11 ms·

Ask HN: Examples of desktop software with 20+ years of longevity?

Some desktop apps have been developed for 20+ years and still running and available. There are not many desktop apps with longevity (and rewrites). Examples of apps still available: - Quarx: QuarkXPress (1987) - Corel: WordPerfect (bought by Corel in 1996), CorelDraw (1989) - Xara: Xara (1994) - a Windows vector illustration app still in development - Fontlab: Fontlab (1993 for Windows) - Bare Bones Software: BBEdit (1993) - UltraEdit: UltraEdit (1994) - Borland/Embarcadero: Delphi (1995) - Fantaisie Software: PureBasic (2000 for Windows) - IBM/Eclipse Foundation: Eclipse (2001) What other examples of desktop apps 20+ years old and still in development? (Excluding Microsoft, Apple and Adobe examples because everyone recognise their apps.)

1970-01-01 3y ago
DOOM https://www.doomworld.com/cacowards/ https://www.doomworld.com/cacowards/
okeuro49 3y ago
IntelliJ IDEA. 1.0 / January 2001; 22 years ago
d--b 3y ago
Basically creative suites: - Photoshop - Gimp - Blender - Maya 3D - 3ds Max - Audacity - Ableton Live Office stuff: - Microsoft Office - SAP ERPs
- irrational 3y ago
  This was my first thought. I remember using Photoshop in the 1990s.
sanssoucis 3y ago
The first version of the visual programming language / software vvvv first appeared in 1998: https://visualprogramming.net/ https://visualprogramming.net/
eithed 3y ago
WinSCP - 23y
- Temporary_31337 3y ago
  And likewise Putty from 1999
jjgreen 3y ago
Vmware workstation, released 1999
jgrahamc 3y ago
QuickBooks is 40 years old. It was released in 1983. TurboTax is 39 years old. Microsoft Word was released in 1989. I suspect there's a lot of old Windows software.
- jtotheh 3y ago
  modern word and excel really started on the mac, earlier than that.
  - DamonHD 3y ago
    https://www.theregister.com/2017/11/24/microsoft_excel_30_years_old/ https://www.theregister.com/2017/11/24/microsoft_excel_30_ye...
aaron695 3y ago
It's might be easier to list what failed? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:2003_software https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:2003_software CD/DVD writing software is gone, from life, possibly still being developed. Yep still going strong https://www.cyberlink.com/blog/media-player-windows/983/best-dvd-burning-software https://www.cyberlink.com/blog/media-player-windows/983/best...
itronitron 3y ago
GIMP, and probably Inkscape
mtmail 3y ago
Firefox 2004 = 18 years, though I remember using the older version Firebird (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_early_version_history https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_early_version_history) already. Thunderbird (July 2003)
- ollien 3y ago
  heh, I was gonna say Paint.NET but that was also 2004; just a year off!
- grey_earthling 3y ago
  And SeaMonkey is still very recognisably the same program as Mozilla Suite 1.0 from 2002.
simon_acca 3y ago
The parasolid geometrical kernel is from the 80's, underlies many of the major CAD products today. Same for Dassault's ACIS and its lineage. Also: VLC, Matlab, Mathematica, many of the major DAW programs like Cubase
- rodface 3y ago
  My mind immediately jumped to CAD (that being my domain) While a lot of packages have come and gone, the heavy hitters have been around a while: Siemens NX (Unigraphics) 1973 DS CATIA 1982 Autodesk AutoCAD 1982 PTC Creo (Pro/Engineer) 1987 The baby of the bunch is DS Solidworks 1995, still 27 years.
ss48 3y ago
Notepad++ is close: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notepad%2B%2B https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notepad%2B%2B, 19 years ago. It's text editing engine, Scintilla, is 24 years old https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scintilla_(software) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scintilla_(software) Staroffice which became OpenOffice and Then Libreoffice would be another AutoCAD is 40 years old
- adeon 3y ago
  I love Notepad++. I dual-boot Windows and Linux and on Linux side it's all fancy neovim setups. But when I boot Windows to play games, it's always Notepad++ I use to edit game mods or their configuration etc. Happy to see it's still maintained, according to Wikipedia, last update this month. Even happier to see it's open source(!?) I can't remember if it was always open source or if it became open source at some point.
  - shrimp_emoji 3y ago
    On Linux, I use Kate, the (imo superior) Notepad++. It even has vim bindings (which I turn on accidentally and then have to burn the editor with fire until it stops)!
    - g8oz 3y ago
      Does Kate have a function list panel that supports Markdown headings? And the ability to define projects that include files from all over the file system rather than just one directory? Those are killer NP++ features for me.
  - qup 3y ago
    I have similar fond memories. I think it's the first development tool I ever paid for, and I do think I paid for it. There was another editor that I liked at that time, though, and it's possible I'm confusing which one I paid for. But Notepad++ won in the end.
olivierestsage 3y ago
Emacs comes to mind: it has a codebase stretching back to the 1970s and is still actively developed, with a dedicated following of users (myself included).
- slightwinder 3y ago
  Emacs is not really the classical desktop-app. It's a terminal-app that just happened to also have a GUI.
  - nequo 3y ago
    I think most people use it with the GUI, and the GUI version has features that the terminal-only version doesn't.
    - slightwinder 3y ago
      I also use the GUI, because of additional keys supported by it. But like most(?) people, I've deactivated the GUI-elements, as they are pretty useless. But ok, I guess it could be called a desktop-app because of this.
      - nequo 3y ago
        I also routinely rely on the GUI version’s ability to display images inlined in the buffer. It is true that it doesn’t have the UX of other, newer GUIs, but it is still meaningfully different from the terminal version.
        slightwinder 3y ago
        Well, technically, this depends on the environment and is also working in proper terminal. But all the proper terminals are AFAIK GUI-terminals, so it's a thin line I guess.
  - 0atman 3y ago
    Or perhaps an operating system just missing a good text editor ;-) (to be clear, I love emacs, and use spacemacs as my distro!)
jakelazaroff 3y ago
Panic's Transmit debuted in the late 90s and is still going strong: https://www.panic.com/transmit/ https://www.panic.com/transmit/ Coincidentally, this post is currently adjacent to one on the Thunderbird logo redesign: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36063943 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36063943
