A Manifesto for Small SoftwareA Manifesto for Small Software
Software has lost its way. Apps that once shipped on a single floppy disk now demand gigabytes of your storage, minutes of your time, and far too much of your patience. We accepted this gradual bloat, but that’s not progress.
Software should be as small as it can be. Not as a gimmick, but as a discipline. The floppy disk is the measuring stick: 1.44 MB. If the software that ran entire businesses could fit in that space, then a modern, focused, single-purpose tool certainly can.
The first video game I ever played was called Airborne Ranger. By played I mean that I watched my older brother and cousin play while i waited for my turn and then almost immediately got killed and went back to watching.
But I have very vivid memories of the floppy disk on which this game came.
Exactly the reason why video games resonated with me. I was usually pretty bad at them.
When I was little we didn't have a computer, but my cousin's family had a commodore. They kept it outside in this shed thing and this was in Aberdeen (where Nirvana is from) so very wet and rainy all the time. I remember running across some plywood we laid down in the back yard to make a non-muddy path to the shed. Also for some reason the shed was always really dark and creepy. But it had computer and I would do most anything for a chance to watch the older kids play computer.
That's a great-sounding memory