A Collection of Imaginary Software | Hacker News Reader

A Collection of Imaginary Software

shkspr.mobi

86 pointsedent18 comments

Thought it would go the way of fictitious book reviews by Lem, Borges, et al. e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanis%C5%82aw_Lem%27s_fictiti...

May be too hard to get right about software. Anyone tried?

You should write that post. It sounds like a good idea.

Man, this brings back memories of having all sorts of weird floppies cross my path... and scanning them to make sure they didn't contain Michelangelo or another scary virus! The labels look just amateurish enough to raise the Eyebrow of Doubt, but just professional enough to make you think "whatever it is, it could be interesting!"

Thanks! That's exactly the aesthetic I was going for :-)

I love this idea. In Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, there was a software called "Reason". It was only mentioned a few times, but I always keep thinking back to it whenever we're in a planning meeting.

>Reason allows users to specify in advance the decision they want it to reach, and only then to input all the facts. The program's task was to construct a plausible series of logical-sounding steps to connect the premises with the conclusion. The only copy was sold to the US Government for an undisclosed fee.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/dirkgently/gordon_way.shtml

There was another software I forget the name of, but the guy had modeled his sofa and staircase on it to try and figure out how the sofa got impossibly stuck halfway up stairs, and it kept trying different angles in order to come up with a way to get it unstuck.

Isn't there supposed to be Tic Tac Toe included on the bottom white one? Could have dire consequences if it's left out...

— It’s not on the list!

— What’s not on the list?

— Go ahead. It’s got to be in there somewhere.

Good spot. Should only take me a couple of seconds to add it in ;-)

That Aperture Laboratories disk got me captivated. I'd imagine getting sucked into a Portal dungeon without escape if I ever dared to insert it.

They look nice :)

Did you remember to flip the plastic switch on the GLaDOS floppy into the write-protect position before framing it? :^)

Oh shit...!

Notably missing OS from Her.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1798709/

Polybius

"I spent so much money on this arcade game back when I was a kid."

Oh no

It was a fun game. Really helped me open my mind.

Wouldn’t bandersnatch be on a tape and not a floppy?

I can't tell if the word "imaginary" is a (very good) pun in relation to Bandersnatch (developed by Liverpool's Imagine software) but, as many people will already know, it did kind of exist.

The ambitiousness of the project helped Imagine, one of the UK's most successful games companies, go bust, all while being filmed for a BBC documentary[0].

Bandersnatch would eventually be released as Brataccas[1], and the brand "Imagine" was taken over by the other company in the BBC documentary, Manchester's Ocean software[2], which went on to further success, later merging with French company Infogrames.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt9BsZCifgU

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brataccas

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_Software

Yes. But no one sent me any cassette cases. If you have a stock of them, I could certainly knock something up.

I have some new old stock blank cassettes I could send you. DM me a mailing address, if you'd like.

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