hoten 3y ago
My hobby is working on a 20+ year game engine. Still occasionally delete DOS-only code in it. https://github.com/ArmageddonGames/ZQuestClassic https://github.com/ArmageddonGames/ZQuestClassic
niklas_a00 3y ago
Reason (music making software). Released in 2000 and still an actively developed code base. Still some code from 23 years ago running in production :)
- detaro 3y ago
  music software is a full field of long-running products: Cubase: 1989 Pro Tools: 1991 Logic Pro: 1993 FL Studio: 1997 Ableton Live: 2001 Max/MXP: 1980s, 90s as commercial product
  - ssttoo 3y ago
    Also notation software: Musescore 2002 Sibelius 1993 Encore 1984 Finale 1988
Sujeto 3y ago
FL Studio (aka Fruity Loops) >The first version of FruityLoops (1.0.0) was developed by Didier Dambrin and was partially released on December 18, 1997.[13] Its official launch was in early 1998
codegladiator 3y ago
Calibre ~16 years VLC ~22 years
0atman 3y ago
This is very normal in the open source world: Half of the desktop software included in a modern Linux distro I was using in the late 90s! From memory: VLC, GIMP, Blender, Audacity, Firefox, Gedit, OpenOffice, XBMC (now Kodi), FileZilla - the list is HUGE Find your favourites here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_free_and_open-source_software_packages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_free_and_open-source_s...
- usr1106 3y ago
  Emacs is from the 80s. (vi probably older, but it might be considered more different from a modern vim.)
  - hdjjhhvvhga 3y ago
    From the wiki: "The first operational EMACS system existed in late 1976."[0] [0] http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/5736/AIM-519A.pdf http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/5736/AIM-519A....
  - cylinder714 3y ago
    Wikipedia says that vi was first released in 1976.
    - oniony 3y ago
      Vim is not Vi. It's a project that initially emulated its behaviour and then extended it. So I would say that Vim is from 1991.
      - ksherlock 3y ago
        Vim was a fork of the Amiga port of Stevie which was first released in 1987.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
GiorgioG 3y ago
mIRC Initial release date: February 28, 1995
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
stblack 3y ago
Beyond Compare by Scooter Software. Beyond Compare is perfect software (in my not so humble opinion). I use it every day. https://www.scootersoftware.com/ https://www.scootersoftware.com/
- usr1106 3y ago
  I used it 20 years ago when I was forced to use Windows and Windows had zero adequate tooling for software development. For 15 the last years I have used only Linux and getting proprietary software feels very remote. I can get more than I'll ever be able to learn with just a single installation command.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
mchanson 3y ago
I think a lot of b2b ERP software gets to be this old. I know of multiple.
argiopetech 3y ago
Supermemo v7, Piotr Wozniak's spaced repetition (and a bunch of other things) platform, was rewritten in Turbo Pascal in 1993. The most recent version, 18, is an obvious continuation of the same interface (to me, the most striking difference from Windows 3.1 to modern is window decorations). https://supermemo.guru/wiki/SuperMemo_7 https://supermemo.guru/wiki/SuperMemo_7
blueflow 3y ago
- xterm, a DEC video terminal emulator (1984) - Xorg itself (2004)
- toast0 3y ago
  > - Xorg itself (2004) Xorg is a 2004 fork of XFree86, which is a 1992 fork of X386, first released in 1991.
mingabunga 3y ago
MailWasher anti-spam is 23 years old and still going strong. https://Firetrust.com https://Firetrust.com
lylejantzi3rd 3y ago
Bink by RAD game tools.
finger 3y ago
Cubase (1989) DAW Finale (1988) Music notation software
RyanHamilton 3y ago
I finally released version 2.0 of my own desktop software after 10 years development (Free SQL tool): https://www.timestored.com/b/qstudio-2-05-dark-theme-and-high-dpi-support/ https://www.timestored.com/b/qstudio-2-05-dark-theme-and-hig... 1.0 supported one database only, 2.0 added postgres/mysql/etc. so felt like the time to bump versions :) It's been the same code base in java that whole time, no big rewrites. I guess it helps that I was working in the SQL area for 5 years before writing the tool, so I knew what I wanted. I must say java/jfreechart/swing have kept working perfectly all this time with very minor changes. The most painful was a)xstream/logging/security vulneribilities causing dependency changes b) misc.sun deprecation, I used internal class DSA for encryption of license keys, had to migrate users to new keys. Changing a contract with users is always painful. I'm very very glad that I automated tests from the start, it's the only thing that catches edge cases I've forgotten after all this time.
neilk 3y ago
VLC Media Player is 22 years old PuTTY SSH client is 24 years old The mIRC IRC Client is 28 years old Theatre Manager (https://www.artsman.com/about/ https://www.artsman.com/about/) is, depending on how you count, up to 37 years old.
alex3305 3y ago
My personal favorite: WinRAR (1995).
MattJ100 3y ago
Pidgin deserves a mention - 24 years and still under development. The project has been undergoing a huge rewrite for 3.x, which has stalled visible progress somewhat, but I'm really hoping it will be worth it, as I'm excited to see it supporting modern IM features with protocols such as XMPP. The lead developer regularly streams live coding sessions and quarterly project updates: https://pidgin.im/post/ https://pidgin.im/post/
ochrist 3y ago
Sony Vegas was apparently released as early as 1999: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegas_Pro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegas_Pro
inetknght 3y ago
REALbasic / REAL Studio / Xojo ... a derivative of Basic. I first started using it back in '98 to write software for Mac OS 8. It's still around and can now build software for Windows and Linux too. It's a great language to learn when you're getting started. But I've long since moved on to more low-level, performant, and industry-standard languages.
tomduncalf 3y ago
Some music software such as Cubase, Logic Pro
Maxburn 3y ago
I work with building automation HVAC software and it's expected to last the lifetime of buildings so it's very common in my industry. Automated Logic WebCTRL in it's present web server form has crossed the 20 year mark and the controllers it is compatible with are in the 35+ year range.
Z7YCx5ieof4Std 3y ago
Total Commander - since 1993
lapcat 3y ago
