Top 5 Retro Applications

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ก.ค. 2024
  • Lotus 1-2-3, DeluxePaint and other highly popular retro applications brought back to life and demonstrated. But what else is on my list?
    My absolute and relative cell addresses spreadsheet tutorial is here:
    • Spreadsheets #2: Absol...
    If you enjoy this video, you may also like some of my previous retro computing episodes, including:
    ZX81 Classic PC:
    • ZX81 Classic PC
    Atari Portfolio:
    • Classic PC: Atari Port...
    More videos on computing and related topics can be found at:
    / explainingcomputers
    You may also like my ExplainingTheFuture channel at: / explainingthefuture
    Chapters:
    00:00 Introduction
    00:36 Microsoft Encarta
    03:33 Netscape Navigator
    05:41 Lotus 1-2-3
    08:50 DeluxePaint
    12:10 WordPerfect
    15:42 Wrap
    #RetroComputing #Lotus123 #ExplainingComputers
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ความคิดเห็น • 1.4K

  • @iamstartower
    @iamstartower 3 ปีที่แล้ว +166

    That encarta95 segment brought tears out of my eyes. I was one of those strange kids that prefered an encyclopedia rather than playing outside, so when my father bought a pc with a cdrom and encarta was included, i spent months in front of the monitor amazed by the multimedia content. A good encyclopedia is the best gift you can give to an introvert kid.

    • @razeezar
      @razeezar 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      I loved playing the Mind Maze in Encarta.
      In an abstract way, it always reminded me of the Minotaur's maze in Kings Quest 6 (sans Minotaur and with the education!)

    • @bobbyfried7478
      @bobbyfried7478 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      i forgot how ugly windows 95 was.

    • @squirlmy
      @squirlmy 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      I'm kind of amazed you aren't comparing or contrasting this to Wikipedia. Now we have an encyclopedia on any platform with an internet connection, that anyone can actually help contribute to. Also, I grew up with a physical book encyclopedia. By '95 I was too involved with things like paying my mortgage to enjoy it. And the Encarta package in particular seemed to have little of the tactile pleasures of a physical text, nor of the internet available, update-able and user editable Wikipedia. In other words I'm not at all surprised about geeky nostalgia POV, but I'm surprised because Encarta represented to me a greedy monopolistic American corporation desperately trying to grab respectability by buying a so-called "educational" publication. I hated Encarta quite thoroughly and call it a negative reason now to buy any "encyclopedia" product that can't connect to the internet! But, you and EC go ahead and enjoy whatever you're enjoying.

    • @Vlad-1986
      @Vlad-1986 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      @@bobbyfried7478 I sort of think it looks 1000 times better than Windows 10. Same with Netscape compared to new Firefox. Still hate the "new" interface and that you can't switch it back

    • @MultiYiff
      @MultiYiff 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      Me too, we got the Encarta 94 version. So I could a day clicked randomly around and reading many articles and animators plus videos. Was so amazing at this time.

  • @lukasgruber1280
    @lukasgruber1280 3 ปีที่แล้ว +138

    I always loved "Norton Commander", still using "Total Commander" every day.

    • @exception360
      @exception360 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      So true! I even purchased Total Commander. One of the best tools ever for Windows.

    • @erlinglorentsen4262
      @erlinglorentsen4262 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Excellent. I still remember "Success!! - press any key to continue." Still use that line for myself now and again 😁

    • @ringoschubert4966
      @ringoschubert4966 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      Yes... 👍 One a bit a bit hidden, but extremely useful function, was the ability to connect two computers over a serial-cable and copy files directly... I'm still using 'Midnight Commander' for working on remote Linux machines over SSH.

    • @speedyant8571
      @speedyant8571 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Far Manager it's very similar to norton commander.

    • @mm-hl7gh
      @mm-hl7gh 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      if you remember directory opus from the amiga, this software is still around in a modern version and can replace the simple windows 10 explorer.

  • @GeorgeFoot
    @GeorgeFoot 3 ปีที่แล้ว +25

    Turbo Pascal (6 I think, for DOS) was my first experience of a compiled language and it blew my mind, the possibilities were endless.
    Then DJGPP being a free way to access extended memory from C programs was a game changer.

    • @timmuston2687
      @timmuston2687 ปีที่แล้ว

      I have very fond memories of Turbo Pascal and DJGPP.

  • @UKSCIENCEORG
    @UKSCIENCEORG 3 ปีที่แล้ว +26

    I liked the Flying Toasters screen saver by After Dark

    • @terrydaktyllus1320
      @terrydaktyllus1320 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Don't forget Johnny Castaway.

    • @steevf
      @steevf 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      After Dark was the best. So much fun watching the Rock-Paper-Scissor battles.

  • @andrewpalm2103
    @andrewpalm2103 3 ปีที่แล้ว +14

    Thanks for a trip down Memory Lane. For a number of years I used Lotus 1-2-3 for statistical and scientific calculations and plotting. Being able to see results quickly and to do iterations with a single keypush made a great tool even when mainframes and mini-computers were available. Cheers from Wisconsin.

    • @frankanderson3503
      @frankanderson3503 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Still use it in 2023 better than excel , works i windows 11 no bother

  • @WizardOfAtlantis
    @WizardOfAtlantis 3 ปีที่แล้ว +73

    "We can play video! On a computer!"
    Yes, that sums up the wonder of the time, doesn't it? ha, good days

    • @dreamcazman
      @dreamcazman 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      My friends & I used to haunt our school library watching Encarta vids, there was only one PC with a CD-ROM, lol.

