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What is the oldest application you use?
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Posted by xtabber
Nov 11, 2017 at 05:46 AM
Dr Andus wrote:
xtabber wrote:
>>John McPhee has used Kedit
>>exclusively to write all of his books for nearly 30 years, as he
>>discusses at length in “Draft No. 4,” which many in this
>>forum would probably find worthwhile reading.
>
>This sounds interesting… If I read that book, would it convince me to
>shell out $99 for Kedit?
>
>Or are there cheaper alternatives that can do what McPhee likes about
>it?
McPhee’s book details (in exquisite prose) how a master of non-fiction does it, but that is not necessarily going to translate into someone else’s work habits. He describes his use of the ALL command to work selectively on topics within documents, but also explains that he got a friend (clearly a good REXX programmer) to build him a custom macro library to speed things along.
If you want to try Kedit, the demo version will only save the first 75 lines of a file, but is otherwise fully functional, and full documentation can be downloaded from the web site. Read the chapters on targets and selective editing in the user’s guide to see how ALL and related commands work.
The Hessling Editor was a free open-source editor explicitly modeled on Kedit, but I don’t believe there has been any development on it for many years now.
Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Nov 13, 2017 at 05:18 PM
xtabber wrote:
>If you want to try Kedit, the demo version will only save the first 75
>lines of a file, but is otherwise fully functional, and full
>documentation can be downloaded from the web site.
A word of caution from the developers http://kedit.com/features.ia1.html
“Before you spend time learning about KEDIT for Windows, you should be aware of the current status of the product:
- Mansfield Software Group is no longer actively working on major upgrades of KEDIT, and we are in the process of gradually winding the company down. For these reasons, we generally do not recommend KEDIT to new users or organizations not already familiar with the program.
- However, because organizations that already use KEDIT, as well as KEDIT users who change jobs, etc., may have a continuing need for additional KEDIT licenses, we plan to continue selling KEDIT through our web site until at least the end of 2017.
- We plan to provide e-mail technical support for KEDIT, on a part-time basis, until at least June 2018.”
(For once, I have an effective reason to control my CRIMP tendencies.)
Re line-aware editors, if I properly understand the desired features, you may want to check out Em Editor https://www.emeditor.com/ It can sort lines, recognise and manipulate CSV files, and much more. It is lighting fast and regularly developed. The main downside is that it recently switched to a subscription model (which only influences updates). There is a lifetime subscription though.
Many thanks for the heads up on John McPhee’s book from me as well; I’m sure it will be worth reading even beyond Kedit.
On the broader subject of legacy software, my understanding was that the original question, at the start of this thread, referred to software that has _not_ been updated. In this context, I can’t help thinking of Visicalc, the spreadsheet introduced for the IBM PC in 1981 (it was originally developed for Apple II in 1979). It can still be downloaded and will run happily in contemporary Windows http://www.bricklin.com/visicalc.htm
I find this brilliant and, by the way, I’m sure I read about this here some time ago.
Posted by Clueless in Seattle
Nov 16, 2017 at 03:45 PM
I just joined this forum, and this topic looks like as good a place as any for my first post:
I’m guessing that my three oldest applications are
1. DOSSHELL from 1988
2. “Thoughtline” outline processor for DOS from 1986.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1986-06-15/news/8602120848_1_outline-wordstar-paragraph
3. A text based database program for DOS called FYI from around 1985
I run them under MS-DOS 6.21 on an old Toshiba laptop that’s on it’s last legs.
(I once had CP/M versions of the Thoughtline and FYI programs that I ran on multiple Kaypro computers back in the day before switching to MS-DOS)
After all these years I’m finally ready to jettison my beloved old DOS software and want to see if I can find Windows equivalents, so that’s why I’m here.
Will in Seattle
a.k.a. “Clueless”
Posted by MacSE
Nov 16, 2017 at 04:17 PM
Well, some Apple apps still run fine under OSX High Sierra :
. Opal 1.2.5 (2009)
. Mori 1.6.11 (2008, I think)
. Notae 2.2.1 (2007)
. Journler (2.6b.4)
. Process 3 (3.0.13)
Not bad for an ever changing system!
Yes, some of us are still alive…
And, I must admit I sometimes wake my old G3 Powerbook just to use More once again!
Posted by Stephen Zeoli
Nov 16, 2017 at 05:44 PM
Clueless,
I think you win the trophy for oldest apps! I have access to Grandview, a DOS outliner—in my opinion the best application ever—on my MacBook with DOSBox, but unfortunately I can’t say I use it much because there is no connectivity with any other apps.
Steve Z.