Rogue Amoeba: Audio Hijack (2002) TLA Systems: PCalc (1992) Flying Meat, Primate Labs: VoodooPad (2003) C-Command Software: SpamSieve (2002) The Omni Group: OmniOutliner (2000) Mozilla: Firefox (2002) Opera (1995)
- xyzwave 3y ago
  The Omni Group started as a NeXTSTEP consulting company in 1989, they’re pushing 35 years at this point. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Omni_Group https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Omni_Group
irrational 3y ago
Some games: Myst, Zork, etc.
slightwinder 3y ago
AbiWord, Blender, FileZilla, GIMP, LibreOffice (formerly known as OpenOffice, formerly known as Star Office), Opera, PuTTY, Seamonkey (formerly known as Mozilla Suit), Stellarium, Thunderbird, WinSCP KDE and Gnome probably have some old running apps too. There are many long-running open source desktop-apps I think, because there is no economical stress for its development. In the commercial section I could name Directory Opus, DEVONthink, Maple, Mathematica, Pegasus Mail, The Bat!, Tinderbox
perardi 3y ago
- Mathematica(https://www.wolfram.com/mathematica/scrapbook/ https://www.wolfram.com/mathematica/scrapbook/) — Still going, and Stephen Wolfram won’t let you forget that - xScope (https://xscopeapp.com/history https://xscopeapp.com/history) — OK, I’m cheating, 19 years, but still a notable tool in my toobox - Transmit (https://panic.com/transmit/ https://panic.com/transmit/) — Though it debuted as “Transit”, it’s been going since 1998
- e61133e3 3y ago
  I remember the change from Transit to Transmit. That is how long I'm using that app :)
ydnaclementine 3y ago
foobar (2002), and it's not OSS
dgrin91 3y ago
Steam! It will hit 20 years this September. Also some games are crazy old and still developed Dwarf fortress is 2006 (almost 20 years old), Open TTD is 19 years old, probably some others as well.
adamredwoods 3y ago
Adobe Products: Photoshop, the grand-daddy, released in 1990: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Photoshop https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Photoshop After effects was Aldus in 1993: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_After_Effects https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_After_Effects 3D software: Cinema4D was released for the Amiga in 1993: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_4D https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_4D Lightwave 3D started in 1990: https://www.lightwave3d.com/ https://www.lightwave3d.com/ Poser was started in 1995: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poser_(software) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poser_(software) 3DS max in 1996: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autodesk_3ds_Max https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autodesk_3ds_Max Maya was released in 1998: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autodesk_Maya https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autodesk_Maya Fusion compositing software has been around since 1996: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackmagic_Fusion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackmagic_Fusion OmniGraffle started in 2001: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OmniGraffle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OmniGraffle
- HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago
  Is PageMaker (also Aldus) still around?
  - ss48 3y ago
    Aldus was purchased by Adobe. PageMaker was discontinued in favor of InDesign and QuarkXPress, which are both still in development today.
    - detaro 3y ago
      And QuarkXPress launched in 1987
- risingsubmarine 3y ago
  Blender and Houdini are also long-timers.
Temporary_31337 3y ago
WinRar is from 1995
isomorph 3y ago
Logic Pro (1993) Now it belongs to Apple but it was only acquired about 20 years ago
simonsarris 3y ago
I still use IrfanView, which is 26 years old (1996) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IrfanView https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IrfanView
rufus_foreman 3y ago
Right now, other than the browser, the applications open on my desktop are: GNOME Terminal (lists copyrights going back to 2002) Notepad++ (running under WINE, first release in 2003) Claws Mail (2001) LibreOffice (forked from OpenOffice in 2010, OpenOffice was open sourced in 2000 and was based on StarOffice which was released in 1985) Intellij IDEA (first release in 2001) GNOME calculator (lists copyrights going back to 1986)
bradleyankrom 3y ago
BATS, the video cutting & tagging software used by nearly all MLB teams, has been around since… I wanna say the early-90s.
nickpp 3y ago
Advanced Installer: 20 years old, still getting regular releases. https://www.advancedinstaller.com/version-history.html https://www.advancedinstaller.com/version-history.html
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
vivegi 3y ago
FFmpeg - my favorite video/audio file transcoder. Initial release in Dec 2000. FFmpeg 6.0 "Von Neumann" 6.0 was released on 2023-02-27 Edit: I see OP mentions Desktop software. It runs on Linux, Windows and Mac, so I guess that qualifies.
belfalas 3y ago
Microsoft Excel - still going strong after 30+ years.
vivegi 3y ago
Does VisualStudio IDE count? I recall using MSVC 1.5 in 1995.
kingkongjaffa 3y ago
Nastran simulation software The NASTRAN system was released to NASA in 1968. NASTRAN software application was written to help design more efficient space vehicles such as the Space Shuttle. NASTRAN was released to the public in 1971 by NASA's Office of Technology Utilization. The commercial use of NASTRAN has helped to analyze the behavior of elastic structures of any size, shape, or purpose. For example, the automotive industry uses the program to design front suspension systems and steering linkages. It is also used in designing railroad tracks and cars, bridges, power plants, skyscrapers, and aircraft. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nastran https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nastran
PopAlongKid 3y ago
WinZIP 8.0 goes back to 2000, so I think it's even older than that for earlier versions. Several mentions here of WinRAR, but didn't see WinZIP yet. I use WinZIP with built-in encryption every day for incremental backups, also for password management (my password manager is a plain text file encrypted via WinZIP).
PopAlongKid 3y ago
SecureCRT (terminal emulator) is still around after at least 24 years.
PopAlongKid 3y ago
RealPlayer media player is still around after at least 24 years, I still use it (but haven't updated in a number of years).
anthk 3y ago
- MPlayer - CTWM - ImageMagick - Dillo
PopAlongKid 3y ago
NcFTP (ftp client) has been around over 30 years.
iancmceachern 3y ago