    • @Ozymandias1
      @Ozymandias1 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Remember the CD-ROM version of Windows 95 came with two music videos, Buddy Holly by Weezer and Good Times by Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians. That really blew out my mind.

  • @bcollinsks1
    @bcollinsks1 3 ปีที่แล้ว +18

    BASIC / Fortran. It's always fun to go back to your past and see how far things have changed. My kids (my reference, they are in their 30's) are amazed at the archaic way we had to code "in the old days". Even ACAD was command driven and pixel based and they say they are so happy that they were born after fire and the wheel were invented.

    • @paulmichaelfreedman8334
      @paulmichaelfreedman8334 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@petermoeller5901 He does. I started on AutoCAD release 8 (1991)

    • @OpharaOhiyana
      @OpharaOhiyana ปีที่แล้ว

      And we had Quick BASIC Extended (QBX) which was quite fascinating after programming in GW-BASIC. Good old days!

  • @himselfe
    @himselfe 3 ปีที่แล้ว +14

    Wow, that's the most yellow Amiga I've seen to date! Used to love Deluxe Paint on the Amiga. In a way it's still unrivalled in its marriage of power and simplicity.

    • @stanrogers5613
      @stanrogers5613 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      A couple of random lines inside a sloppy shape, use contour gradient fill, and _bang_ your fantasy map is done (except the water). And animation with colour cycles!

    • @paulmichaelfreedman8334
      @paulmichaelfreedman8334 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I already recommended 8-bit guy or Noel's Retro Lab, for some quality retrobrighting.

  • @fawzanfawzi9993
    @fawzanfawzi9993 3 ปีที่แล้ว +99

    Don't forget 3D Pinball Space Cadet, the most Iconic PC game ever.

    • @ExplainingComputers
      @ExplainingComputers  3 ปีที่แล้ว +18

      :)

    • @SergiuszRoszczyk
      @SergiuszRoszczyk 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      sol.exe FTW! ;)

    • @cecilrichardson2494
      @cecilrichardson2494 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Good old 3D Space Cadet Pinball... That brings back a memory or two. Good times.

    • @brucefay5126
      @brucefay5126 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @Anand Raj Indeed. Used that one a lot.

    • @cecilrichardson2494
      @cecilrichardson2494 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@brucefay5126 So did I. Although I never bothered with the (hidden) test function to run up a high score; I did it the classic way: start a game, and play it all the way through.

  • @IsaFuie
    @IsaFuie 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    At 4:13 "... And if we run it up, we can see what a browser used to look like, before Google Chrome was even invented, and before anybody in their right mind ran Internet Explorer". This channel is a treasure, and that piece of script is one of its many hidden gems. Brilliant content as always!!

  • @zulfikaraliAkbar
    @zulfikaraliAkbar 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    Netscape Navigator and Word Star. What a good old days ! Thanks for bringing back good old memories.

  • @wasitacatisaw83
    @wasitacatisaw83 3 ปีที่แล้ว +21

    I had Deluxe Paint 3 on my Amiga A500 Plus. What a blast from the past.

    • @ooklathemok
      @ooklathemok 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Did a lot of animations on that

    • @simon4133
      @simon4133 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Not one to brag, but you're reading a comment written by someone who completed Speedball 2 haha.

    • @terrydaktyllus1320
      @terrydaktyllus1320 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@simon4133 "Ice cream! Ice cream!" That is just SUCH a wonderful game!

  • @OnTheEdgeNow
    @OnTheEdgeNow 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Thank you for the blast from the past. I started using DOS 3.0 on a 286-16 IBM clone. Back then, there was no-one to teach you how to use a computer. I learned by reading the DOS manual and figuring it out. Hardware was difficult to purchase because of incompatibilities and lack of driver support. You couldn't just jump on the internet and download new drivers. This was the beginning of the IBM clone years. I remember some of the office programs you were showing were $400.00, a small fortune back then. Pirating of software was rampant. You could go to a computer store and browse through software. A game was generally around $40 to $50 dollars and there was a good chance it would not run properly. You would end up getting on the dial up modem and trying to find a patch for the software. I started using PC-Link as my dial up provider and it opened a whole new world of connectivity and information. Those were exciting years.

    • @CarthSader
      @CarthSader 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Those were the days! I spent half a year's salary getting an IBM system... 🤦‍♂️

  • @1000left
    @1000left 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    I used to LIVE in SuparCalc!!! Seeing Lotus 123 made me realize how absolutely the same the two are!!! GREAT video!!!!

  • @trekrich28
    @trekrich28 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    The first time i used Encarta was in college, and it was amazing. The best video on there is the moon landing one. Watching that back on the computer, was magical.

  • @merlinathrawes6191
    @merlinathrawes6191 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Having had many years of using Dpaint on the 500 and 1200 to make magazines, it made me smile when I saw it again. Never got into Photon paint though.

  • @tomgoff8670
    @tomgoff8670 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Encarta95 basically taught me GCSE science, still remember the nuclear reaction animations. Thanks for a great video

  • @srowley85
    @srowley85 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    I remember transitioning from typing papers to word processing using MS Word for DOS, which made my undergraduate life much easier. As a grad student, Mac Paint enabled me to draw chemical structures and embed them into word processed document. ChemDraw emerged in the late 80’s and made structure drawing much better and enabled me to produce figures for my dissertation and defense. I remember the excitement around many of the apps you mention and many others. I’ve always loved exploring the potential of these new apps to improve the quality of the work I was doing at the time of their release.

