does not have the inclination or man power to replicate all famous toolboxes of matlab. They are not even going for 100% compatibility, their home page sa…
> 1. Octave does not have the inclination or man power to replicate all famous toolboxes of matlab.
I am talking about long term. Problems you list are the result of lack of the resources. After many years, even small volunteer effort combines into impressive results. See GNU/Linux.
See also: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22988584
> 2. I don't think managers want to give away the ability to pick up a phone and shout at someone when something doesn't work.
Nothing prevents companies from supporting FOSS. I do not see any problem here, apart from wide adoption.
Re: Ask HN: What are the pieces of software that may last forever?
#46Hello World examples.
Re: Ask HN: What are the pieces of software that may last forever?
#47Does the browser stack (HTML/CSS/JavaScript) count as software? If so, I don't see any of those going anywhere. The world wide web probably isn't going to be replaced anytime soon, and web browser fundamentals probably aren't going to change either.
Then again, programming languages and scripting languages in general seem like they'll last forever. Sites and programs may come and go, but the languages they're written in will probably be around for the long haul.
Re: Ask HN: What are the pieces of software that may last forever?
#48sqlite, definitely. It has a multitude of possible applications and you can built on top of it to make a more advanced use-case possible.