Mach3 CNC https://www.sainsmart.com/products/mach3-cnc-software https://www.sainsmart.com/products/mach3-cnc-software
MPlus88 3y ago
[dead]
zimpenfish 3y ago
I guess technically you could extend Xara back to 1991 since IIRC it's basically the Windows version of ArtWorks on RISC OS.
lockhouse 3y ago
FreeBSD’s initial release was in 1993, but the original Berkeley Software Distribution it is based off of goes all the way back to 1976.
cozzyd 3y ago
Software I use regularly: Firefox is over 20 years old if you count Phoenix. Scribus will reach 20 years in a month Inkscape will be 20 years old later this year GIMP is 25 Thunderbird is very close to 20... VLC is 22 MATLAB is nearly 40 years old, though it's current GUI version is probably 22 years old? gpredict is 22 ROOT is nearly 30 years old GNOME is 24 years old
pengaru 3y ago
It's a depressingly short list relative to the amount of software that's been written throughout history.
iamflimflam1 3y ago
I worked on some windows software back around 1995 or so that is still in use today. Apparently we released it in 1997! https://www.amdocs.com/sites/default/files/2021-07/Actix-Analyzer-Overview-datasheet_2020.pdf https://www.amdocs.com/sites/default/files/2021-07/Actix-Ana...
cpr 3y ago
While not standalone apps, our data publishing plugins for Adobe InDesign (http://emsoftware.com http://emsoftware.com) are now 23+ years old and going strong...
pk-protect-ai 3y ago
I'm still using Gnome 2 (Mate Desktop) it was first released in 2002.
lr1970 3y ago
After 45 years TeX (1978) [0] and LaTeX (1984) [1] are by far the most popular typesetting system in academic publishing. For example, a vast majority of all papers on arXiv.org are typeset in LaTeX. Thank you very much Professor Knuth [2]! [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TeX https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TeX [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Knuth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Knuth
bruce511 3y ago
I'm sure you'll see lots of examples in answers to your question. You can add millions of not-household-name business programs to the list. Any OS that has been around a while, and is still active (aka Windows, Linux, MacOS etc) will have lots and lots of long-life software. It's an interesting dynamic because newer programmers have this impression that "software has a short life-span before it's eclipsed by something new and shiny." In truth, it's the opposite. Y2K showed us that software literally written in the 60s was still in play (30+ years) and stuff from the 80s (10-20) years was common. Even today COBOL programs exist, and that was unfashionable 30 years ago. Sure your web-frontend, JavaScript framework-based interface might not last long, but the real software doing the work lasts a long long time. This idea that you just rewrite everything every 5 years is a complete myth and yet every generation (including my own) has this impression when they start out. 20 years is actually not that old. When I attend conference's and take a straw-poll, many programmers there have a single product that originated in the DOS era, and have been actively built on for more than 30 years. DOS, 16 bit Windows, then 32 bit, even 64 bit, Web, Mobile, the more it changes the more it stays the same.
- mattmanser 3y ago
  The opposite is not true. Most software does have a short lifespan. But there are a few exceptions.
genmud 3y ago
IDA pro, for disassembly is about 25 or 30 years old. I remember using it back in 2000 or 2002
throwaway32l3m 3y ago
Those I use which are still in development / actively supported would be... CuteFTP (1996) Quicken (1983) TextPad (1992) TurboTax (1984) VLC media player (2001) WinSCP (2000) Wireshark (formerly Ethereal) (1998) There are a handful more up-and-comers in the 16-19yr bracket as well. And tons that I still use, but aren't actively maintained anymore.
frankreyes 3y ago
Bloomberg Terminal, 1982
justinclift 3y ago
DB Browser for SQLite (https://sqlitebrowser.org https://sqlitebrowser.org) was first released to the public domain on 2003-08-19. So, it'll be 20 years in a few months time. :)
e61133e3 3y ago
NetNewsWire, 12 July 2002, almost 21 years, https://netnewswire.com https://netnewswire.com
iggldiggl 3y ago
PhotoLine (1996, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PhotoLine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PhotoLine)
sumosudo 3y ago
JMP from 1989 https://www.jmp.com/en_us/company/about-us.html https://www.jmp.com/en_us/company/about-us.html
Dork1234 3y ago
Anything CAD related. AutoCAD comes to mind first, but Siemens NX (Unigraphics) existed before and is still currently sold. Dassault CATIA is another CAD software older than 40 years. PTC Creo (Pro/E), McNeel Rhino 3d, Dassault Sold Works, Archicad, also are software packages with really long life spans. You can also include plugins and support tools such as simulation modules, and render plugins. Many of which have been around for 20+ years, but are too numerous to list.
nokya 3y ago
I still use Paint Shop Pro 6. Purchased it in 1999. I still use it today on a daily basis (screenshots cropping, resizing, cleaning, censoring, etc.). Basically copy-pasted the folder to every new laptop/computer I used since. I tried several other image manipulation tools but always came back to launching psp.exe. [EDIT: I see many people answered things like Firefox or Photoshop. As I understood your question, you meant software compiled 20 years ago or more and still running on modern computers. Otherwise, yes, I probably can include things like VLC, notepad++, Firefox, Office suite, etc. but it seems to me that is not the initial goal of your question.]
- speedgoose 3y ago
  I am sure you are happy with old software from 1999 but have you tried more modern software? The technology has improved a lot even for basic operations such as resizing or fixing colours.
  - nokya 3y ago
    Probably. Everytime I installed a new Windows I tried using the latest Paint software, but it always felt more complicated for simple operations, whether it was more clicks needed, missing keyboard shortcuts, or one of the few features I use were missing (e.g., resize, resample, crop, upscale/downscale color palette, set color transparency, convert between JPEG/PNG/BMP, lasso, automatic lasso, clone brush, I guess that's all). The only alternatives I read about is Gimp and Photoshop. I didn't like Gimp's usability at all and Photoshop just seemed too privacy invading.
olgeni 3y ago
Also GNU/Octave
cm2012 3y ago
Starcraft 1 is over 20 years old and still has cash prize tournaments today.
oidar 3y ago
World of Warcraft is coming up on 20 years in 2024.