  • @srtcsb
    @srtcsb 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Enjoyed this very much. I got paid for some of the Deluxe Paint work I did on the Amiga 1000. Loved Sculpt 3D on the Amiga also. Good times. Thanks for another great video.

  • @eigentensor
    @eigentensor 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    Caligari trueSpace! One of the first 3D apps I ever used, along with POV-ray and 3D Studio (before it was MAX). I see there's an old version of Cinema4D on the desktop as well. Many years later I'm now working at Maxon :)

  • @DavidMunton
    @DavidMunton 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I absolutely loved Netscape Navigator and refused to even entertain looking at IE when it came out!

  • @SergiuszRoszczyk
    @SergiuszRoszczyk 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    From the early days I remember using Norton Commander to transfer data over serial, Borland Pascal to create early windowed applications, Quattro Pro spreadsheet and honorable mention goes to our polish TAG graphical text editor for DOS.

  • @highdesert50
    @highdesert50 3 ปีที่แล้ว +15

    Brilliant selection! We remember too, that these great programs were also optimized to run on limited and costly RAM and hard disk. Another program well ahead of its time was Borland's Quattro Pro.

    • @edjett2631
      @edjett2631 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      I really liked quattro pro.

  • @KameraShy
    @KameraShy 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    NAILED IT! When I saw the title I began thinking of my top retro applications. Yeah, I go back that
    far, when retro was new. When Number One came up and "wp" was entered I actually shouted out. Word Perfect was the first really good, functional, sensible word processing app on the market. There were a lot of others, but they had more problems than I care to enumerate at the moment. But one dog that sticks out in my mind is DisplayWrite, IBM's miserable attempt to enter the market. It was supposed to be a PC implementation of their stand alone DisplayWriter machine which, if I recall correctly, cost about $10,000. (That's 1985 dollars.) Both the software and machine were universally despised by users. But the company I worked for required all computing to be IBM, regardless. (IT was run by former IBM people.) DisplayWrite/Displaywriters died a miserable, painful death.
    My second favorite was DESQView, ca. 1990. It was a real multi-tasking pc "operating environment"
    running on top of DOS, able to run simultaneous processing of DOS based programs on 386 processors. Programs ran in DOS windows which could be moved, sized, etc. and you could see them actually running at the same time. That was about the time that Windows 3.1 came along. Users were mesmerized by all the fancy graphics, corporate IT was mesmerized by Microsoft's presence, so DV sadly faded away. A true pioneering product of the times.

    • @ExplainingComputers
      @ExplainingComputers  3 ปีที่แล้ว

      :)

    • @ivarand
      @ivarand 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Quarterdeck also had the QEMM software, the best tool to maximize your precious sub-640k memory

  • @ElmerFuddGun
    @ElmerFuddGun 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    1:01 - Corel Draw... ran that with Windows 3.11. A _few_ years ago. ;-P

    • @ExplainingComputers
      @ExplainingComputers  3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Oh yes, I remember my CorelDRAW! days. As you say, a little while back now . . .

    • @datamike00
      @datamike00 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      i started with {i think) v3 of corel draw, still use the current version

    • @ElmerFuddGun
      @ElmerFuddGun 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@datamike00 - Version 3 sounds right. Came on something like 20x 3.5" disks and previous version was on 5.25" disks IIRC.

  • @maniacatthecontrols
    @maniacatthecontrols 3 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    XTree Gold was one of my favourites. It was very good at finding files and folders (and quickly). It was also good for changing attributes, even lots simultaneously. The tree structure clearly showed where things are. Windows, on the other hand, fails to find things, denies permissions and hides things.

    • @pibbles-a-plenty1105
      @pibbles-a-plenty1105 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Windows is a heap of "improvements" that makes things worse!

    • @pstanyer1
      @pstanyer1 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      flash of the past. i used it extensively forgotten about that one.

  • @MarkKrubsack
    @MarkKrubsack 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Xtree was a great file manager. WordStar was my goto Word Processor (it helped that it came bundled with my Kaypro 4). Also, lets not forget dBase II, and its offspring...III, IV, Clipper, etc.

  • @GeekRedux
    @GeekRedux 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Holy cow, this was a fun trip down memory lane. Thanks! The only way it would have better would have been to show the whole boot up sequence of the computer in all its noisy glory.

  • @brianthorburn4957
    @brianthorburn4957 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Thanks for the memories.. Dbase 2, dbase 3+ , word star, supercalc, borland products turbo c, turbo Pascal, turbo prolog

  • @michietn5391
    @michietn5391 2 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    15:00 Reveal Codes I really like this feature which was retained in later releases. Especially handy for fixing OCR errors, because the codes were used in programmable operations..
    Ulead Photo Express ver. 1 was a simple image editor that had very nifty functions but easy to use, unlike the mind-numbing complexity of today's photo editors.

    • @c17nav
      @c17nav ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Other great things about WP were its macro language and expanded descriptive name functions. The programmable macro language was very effective to automate routine and repetitive tasks. The descriptive names were great for differentiating closely named documents, since DOS limited file names to eight alphanumeric characters only.

  • @StuffOffYouStuff
    @StuffOffYouStuff 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Wow that encarta cd really brought back some memories. I love how you vocalize each little step like taking the cd out and popping it into the pc

  • @EdwardRLyons
    @EdwardRLyons 3 ปีที่แล้ว +31

    The original Doom.
    Played over the network at work, both cooperative and deathmatch.
    After hours, of course! 8-)

    • @ohasis8331
      @ohasis8331 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Man that was a great network game. My house was a large student place with several computers that we networked and played that for days on end.

