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2+ decade-old word processors were fantastic at their jobs, and did 98+% of whatever needs to be done today. It would be great if old codebases could be liberat
by flenserboy 3y ago
2+ decade-old word processors were fantastic at their jobs, and did 98+% of whatever needs to be done today. It would be great if old codebases could be liberated, cleaned-up, and turned into all-but-perfect tools for the job. Older spreadsheets, databases, etc., could also be renewed this way — but I doubt the corporations holding the rights to them would be interested in making this sort of thing happen. Too little in it for them, especially as (ideally) spy/tracking hooks would not be included in the package.
- NovaDudely 3y agoAbsolutely. This is why I feel like projects Libre office are disappointing to both optimists and pessimists. They are free and open but the performance and some capabilities are not so stellar. Maybe there is the possibility to trim down a package like that into something akin to what we had in the 90's but, funnily enough, there is a lot of that 90's legacy that was stacked onto, it looks like there is just too much legacy in it to make that a viable path.
- int_19h 3y agoIt's not as easy as it sounds. Making those apps work fast enough on hardware they were originally written on often involved highly convoluted optimized code, and sometimes even handwritten assembly. There is a valid point here, but I don't think reviving old codebases is a good starting point in many cases.
- flenserboy 3y agoYou're right on the ease of porting code. It's a shame that so much has been made over the years, and well, and seems to just disappear into the ether.