1970-01-01 3y ago

DOOM https://www.doomworld.com/cacowards/ https://www.doomworld.com/cacowards/

okeuro49 3y ago

IntelliJ IDEA. 1.0 / January 2001; 22 years ago

d--b 3y ago

Basically creative suites: - Photoshop - Gimp - Blender - Maya 3D - 3ds Max - Audacity - Ableton Live Office stuff: - Microsoft Office - SAP ERPs

irrational 3y ago
This was my first thought. I remember using Photoshop in the 1990s.

sanssoucis 3y ago

The first version of the visual programming language / software vvvv first appeared in 1998: https://visualprogramming.net/ https://visualprogramming.net/

eithed 3y ago

WinSCP - 23y

Temporary_31337 3y ago
And likewise Putty from 1999

jjgreen 3y ago

Vmware workstation, released 1999

jgrahamc 3y ago

QuickBooks is 40 years old. It was released in 1983. TurboTax is 39 years old. Microsoft Word was released in 1989. I suspect there's a lot of old Windows software.

jtotheh 3y ago
modern word and excel really started on the mac, earlier than that.
- DamonHD 3y ago
  https://www.theregister.com/2017/11/24/microsoft_excel_30_years_old/ https://www.theregister.com/2017/11/24/microsoft_excel_30_ye...

aaron695 3y ago

It's might be easier to list what failed? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:2003_software https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:2003_software CD/DVD writing software is gone, from life, possibly still being developed. Yep still going strong https://www.cyberlink.com/blog/media-player-windows/983/best-dvd-burning-software https://www.cyberlink.com/blog/media-player-windows/983/best...

itronitron 3y ago

GIMP, and probably Inkscape

mtmail 3y ago

Firefox 2004 = 18 years, though I remember using the older version Firebird (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_early_version_history https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_early_version_history) already. Thunderbird (July 2003)

ollien 3y ago
heh, I was gonna say Paint.NET but that was also 2004; just a year off!
grey_earthling 3y ago
And SeaMonkey is still very recognisably the same program as Mozilla Suite 1.0 from 2002.

simon_acca 3y ago

The parasolid geometrical kernel is from the 80's, underlies many of the major CAD products today. Same for Dassault's ACIS and its lineage. Also: VLC, Matlab, Mathematica, many of the major DAW programs like Cubase

rodface 3y ago
My mind immediately jumped to CAD (that being my domain) While a lot of packages have come and gone, the heavy hitters have been around a while: Siemens NX (Unigraphics) 1973 DS CATIA 1982 Autodesk AutoCAD 1982 PTC Creo (Pro/Engineer) 1987 The baby of the bunch is DS Solidworks 1995, still 27 years.

ss48 3y ago

Notepad++ is close: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notepad%2B%2B https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notepad%2B%2B, 19 years ago. It's text editing engine, Scintilla, is 24 years old https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scintilla_(software) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scintilla_(software) Staroffice which became OpenOffice and Then Libreoffice would be another AutoCAD is 40 years old

adeon 3y ago
I love Notepad++. I dual-boot Windows and Linux and on Linux side it's all fancy neovim setups. But when I boot Windows to play games, it's always Notepad++ I use to edit game mods or their configuration etc. Happy to see it's still maintained, according to Wikipedia, last update this month. Even happier to see it's open source(!?) I can't remember if it was always open source or if it became open source at some point.
- shrimp_emoji 3y ago
  On Linux, I use Kate, the (imo superior) Notepad++. It even has vim bindings (which I turn on accidentally and then have to burn the editor with fire until it stops)!
  - g8oz 3y ago
    Does Kate have a function list panel that supports Markdown headings? And the ability to define projects that include files from all over the file system rather than just one directory? Those are killer NP++ features for me.
- qup 3y ago
  I have similar fond memories. I think it's the first development tool I ever paid for, and I do think I paid for it. There was another editor that I liked at that time, though, and it's possible I'm confusing which one I paid for. But Notepad++ won in the end.

olivierestsage 3y ago

Emacs comes to mind: it has a codebase stretching back to the 1970s and is still actively developed, with a dedicated following of users (myself included).

slightwinder 3y ago
Emacs is not really the classical desktop-app. It's a terminal-app that just happened to also have a GUI.
- nequo 3y ago
  I think most people use it with the GUI, and the GUI version has features that the terminal-only version doesn't.
  - slightwinder 3y ago
    I also use the GUI, because of additional keys supported by it. But like most(?) people, I've deactivated the GUI-elements, as they are pretty useless. But ok, I guess it could be called a desktop-app because of this.
    - nequo 3y ago
      I also routinely rely on the GUI version’s ability to display images inlined in the buffer. It is true that it doesn’t have the UX of other, newer GUIs, but it is still meaningfully different from the terminal version.
      - slightwinder 3y ago
        Well, technically, this depends on the environment and is also working in proper terminal. But all the proper terminals are AFAIK GUI-terminals, so it's a thin line I guess.
- 0atman 3y ago
  Or perhaps an operating system just missing a good text editor ;-) (to be clear, I love emacs, and use spacemacs as my distro!)