    • @spankysmp
      @spankysmp 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Same here. Awesome game over the Network. I was in Dept of Environment (IT) at the time and we used to challenge the guys upstairs in DTi (Trade and Industry) to matches over the Lan

    • @TonyRule
      @TonyRule 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Especially Doom 1.666 with the Aliens skin. And the chicken launcher.

    • @steevf
      @steevf 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Yes!

  • @samshort365
    @samshort365 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    I almost forgot to mention Geoworks Ensemble for PC. That was way ahead of windows and gave Dos a beautiful motif graphical interface. It came with its own writer, database, graphics program etc.

  • @TechTier_
    @TechTier_ 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    Oh my goodness Wordperfect, yes used that a lot. hmmm retro application - Johnny Castaway - the screensaver.

  • @alicewyan
    @alicewyan 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    As a kid in the late 80s / early 90s I remember my father using something called Jack2 on the 8088. It was an "integrated package" containing a word processor and a few other office applications on a floppy disk, and used its own disk format for saving the files (not readable from MSDOS!). Wish I could get hold of a copy of it to remember the days. A bit later he moved on to Wordperfect, which I still sometimes miss, and would use if only I could remember any of the key combinations!

  • @paultootill7062
    @paultootill7062 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Lotus Symphony for me. I used it when I worked on a 286 PC in an office in Germany in 1986 and was the first to introduce computers in the office. Brilliant program that never let me down and was very flexible.

  • @MagicMoose14587
    @MagicMoose14587 3 ปีที่แล้ว +15

    Great idea for a video (and well executed as always).
    I for one would love to see more retro computing content from you, Chris :)

  • @PhilipHarwell
    @PhilipHarwell 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Oh man. Netscape Navigator. Those were the days. Also shout out to Flock, the short lived derivative of Firefox. Used to use that for blogging.

  • @randomperson712
    @randomperson712 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Good times. Im 65 and started in the IT field in 75 as a mainframe operator. The company I worked for in the late 80s had a app I had to maintain written in lotus 123. What a pain that was. Before that I worked for company that had us using WordPerfect. I remember the manager would get very upset when someone didnt use the spell checker feature. We had to swap out the 5 1/2 disk to use spell checker unless you were lucky enough to have 2 disk drives. And I made some very nice "paintings" using DeluxePaint. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

  • @dossaer
    @dossaer 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Your enthusiasm is contagious! I found myself more engaged with this content than I thought I would.
    So glad to see Deluxe Paint on your list! I spent a lot of time with this on my Amiga500+
    On the Windows side of things, I can’t believe that Johnny Castaway didn’t make the cut for this list.

  • @simonbeasley989
    @simonbeasley989 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Brilliant memories there! We've come a long way in a short time. I've been pretty good with Excel and macros for about 20 years but only found out about F4 cycling through the $ options about 2 years ago. I had no idea it dated back to Lotus 123.

    • @simontemplar1545
      @simontemplar1545 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      By he way you know of to change Lotus files WK3 to WK1?. Thank you.

  • @hermannseib
    @hermannseib 3 ปีที่แล้ว +9

    Aaaah, WordPerfect ... one of my first 8088 assembler adventures was a TSR program that allowed German umlauts for writing in WP and printing to the IBM ProPrinter ... those were the days :-)

    • @hermannseib
      @hermannseib 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@new-lviv That wasn't a hack, it was just a supplemental piece of additional software, so don't get too impressed :-)
      ... and it might have been WordStar instead of WordPerfect. Impossible to say from today's point of view, 38-39 years later. I had to adapt both programs. "Internationalization" wasn't even a word back then for most software producers.

  • @cliffgulliver4626
    @cliffgulliver4626 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    I loved encyclopedias. The paper version we had was from 1956. It was so nice having the 60s and 70s and 80s available.

  • @demonhighwayman9403
    @demonhighwayman9403 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    For me it was Paint Shop Pro back in the 90's, I can still remember having to send away a cheque to get the full version.

  • @adgarza
    @adgarza 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Except for DeluxePaint, I used all of them... And, well, my favorite software was Quick BASIC 4.5 back on those days.

    • @xaenon
      @xaenon 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      I did lots of stuff in Quick Basic. The problem was, the stuff I wrote was only relevant to ME for the most part. Very little of it had anything to do with the 'outside world'.

    • @zoomosis
      @zoomosis 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@xaenon Most of the Python code I write to this day is like that.

    • @adgarza
      @adgarza 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@xaenon Well, not my case. I did a lot of programming in Quick BASIC 4.5, PDS 7.x, VB-DOS and Visual Basic for third parties. Now, I only develop applications for myself, some of them based on challenges of RosettaCode.

    • @ivanirleandro
      @ivanirleandro 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@xaenon Me either! I made a lot of Quick Basic programs that solved MY problems only. Today I continue to solve my problems with a combination of VBA in Excel and Word and with Javascript.

  • @marks6406
    @marks6406 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Loved this it was great to see those programs again and have the retrospective of how really advanced they were on those old 286 and 386 processors. The Encarta was truly the internet on a CD for me especially at that time the sound coming off those CD's was incredible on my Creative Labs stereo speakers.

  • @hermanwooster8944
    @hermanwooster8944 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    That ATI logo on the W95 machine brought back a flood of memories.

  • @samshort365
    @samshort365 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Although I used WordPerfect my favourite word processor at the time was Chiwriter 4. I also made significant use of QB45 and Borland Pascal 4 and 5. Xtree Pro Gold was my go-to disk manager. For graphics I used Lotus Freehand and Ventura Publisher for DTP.

