Top 10 Most Important Software Programs

Top 10 Most Important Software Programs

 I'm staying focused on my recent theme of best and worst this week. This column is devoted to identifying the top 10 software programs that were either the most successful or the most innovative in the modern era of desktop computing (1976 to the present). All of my thoughts here are debatable and if anyone wants to post an alternate list (with a rationale) using my basic criteria I'd be interested, and I'll try to link to all of the ideas on my Web log at www.dvorak.org.

This list primarily highlights shrink wrap–type software rather than important protocols such as TCP/IP, Ethernet code or Postscript. The list also does not include ideas or concepts such as the Web or the Internet itself.
I'm also not including embedded software sitting inside, say, a Cisco router. This sort of software will be discussed in a future top ten (or bottom 10) list. And finally, programming languages such as Fortran are not on the list since they predate what I consider modern computing and had no serious influence on the direction modern computing has taken.

The only glaring omission might be AutoCAD. I left it off because AutoCAD, a professional LISP-centric tool, was never marketed in the spirit of the desktop revolution, but was sold as a very expensive design tool that just so happened to run on cheap computers. Its influence on the scene is negligible, so it's not listed.
Here's the list. See what you think: 

10. Microsoft BASIC (1976)--
This was Microsoft's one true innovation that worked. Unlike its competitor of that era, Northstar BASIC, which was probably better-quality software, Microsoft sold its BASIC unbundled, and it was one of the first standalone boxed programming languages, if not the first. This software triggered the modern programming era and popularized the idea of shrink-wrap languages.
9. Sendmail (circa 1983)--
This is the one criteria-challenged pick of this list, since it's kind of a protocol, but it's also a system supported by a company, Sendmail Inc., and is sort of a shrink-wrapped product without the shrink wrap. I had to include it on the list. Today's e-mail boom stems from the invention of this code.
8. Aldus Pagemaker (1985)--
This is the program that sealed the deal for desktop publishing and the concept of WYSIWYG. It's the granddad of much of today's layout and design software. I'll also lump in its drawing partners Illustrator and Freehand.
7. dBASE II (1980)--
A remarkable product in its day, and its influence lives on in all low-end commercial database software. It popularized the concept of a relational database manager, although it didn't quite follow all the parameters.
6. Photoshop (1990)--
Over time the importance of this program to the development of small computers will increase. Used by professionals and amateurs alike, this software has influenced all its competition and has become very desirable.
5. The Mac OS (1984)—
This OS and its Intel processor variant Windows 95 have to be on the list. The modern implementation of the graphical user interface was invented by Xerox, refined by Apple, and adopted by Microsoft. While Microsoft gets chided by me and others for copying the Apple/Xerox idea, there was probably no idea more worthy of being copied.
4. The Mosaic browser (1993)--
This is the code that triggered the second desktop revolution, in combination with the World Wide Web. All modern browsers are based on many of the principles developed by Mosaic.
3. Apache (1995)—
Apache and software from the open-source movement, including Linux and other initiatives, have to be included. This is a vague category where products are intermixed in a complex scene that encompasses the Internet and its transports. The fact is we would not be where we are today if it were not for the Linux/Apache Web servers. This powerful combination is now evolving into what users call LAMP (Linux-Apache-MySQL-PHP), which seems to be a movement that will undermine the Microsoft .NET strategy. None of this could have happened without the Apache Web server software, which proved that open-source software can be reliable, stable, free, and definitive.
2. WordStar (1978-1979)—
WordStar and its predecessor the Electric Pencil, as well as descendants such as Microsoft Word for Windows, have to be included. WordPerfect also deserves a mention here. But it was WordStar that really triggered things and became the first word processing killer app, dom

inating word processing for over a decade beginning with its release in the late 1970s. Word. You would not be reading this column if it wasn't for WordStar.
1. VisiCalc (1979)—
VisiCalc and its descendants, including Lotus 1-2-3 and Microsoft Excel, were standout products. While fundamentally not as important as word processing, the modern spreadsheet, initially implemented on the Apple II, became the triggering mechanism that brought what was then called a microcomputer into the office. Almost all of the history of desktop computing stems from this invention.