jakelazaroff 3y ago

Panic's Transmit debuted in the late 90s and is still going strong: https://www.panic.com/transmit/ https://www.panic.com/transmit/ Coincidentally, this post is currently adjacent to one on the Thunderbird logo redesign: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36063943 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36063943

hoten 3y ago

My hobby is working on a 20+ year game engine. Still occasionally delete DOS-only code in it. https://github.com/ArmageddonGames/ZQuestClassic https://github.com/ArmageddonGames/ZQuestClassic

niklas_a00 3y ago

Reason (music making software). Released in 2000 and still an actively developed code base. Still some code from 23 years ago running in production :)

detaro 3y ago
music software is a full field of long-running products: Cubase: 1989 Pro Tools: 1991 Logic Pro: 1993 FL Studio: 1997 Ableton Live: 2001 Max/MXP: 1980s, 90s as commercial product
- ssttoo 3y ago
  Also notation software: Musescore 2002 Sibelius 1993 Encore 1984 Finale 1988

Sujeto 3y ago

FL Studio (aka Fruity Loops) >The first version of FruityLoops (1.0.0) was developed by Didier Dambrin and was partially released on December 18, 1997.[13] Its official launch was in early 1998

codegladiator 3y ago

Calibre ~16 years VLC ~22 years

0atman 3y ago

This is very normal in the open source world: Half of the desktop software included in a modern Linux distro I was using in the late 90s! From memory: VLC, GIMP, Blender, Audacity, Firefox, Gedit, OpenOffice, XBMC (now Kodi), FileZilla - the list is HUGE Find your favourites here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_free_and_open-source_software_packages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_free_and_open-source_s...

usr1106 3y ago
Emacs is from the 80s. (vi probably older, but it might be considered more different from a modern vim.)
- hdjjhhvvhga 3y ago
  From the wiki: "The first operational EMACS system existed in late 1976."[0] [0] http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/5736/AIM-519A.pdf http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/5736/AIM-519A....
- cylinder714 3y ago
  Wikipedia says that vi was first released in 1976.
  - oniony 3y ago
    Vim is not Vi. It's a project that initially emulated its behaviour and then extended it. So I would say that Vim is from 1991.
    - ksherlock 3y ago
      Vim was a fork of the Amiga port of Stevie which was first released in 1987.
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GiorgioG 3y ago

mIRC Initial release date: February 28, 1995

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stblack 3y ago

Beyond Compare by Scooter Software. Beyond Compare is perfect software (in my not so humble opinion). I use it every day. https://www.scootersoftware.com/ https://www.scootersoftware.com/

usr1106 3y ago
I used it 20 years ago when I was forced to use Windows and Windows had zero adequate tooling for software development. For 15 the last years I have used only Linux and getting proprietary software feels very remote. I can get more than I'll ever be able to learn with just a single installation command.

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mchanson 3y ago

I think a lot of b2b ERP software gets to be this old. I know of multiple.

argiopetech 3y ago

Supermemo v7, Piotr Wozniak's spaced repetition (and a bunch of other things) platform, was rewritten in Turbo Pascal in 1993. The most recent version, 18, is an obvious continuation of the same interface (to me, the most striking difference from Windows 3.1 to modern is window decorations). https://supermemo.guru/wiki/SuperMemo_7 https://supermemo.guru/wiki/SuperMemo_7

blueflow 3y ago

- xterm, a DEC video terminal emulator (1984) - Xorg itself (2004)

toast0 3y ago
> - Xorg itself (2004) Xorg is a 2004 fork of XFree86, which is a 1992 fork of X386, first released in 1991.

mingabunga 3y ago

MailWasher anti-spam is 23 years old and still going strong. https://Firetrust.com https://Firetrust.com

lylejantzi3rd 3y ago

Bink by RAD game tools.

finger 3y ago

Cubase (1989) DAW Finale (1988) Music notation software

RyanHamilton 3y ago

I finally released version 2.0 of my own desktop software after 10 years development (Free SQL tool): https://www.timestored.com/b/qstudio-2-05-dark-theme-and-high-dpi-support/ https://www.timestored.com/b/qstudio-2-05-dark-theme-and-hig... 1.0 supported one database only, 2.0 added postgres/mysql/etc. so felt like the time to bump versions :) It's been the same code base in java that whole time, no big rewrites. I guess it helps that I was working in the SQL area for 5 years before writing the tool, so I knew what I wanted. I must say java/jfreechart/swing have kept working perfectly all this time with very minor changes. The most painful was a)xstream/logging/security vulneribilities causing dependency changes b) misc.sun deprecation, I used internal class DSA for encryption of license keys, had to migrate users to new keys. Changing a contract with users is always painful. I'm very very glad that I automated tests from the start, it's the only thing that catches edge cases I've forgotten after all this time.

neilk 3y ago

VLC Media Player is 22 years old PuTTY SSH client is 24 years old The mIRC IRC Client is 28 years old Theatre Manager (https://www.artsman.com/about/ https://www.artsman.com/about/) is, depending on how you count, up to 37 years old.

alex3305 3y ago

My personal favorite: WinRAR (1995).

MattJ100 3y ago

Pidgin deserves a mention - 24 years and still under development. The project has been undergoing a huge rewrite for 3.x, which has stalled visible progress somewhat, but I'm really hoping it will be worth it, as I'm excited to see it supporting modern IM features with protocols such as XMPP. The lead developer regularly streams live coding sessions and quarterly project updates: https://pidgin.im/post/ https://pidgin.im/post/

ochrist 3y ago

Sony Vegas was apparently released as early as 1999: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegas_Pro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegas_Pro

inetknght 3y ago

REALbasic / REAL Studio / Xojo ... a derivative of Basic. I first started using it back in '98 to write software for Mac OS 8. It's still around and can now build software for Windows and Linux too. It's a great language to learn when you're getting started. But I've long since moved on to more low-level, performant, and industry-standard languages.

tomduncalf 3y ago

Some music software such as Cubase, Logic Pro

Maxburn 3y ago

I work with building automation HVAC software and it's expected to last the lifetime of buildings so it's very common in my industry. Automated Logic WebCTRL in it's present web server form has crossed the 20 year mark and the controllers it is compatible with are in the 35+ year range.