  • @lionelreesable
    @lionelreesable 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Thank you for the memories from the golden age of personal computers. I have fond memories of pre-PC contributions such as PL/1, PL/M, CP/M, life simulation, and let us not forget mainframe contributions like IBM JCL which made us think of the possibilities the personal computers represented. Best wishes.

    • @ChrisPinCornwall
      @ChrisPinCornwall ปีที่แล้ว

      Yes! PL/M, what a revelation that was.

  • @graemedavidson499
    @graemedavidson499 3 ปีที่แล้ว +9

    On the Archimedes, Computer Concepts’ Artworks and Publisher were amazing apps in their time. Artworks still lives on as Xara on the PC.

  • @davidmoss6271
    @davidmoss6271 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    WOW! Talk about a trip down memory lane! My first PC clone ran Netscape because it came with all those diskettes to get on AOL! I stuck with it ever since, never going to Microsoft IE! I am now running ubuntu 20.04 with Firefox! I also used Word Perfect, starting with DOS version 6, then going to windows and beyond! It then changed hands and got to be to expensive to upgrade!
    Today I use Libre Office for everything! Thanks for the trip!

  • @MyMy-tv7fd
    @MyMy-tv7fd 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    very nice, my additions would be: 1) Aldus PageMaker which brought typography and page layout to the ordinary business and then person, 2) LocoScript on the Amstrad PCW which had a superb custom spellchecker, 3) WordStar which had a powerful dot script for automation

    • @ExplainingComputers
      @ExplainingComputers  3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Great choices. I remember all of them. Those were the days.

  • @samuelschwager
    @samuelschwager 3 ปีที่แล้ว +28

    Back when the internet was slow and expensive Encarta was quite a useful thing to have :)

    • @ohasis8331
      @ohasis8331 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Encarta was beautiful. The richness of some of the famous artworks was astounding.

  • @sarkybugger5009
    @sarkybugger5009 3 ปีที่แล้ว +13

    Xtree Gold was the best DOS File Manager. Even today, nothing better exists.

    • @TonyRule
      @TonyRule 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I concur. Very powerful. I posted "I can't believe XTreeGold didn't make the list." above and deleted it once I saw your comment.

    • @jimwood227
      @jimwood227 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Totally agree, I've tried all the clones and nothing can match it. I really miss DOS programs, so simple and yet so powerful and fast.

  • @RoshiGaming
    @RoshiGaming 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Watching this a few days late, but had to comment on Lotus 1-2-3.
    I vividly remember visiting my grandfather's work as a child in the early 90's, not long after the company had "upgraded" (some at the company disagreed, being OS/2 fans!) to Windows 3.11 For Workgroups.
    I was rather good at reading and typing for such a young child, so sometimes he'd let me get on the computer and "help" him in 1-2-3 or he'd let me check Lotus Notes and read/reply to emails (which I thought was the greatest thing on Earth at the time, haha)
    At my last job, I supported a legacy VM with Server 2008r2 on it, which I found Lotus 1-2-3 on. I had a good laugh and spoke to my boss about it, who said for certain things, he never wanted to move to Excel or etc, so he kept 1-2-3 around on a VM just for those particular cases. It was neat to see the program once more.

  • @fastamx069box8
    @fastamx069box8 ปีที่แล้ว

    Hello Mr Barnatt.
    We grew up on different sides of the pond but traveled in similar technologies.
    While you were into Computer Sciences, I was born and raised in Silicon Valley before it became Silicon Valley.
    My last job was as an AMT.
    Advanced Manufacturing Technologist. Simply put, I was at the beginning of the manufacturing boom of the 70s.
    I am now retired but the brain doesn't stop. I found you about 2 months ago and am so glad that I did. I am waiting on my first SBC that is arriving today.
    I cannot tell you how educational your videos are. I would have appreciated having you as a teacher back in the day. But I think we would have been friends because of our current ages :)
    Thank you so much for expertise. All of the old time software my children grew up with, along with my wife and I.
    I will say one thing about Software... I hated Wordstar
    Maybe on your next step back into the past, if you still have a copy of Wordstar, you can show everyone how miserable that software was.
    Thank you for all your help and support.
    Kindest Regards
    Robert

  • @eduardoschubert5738
    @eduardoschubert5738 3 ปีที่แล้ว +59

    Learning Lotus 123 was more or less the basis for my professional life.

    • @alliejr
      @alliejr 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Yup. Excel was garbage back in the day.

    • @bunkie2100
      @bunkie2100 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      I built a consulting and training business on Lotus 123. My best trick was writing macros that were self-modifying. The first version of 123 had no string handling capability. I wrote macros that would copy values out of lookup tables to perform string manipulation. In essence, it was like writing assembly language in that code and data all occupied whatever space you wanted and could be changed from one to another at will. Fun!

    • @rocketraccoon1976
      @rocketraccoon1976 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@bunkie2100
      Lotus Macro Language 👍👍👍👍👍
      Excel VBA Language 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮

    • @eduardoschubert5738
      @eduardoschubert5738 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@bunkie2100 And usually it could fits big worksheets on 360 KB DD Floppy Disks

    • @KarmaMan82
      @KarmaMan82 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Do you know AmiPro?

  • @NicolasChapadosGirard
    @NicolasChapadosGirard 3 ปีที่แล้ว +35

    For a really young person in 95, Encarta was mind-blowing. I didn't had the occasion to see any other of those retro-application except the Netscape browser.

