Legacies

I have been using a computer since before I can remember. From growing up with our Tandy (Which I usually needed help getting into a game from Pilot) to the CAD machines I work with to the mac mini I have at home, there have been many, many changes.

There isn't too much left from the old Tandy days that goes into my day to day life. Maybe the format of file locations but that's about it. But Windows and MacOS, while changing a lot, still have the basic interface that is similar to what it was thirty years ago.

And in all that time, there is one piece of software that remains largely unchanged that I use on an almost daily basis. Sure, Excel still just does Excel, but there are more properties and the it has the ribbon now and really has changed. Same for other "simple" programs like Word, File Explorer and even the legendary programs of Task Manager and Paint. Even they've changed!

But there is one that hasn't changed much at all. Sure, the title bar has a different image and now it's getting a few more buttons since AI took off, but the main File, Edit and View menus still show up at the top left and the line, column and character count still appear at the bottom. I. of course, am talking about the venerable NOTEPAD. Probably the single greatest piece of software to ever exist and I will say without doing any research but 99% certainty, one of the least changed programs since it's launch.

That's likely cause the guys programming it also use it and know the benefits of having something simple and easy. With AI being forced down our throats, and even a Copilot button in Notepad, it is nice to go to something that just does text. Simple.

There is Notepad++ or whatever it is that a lot of people like, and yeah. It's great. But simplicity is key for me. It's quick to open to write down notes, edits any code you want and can be opened anywhere and on anything.

I just love it so much.

Any other ancient software that hasn't changed much? Maybe the command prompt?