Z7YCx5ieof4Std 3y ago

Total Commander - since 1993

lapcat 3y ago

Rogue Amoeba: Audio Hijack (2002) TLA Systems: PCalc (1992) Flying Meat, Primate Labs: VoodooPad (2003) C-Command Software: SpamSieve (2002) The Omni Group: OmniOutliner (2000) Mozilla: Firefox (2002) Opera (1995)

xyzwave 3y ago
The Omni Group started as a NeXTSTEP consulting company in 1989, they’re pushing 35 years at this point. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Omni_Group https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Omni_Group

irrational 3y ago

Some games: Myst, Zork, etc.

slightwinder 3y ago

AbiWord, Blender, FileZilla, GIMP, LibreOffice (formerly known as OpenOffice, formerly known as Star Office), Opera, PuTTY, Seamonkey (formerly known as Mozilla Suit), Stellarium, Thunderbird, WinSCP KDE and Gnome probably have some old running apps too. There are many long-running open source desktop-apps I think, because there is no economical stress for its development. In the commercial section I could name Directory Opus, DEVONthink, Maple, Mathematica, Pegasus Mail, The Bat!, Tinderbox

perardi 3y ago

- Mathematica(https://www.wolfram.com/mathematica/scrapbook/ https://www.wolfram.com/mathematica/scrapbook/) — Still going, and Stephen Wolfram won’t let you forget that - xScope (https://xscopeapp.com/history https://xscopeapp.com/history) — OK, I’m cheating, 19 years, but still a notable tool in my toobox - Transmit (https://panic.com/transmit/ https://panic.com/transmit/) — Though it debuted as “Transit”, it’s been going since 1998

e61133e3 3y ago
I remember the change from Transit to Transmit. That is how long I'm using that app :)

ydnaclementine 3y ago

foobar (2002), and it's not OSS

dgrin91 3y ago

Steam! It will hit 20 years this September. Also some games are crazy old and still developed Dwarf fortress is 2006 (almost 20 years old), Open TTD is 19 years old, probably some others as well.

adamredwoods 3y ago

Adobe Products: Photoshop, the grand-daddy, released in 1990: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Photoshop https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Photoshop After effects was Aldus in 1993: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_After_Effects https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_After_Effects 3D software: Cinema4D was released for the Amiga in 1993: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_4D https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_4D Lightwave 3D started in 1990: https://www.lightwave3d.com/ https://www.lightwave3d.com/ Poser was started in 1995: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poser_(software) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poser_(software) 3DS max in 1996: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autodesk_3ds_Max https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autodesk_3ds_Max Maya was released in 1998: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autodesk_Maya https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autodesk_Maya Fusion compositing software has been around since 1996: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackmagic_Fusion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackmagic_Fusion OmniGraffle started in 2001: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OmniGraffle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OmniGraffle

HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago
Is PageMaker (also Aldus) still around?
- ss48 3y ago
  Aldus was purchased by Adobe. PageMaker was discontinued in favor of InDesign and QuarkXPress, which are both still in development today.
  - detaro 3y ago
    And QuarkXPress launched in 1987
risingsubmarine 3y ago
Blender and Houdini are also long-timers.

Temporary_31337 3y ago

WinRar is from 1995

isomorph 3y ago

Logic Pro (1993) Now it belongs to Apple but it was only acquired about 20 years ago

simonsarris 3y ago

I still use IrfanView, which is 26 years old (1996) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IrfanView https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IrfanView

rufus_foreman 3y ago

Right now, other than the browser, the applications open on my desktop are: GNOME Terminal (lists copyrights going back to 2002) Notepad++ (running under WINE, first release in 2003) Claws Mail (2001) LibreOffice (forked from OpenOffice in 2010, OpenOffice was open sourced in 2000 and was based on StarOffice which was released in 1985) Intellij IDEA (first release in 2001) GNOME calculator (lists copyrights going back to 1986)

bradleyankrom 3y ago

BATS, the video cutting & tagging software used by nearly all MLB teams, has been around since… I wanna say the early-90s.

nickpp 3y ago

Advanced Installer: 20 years old, still getting regular releases. https://www.advancedinstaller.com/version-history.html https://www.advancedinstaller.com/version-history.html

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vivegi 3y ago

FFmpeg - my favorite video/audio file transcoder. Initial release in Dec 2000. FFmpeg 6.0 "Von Neumann" 6.0 was released on 2023-02-27 Edit: I see OP mentions Desktop software. It runs on Linux, Windows and Mac, so I guess that qualifies.

belfalas 3y ago

Microsoft Excel - still going strong after 30+ years.

vivegi 3y ago

Does VisualStudio IDE count? I recall using MSVC 1.5 in 1995.

kingkongjaffa 3y ago

Nastran simulation software The NASTRAN system was released to NASA in 1968. NASTRAN software application was written to help design more efficient space vehicles such as the Space Shuttle. NASTRAN was released to the public in 1971 by NASA's Office of Technology Utilization. The commercial use of NASTRAN has helped to analyze the behavior of elastic structures of any size, shape, or purpose. For example, the automotive industry uses the program to design front suspension systems and steering linkages. It is also used in designing railroad tracks and cars, bridges, power plants, skyscrapers, and aircraft. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nastran https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nastran

PopAlongKid 3y ago

WinZIP 8.0 goes back to 2000, so I think it's even older than that for earlier versions. Several mentions here of WinRAR, but didn't see WinZIP yet. I use WinZIP with built-in encryption every day for incremental backups, also for password management (my password manager is a plain text file encrypted via WinZIP).

PopAlongKid 3y ago

SecureCRT (terminal emulator) is still around after at least 24 years.