    • @vcv6560
      @vcv6560 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      To me Encarta was icing on the cake, the 'encyclopedia with embedded video features' WOW moment came in '93 when my Creative Labs CD-ROM kit (2x player, SB16 card and some CDs) included Groliers Multi-media Encyclopedia. So of Microsoft Home series I'll add Cinemania 95, and the CD+G disks on Mozart and other composers.

    • @Tall_Order
      @Tall_Order 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      In 1995 I was the kid who spent his lunch break in the school media center using Encarta and playing Tetris on a Power Macintosh. Somehow even skipping lunch I was still fat. Not anymore, but still.

    • @marccaselle8108
      @marccaselle8108 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      ​@@vcv6560I heard of encarta 1995 but I never had it. The Packard bell I had included grolier 1995 multimedia encyclopedia.
      I used it to help me with reports in middle school. It made it easier. 🙂

  • @dwaynecarroll6098
    @dwaynecarroll6098 10 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    In the late 80’s, I was part of a small team that was charged with selecting standard business applications for our 200 or so DOS PCs. This was pre-Windows. And the winners were: Lotus 123, MS Word, Harvard Graphics, and for data base users: Alpha Four. Great apps that managed to work together somewhat.

    • @dwaynecarroll6098
      @dwaynecarroll6098 10 หลายเดือนก่อน

      I’m trying to talk Alpha Software a new release, maybe on the Mega65. Have you considered a video on favorite personal computers from the past?

  • @moaliyt
    @moaliyt 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I started with "Rescue Rover", and not a day goes by without me thinking that maybe I should've stopped meddling with computers after I rescued him.

  • @StephenC050
    @StephenC050 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    I used Deluxe Music on my Amiga, loved the sheet music display.
    And I was never off Elite on my BBC.

  • @Everytwo_
    @Everytwo_ 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Next video idea: Top 5 retro games

    • @ExplainingComputers
      @ExplainingComputers  3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Thanks for this, and I have a video in development!

    • @chrisr7597
      @chrisr7597 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      ARCHON!!!
      Was a whiz at that one🦅💥

    • @johnintheuk00
      @johnintheuk00 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@ExplainingComputers I hope David Braben’s Elite is on there. An amazing game considering it only had 16k to run on if running on an Acorn Electron.

    • @sharonwolff1
      @sharonwolff1 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      If you want to go really, really retro on this, computer game type ins. Stuff like the book Computer Games by David Ahl and more obscure The Valley from 1982 Computing Today.

  • @theretromillennial
    @theretromillennial 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I remember Encarta 95. It came with our Packard Bell Legend that my mom brought home in 1995. I never used it, but remember seeing the case in the desk drawer next to the System Shock floppies.
    We used Netscape at school, but at home we used AOL. When I got my first PC in 99, we were already coming into the IE era so I used that. Used Firefox through college and switched to Brave a few months back, but occasionally I still go back and use SeaMonkey for that classic Netscape feel.

  • @BilisNegra
    @BilisNegra 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Very welcome lookback episode! You seem to do these only rarely, but maybe because it adds so nicely to the topic variety when they do drop in on the channel, I really enjoy them. Reminds me of some Windows CE gear episode 2 years ago, when I felt the same, except I was even more shocked as it was the first one in that vein I watched.

  • @01chippe
    @01chippe 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Thanks for this very enjoyable trip down memory lane! Excellent video.
    I’m sure the younger crowd is looking at these programs and thinking “How Primitive”. For me, this was state of the art at the time.
    I thoroughly enjoyed using Encarta. I used to browse through the contents for hours on end. I was in awe of all of the multimedia objects included. I was saddened when MS discontinued it.
    I also loved Lotus 1-2-3.
    I preferred Multi-Mate over word perfect. There was also a DOS menu program that we used in the office on our IBM PS/2 computers with dual 3 1/2 floppy drives. I copied that program and ran it on my home computer. The menu could be easily configured to include whatever software you wanted to run, so instead of typing commands at the DOS prompt you just typed the number corresponding to the software you wanted to run. When you were done with the program running, it would return back to the menu program. You could configure to run the program automatically when you started your PC. I wish I could remember the name of that software.
    Another favorite of mine was “Print Shop Deluxe”.

  • @gam85191
    @gam85191 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I remember getting napster in 1999 and the first time I used Winzip was so confusing lol Encarta was amazing, it was mind blowing to have a full encyclopedia with videos and animations with voice guides and explanations, I remember watching the solar system animations, back when Pluto was still a planet!

    • @ExplainingComputers
      @ExplainingComputers  3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      I still consider Pluto to be a planet . . .

    • @horseradishpower9947
      @horseradishpower9947 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@ExplainingComputers I get your point on Pluto, but I also see why they did the reclassification.
      Encarta was a blast from the past... my school never really got to grips with what it really was!

  • @aytviewer2421
    @aytviewer2421 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    In 1993 I bought an external SCSI CD-ROM drive and plugged it into my Mac LC III. The drive came with 10 CDs! One of those was the "New Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia" and it was by far the best CD of the bunch. I think it had about 300 videos, that were maybe 240p. It was fantastic. I remember in awe at watching the Hindenburg disaster footage along with speeches from former presidents and people like Dr. King. In 1993, this was a big deal to have all of these various clips that you could simply click on and watch. In addition to the videos it had many pictures and photographs and of course thousands of articles from the Encyclopedia. The interface was top-notch and very intuitive. It was way ahead of it's time.

  • @bilbp41
    @bilbp41 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I liked it very much it is the sort of thing are used to do in the old days I am 54 now and have had a career in IT and school since 1976 so I’ve worked all the way through different applications and it was nice to see all the old style applications Lotus 1-2-3 was one of my favourites thank you Chris for entertaining us and showing as all the old programs

  • @gregoryturner1505
    @gregoryturner1505 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    Netscape was my favorite browser of all time. You really brought back some memories, like the excitement of purchasing the software at the store then hurrying home to install and use it.

  • @alecgrolimond1678
    @alecgrolimond1678 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Those were the days when I gave classes of Word Perfect in DOS or prior Word Star!

  • @tlmoller
    @tlmoller 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Good list.
    A few additions from my younger days..
    - dBase III, early database
    - Hardware Graphics, early business graphics
    - Lotus Symphoney, early integrated package
    - Framework, early integrated package
    - Quattro, Lotus 123 clone

    • @RogerioPereiradaSilva77
      @RogerioPereiradaSilva77 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I think you mean Harvard Graphics? And Lotus Symphony doesn't really belong in that list as it was just IBM releasing a rebranded OpenOffice for a little while and as such it is way more modern that any of the other applications in your list.

  • @BrianJones-wk8cx
    @BrianJones-wk8cx 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    Brilliant idea-great trip down memory lane!

  • @c17nav
    @c17nav ปีที่แล้ว +4

    A couple of printing add-ins to 1-2-3 were Funk Software company's Sideways and Allways. With Sideways and Allways installed, dot matrix printers could produce some impressive results. Sideways printed spreadsheets on dot matrix printers in landscape orientation (clockwise 90 degrees) continuously on a tractor fed paper roll. Since the DOS version of 1-2-3 did not natively support WYSIWYG viewing, Allways allowed viewing of the final appearance of the printed spreadsheets with better fonts and styles on dot matrix and other printers.

  • @MicrobyteAlan
    @MicrobyteAlan 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    App’s excellent. All the classics, memories. Thanks

  • @panvrek8952
    @panvrek8952 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Oh my.... you made me smile like a kid tonight

  • @adrianwiuk
    @adrianwiuk 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Well, that's made me feel a little older! I used WP5.2 to write my dissertation, although my spreadsheet of choice was Quattro Pro :D

  • @43PR50
    @43PR50 3 ปีที่แล้ว +17

    Xtree Gold was good for a noob like me back in 96 navigating DOS :)

    • @terrydaktyllus1320
      @terrydaktyllus1320 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Thanks for the memory, I'd forgotten about Xtree Gold - I need to go look up another TH-cam video to remind me.

    • @onlinedrifter
      @onlinedrifter 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      I started off with a pirated version of XTree and liked it so much that I bought my own copy of XTree Gold.

    • @terrydaktyllus1320
      @terrydaktyllus1320 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@onlinedrifter The moment I watched this video, I remembered why I liked XTree Gold so much - I'd completely forgotten about it:
      th-cam.com/video/oHfj_XH0vrk/w-d-xo.html

    • @onlinedrifter
      @onlinedrifter 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@terrydaktyllus1320 Thanks for the memories. I still have it installed on a couple of old, dead computers but I think that mine is version 2.

    • @terrydaktyllus1320
      @terrydaktyllus1320 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@onlinedrifter I must definitely fire up an old MS-DOS virtual machine and have a play with it again.

  • @judsonleach5248
    @judsonleach5248 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    You had me at "Retro Apps" HAHAHA!! Cheers! Judson and Buddy - THE Golden Hound Dog in OHIO!!

  • @IanSlothieRolfe
    @IanSlothieRolfe 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    I used to support WP users for Ford in the UK for a while, I was always very impressed with it. As a software engineer though, I used to carry around a floppy disk with Wordstar on it, so I could take notes. Wordstar was small and would run from the floppy disk, so I used it as a "portable app" as they would say these days, I could put my floppy in any PC and make notes or write a letter that I could print out and send when I got home. I used this technique right up to when I got my Psion 3mx and that took on the role of portable note taking. A lot of old DOS based programs were very good at what they did, and still work well to this day.

  • @patrikbackstrom8350
    @patrikbackstrom8350 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    That Lotus program looks amazing! I don’t think I’ve ever used it, but it looked so clean

  • @dougr.8653
    @dougr.8653 3 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    My favourite old piece of software is Print Artist from Sierra. My family would always spend lots of time crafting posters and cards on it. 😁

    • @paulgray1318
      @paulgray1318 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      I will always associate "Sierra" with "Leisure Suit Larry"

    • @lesliedeana5142
      @lesliedeana5142 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      You beat me to mentioning this software as well.

    • @robertosswald5896
      @robertosswald5896 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Banner mania was also a similar program

  • @williamlinington9166
    @williamlinington9166 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    The first time I saw video on a computer was 1991, at a computer show in Toronto. It was on a 486 and was low res and grainy.
    Love your channel. Cheers.
    I taught 123 and Wordperfect back in the early 90's. I miss the simple essence and ease of WP. Maybe I need to install it on and older computer.

    • @coctailrob
      @coctailrob 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      First time for me was a demo PC running in a retail store. It was playing a Queen music video-CD if I remember correctly. I was suitably impressed at the time

    • @williamlinington9166
      @williamlinington9166 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@coctailrob video Cd's were being used before DVD.

  • @DallasMike424
    @DallasMike424 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Lotus123 opened up a new world to me in my late 20s. It revolutizioned the business, engineering, and scientific worlds.
    I have attorney friends and former clients who were using WordPerfect less than 20 years ago. What memories!

  • @BQQBIES
    @BQQBIES 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    You never fail to amaze me Chris. Much nostalgia in this vid, tanx!