PopAlongKid 3y ago

RealPlayer media player is still around after at least 24 years, I still use it (but haven't updated in a number of years).

anthk 3y ago

- MPlayer - CTWM - ImageMagick - Dillo

PopAlongKid 3y ago

NcFTP (ftp client) has been around over 30 years.

iancmceachern 3y ago

Mach3 CNC https://www.sainsmart.com/products/mach3-cnc-software https://www.sainsmart.com/products/mach3-cnc-software

MPlus88 3y ago

[dead]

zimpenfish 3y ago

I guess technically you could extend Xara back to 1991 since IIRC it's basically the Windows version of ArtWorks on RISC OS.

lockhouse 3y ago

FreeBSD’s initial release was in 1993, but the original Berkeley Software Distribution it is based off of goes all the way back to 1976.

cozzyd 3y ago

Software I use regularly: Firefox is over 20 years old if you count Phoenix. Scribus will reach 20 years in a month Inkscape will be 20 years old later this year GIMP is 25 Thunderbird is very close to 20... VLC is 22 MATLAB is nearly 40 years old, though it's current GUI version is probably 22 years old? gpredict is 22 ROOT is nearly 30 years old GNOME is 24 years old

pengaru 3y ago

It's a depressingly short list relative to the amount of software that's been written throughout history.

iamflimflam1 3y ago

I worked on some windows software back around 1995 or so that is still in use today. Apparently we released it in 1997! https://www.amdocs.com/sites/default/files/2021-07/Actix-Analyzer-Overview-datasheet_2020.pdf https://www.amdocs.com/sites/default/files/2021-07/Actix-Ana...

cpr 3y ago

While not standalone apps, our data publishing plugins for Adobe InDesign (http://emsoftware.com http://emsoftware.com) are now 23+ years old and going strong...

pk-protect-ai 3y ago

I'm still using Gnome 2 (Mate Desktop) it was first released in 2002.

lr1970 3y ago

After 45 years TeX (1978) [0] and LaTeX (1984) [1] are by far the most popular typesetting system in academic publishing. For example, a vast majority of all papers on arXiv.org are typeset in LaTeX. Thank you very much Professor Knuth [2]! [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TeX https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TeX [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Knuth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Knuth

bruce511 3y ago

I'm sure you'll see lots of examples in answers to your question. You can add millions of not-household-name business programs to the list. Any OS that has been around a while, and is still active (aka Windows, Linux, MacOS etc) will have lots and lots of long-life software. It's an interesting dynamic because newer programmers have this impression that "software has a short life-span before it's eclipsed by something new and shiny." In truth, it's the opposite. Y2K showed us that software literally written in the 60s was still in play (30+ years) and stuff from the 80s (10-20) years was common. Even today COBOL programs exist, and that was unfashionable 30 years ago. Sure your web-frontend, JavaScript framework-based interface might not last long, but the real software doing the work lasts a long long time. This idea that you just rewrite everything every 5 years is a complete myth and yet every generation (including my own) has this impression when they start out. 20 years is actually not that old. When I attend conference's and take a straw-poll, many programmers there have a single product that originated in the DOS era, and have been actively built on for more than 30 years. DOS, 16 bit Windows, then 32 bit, even 64 bit, Web, Mobile, the more it changes the more it stays the same.

mattmanser 3y ago
The opposite is not true. Most software does have a short lifespan. But there are a few exceptions.

genmud 3y ago

IDA pro, for disassembly is about 25 or 30 years old. I remember using it back in 2000 or 2002

throwaway32l3m 3y ago

Those I use which are still in development / actively supported would be... CuteFTP (1996) Quicken (1983) TextPad (1992) TurboTax (1984) VLC media player (2001) WinSCP (2000) Wireshark (formerly Ethereal) (1998) There are a handful more up-and-comers in the 16-19yr bracket as well. And tons that I still use, but aren't actively maintained anymore.

frankreyes 3y ago

Bloomberg Terminal, 1982

justinclift 3y ago

DB Browser for SQLite (https://sqlitebrowser.org https://sqlitebrowser.org) was first released to the public domain on 2003-08-19. So, it'll be 20 years in a few months time. :)

e61133e3 3y ago

NetNewsWire, 12 July 2002, almost 21 years, https://netnewswire.com https://netnewswire.com

iggldiggl 3y ago

PhotoLine (1996, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PhotoLine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PhotoLine)

sumosudo 3y ago

JMP from 1989 https://www.jmp.com/en_us/company/about-us.html https://www.jmp.com/en_us/company/about-us.html

Dork1234 3y ago

Anything CAD related. AutoCAD comes to mind first, but Siemens NX (Unigraphics) existed before and is still currently sold. Dassault CATIA is another CAD software older than 40 years. PTC Creo (Pro/E), McNeel Rhino 3d, Dassault Sold Works, Archicad, also are software packages with really long life spans. You can also include plugins and support tools such as simulation modules, and render plugins. Many of which have been around for 20+ years, but are too numerous to list.

nokya 3y ago

I still use Paint Shop Pro 6. Purchased it in 1999. I still use it today on a daily basis (screenshots cropping, resizing, cleaning, censoring, etc.). Basically copy-pasted the folder to every new laptop/computer I used since. I tried several other image manipulation tools but always came back to launching psp.exe. [EDIT: I see many people answered things like Firefox or Photoshop. As I understood your question, you meant software compiled 20 years ago or more and still running on modern computers. Otherwise, yes, I probably can include things like VLC, notepad++, Firefox, Office suite, etc. but it seems to me that is not the initial goal of your question.]

speedgoose 3y ago
I am sure you are happy with old software from 1999 but have you tried more modern software? The technology has improved a lot even for basic operations such as resizing or fixing colours.
- nokya 3y ago
  Probably. Everytime I installed a new Windows I tried using the latest Paint software, but it always felt more complicated for simple operations, whether it was more clicks needed, missing keyboard shortcuts, or one of the few features I use were missing (e.g., resize, resample, crop, upscale/downscale color palette, set color transparency, convert between JPEG/PNG/BMP, lasso, automatic lasso, clone brush, I guess that's all). The only alternatives I read about is Gimp and Photoshop. I didn't like Gimp's usability at all and Photoshop just seemed too privacy invading.

olgeni 3y ago

Also GNU/Octave

cm2012 3y ago

Starcraft 1 is over 20 years old and still has cash prize tournaments today.

oidar 3y ago

World of Warcraft is coming up on 20 years in 2024.