  • @no-one3795
    @no-one3795 3 ปีที่แล้ว +50

    I was surprised that you can still run Netscape and that Netscape was the predecessor of Firefox.

    • @Matrxmonky
      @Matrxmonky 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      The fine Mister Barnatt knows quite a few interesting things of which most of us are quite blissfully unawares.

    • @t.w.3
      @t.w.3 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      And before Netscape we had Gopher... :)

    • @Matrxmonky
      @Matrxmonky 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@t.w.3 WebCrawler is STILL AROUND.

  • @adjusted-bunny
    @adjusted-bunny 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    I saw that you have iomega tools. I remember that I bought a (blue?) iomega drive but I think I hardly used it. Meanwhile I'm a Linux aficionado and believe it or not I already sat in the 60's in front of a terminal and held some punch cards in my little hands (I was very little at that time)

  • @desktorp
    @desktorp 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    A few years ago, I stumbled across my dad's old pirated copy of Office 97. I was able to take the executable straight off the disc and (since I use Linux) run it using Wine. It was so lightweight, compared to every modern standard; it started instantaneously and felt more responsive than LibreOffice Writer, running natively. Fortunately, however, I only use plain text, so I have no need for any of the various bloatware word processors. Still a fun experience and made me think about WordPerfect. Anyone who prefers WordPerfect's keyboard-centric approach should learn to use Vim. Not exactly the same, but once you learn it, it's very efficient.

  • @joedenatale4176
    @joedenatale4176 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    In my case I spent so much time as a student for my assignments using word perfect lotus 123, dbase3, basic coding, c, pascal. Thanks for this video, it certainly brings back many memories.

  • @EricBowersTrekkie
    @EricBowersTrekkie 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Oddly, I remember Wordperfect as having a blue background. This is something I still miss having in a word processor today - a dark blue background with light colored letters. Much easier on the eyes, IMHO.

    • @ExplainingComputers
      @ExplainingComputers  3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      WordPerfect had "Document 1" and "Document 2" which you could switch between. By default, one was black (as in the video) and the other was blue, as you note.

    • @KameraShy
      @KameraShy 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      We always had WP set to a blue background.

  • @cpuuk
    @cpuuk 3 ปีที่แล้ว +15

    Us Wordstar supporters will fight you Wordperfect users.

    • @ExplainingComputers
      @ExplainingComputers  3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      Oh yes, I remember that battle!

    • @paulgray1318
      @paulgray1318 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      It's like Vi vs EMACS all over again. :@)

    • @terrydaktyllus1320
      @terrydaktyllus1320 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Erm, Wordswoth on the Amiga, anyone? ... .... .... ... Anyone?

    • @TheUglyGnome
      @TheUglyGnome 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      WordStar All the way!

    • @robertbass9032
      @robertbass9032 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Not to be forgotten was the whole Star series... Datastar, Macrostar, and another I don't remember the name of.

  • @bobfriendship8893
    @bobfriendship8893 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    How great it is to see you showcase the retro software. I didn't experience your very early offerings but used (and still do at times) Minioffice, a suite containing similar spreadsheet and word processing applications. Another that I can still use (in a Virtual XP environment) is Locoscript, which contained a word processor and relational database.
    Currently I have installed on Win10 Lotus Smartsuite (1999) and my everyday diary is Lotus Organizer.
    As for my old favorite Graphics package, (can only run in virtual XP) is Micrografx Picture Publisher 7a (Win 95 & NT) released May 1997 which bundled with my first WIN98 scanner. I'm unsure if that application was later bought and became Coral, but I could be wrong there.
    I have only recently found you here on TH-cam and I am most pleased to have done so.
    Thank you!

  • @AliZainOnline
    @AliZainOnline 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    My faourite one was Lotus 1-2-3, i used it countless times on HP 95LX.

  • @Uniblab8
    @Uniblab8 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I have and used and sometimes miss all of these sans DPaint, which I never used. Good memories of software that was much simpler and easier to use out of the box. I did at one time write a database from scratch in BASIC on the Apple IIe. Very fun stuff indeed. Another Sunday morning is now complete.

  • @MeineVideokasetten
    @MeineVideokasetten 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    0:45 pre Wikipedia times 8:55 DeluxePaint IV - *THE* gfx tools of the 90s!!! I painted a lot of gfx of our SNES intros with it *

  • @Papias_GR
    @Papias_GR 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Norton Commander, Professional Write (PW) and a program called CASSLBL (Cassete Label), used for labelling Audio Cassetes. Thanks for another great video!

  • @mattyharkin5787
    @mattyharkin5787 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Very retro - takes me back. I used to learn 'computing' on Amstrad PCW lol

  • @pdacore
    @pdacore 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Wolfenstein was innovative when it was first released. I spent days getting to the end of the free version.

  • @Ivor_Nastyboil
    @Ivor_Nastyboil 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Two of my old favourites are OS/2 and Samna's Ami Pro. OS/2 was an awesome operating system that I feel was badly let down by IBM's poor marketing. The first time I saw Ami Pro being demonstrated at a computer show I couldn't believe that it was rendering WYSIWYG on the PC screen. A vast leap ahead of the DOS word processors like Word Star and Word Perfect.

    • @bfs5113
      @bfs5113 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      I had taught a few OS/2 classes back then.

  • @CharloBagis
    @CharloBagis 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I remember all of these, especially Encarta was a true wonder at the time, I remember me and my brother being amazed with the Cheetah video, thanks for the trip back in time 😀

  • @fattomandeibu
    @fattomandeibu 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I drew custom stages for Worms in DPaint VI AGA as a teenager. Brings back memories.