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Comment by poisonborz | Hacker News Reader

Software is and ideally must always be a hammer. It is only since the last 15 years that monopolist platforms try to trick us believing they are not.

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To be fair, the surface of software has gone through the roof. Unix utils like `grep` or `find` can be hammers while a retailer's website with varying promotions, inventory and overall content needs to be maintained, moreso like a car.

The last 15 years was 2010. I’ve been in the industry since 1996 and programming as a hobbyist since 1986. Computers change, operating systems change. It’s not like I was using the original AppleWorks 3.0 on my Apple //e in 2010, or ClarisWorks from 1996 on my LCII.

While you can still buy Microsoft Office once and use it “forever”, I much prefer the $129 a year, 5 users deal with 1GB of online storage per user and each user can use office between their computers, online and on mobile regardless of operating system.

A desktop only office suite would do me no good as I go back and forth between platforms.

I reflect on this as a user: I've been a Windows user since around 1996, and most of my workflow is unchanged, I still use the ~same software (new versions of course, but those old versions would mostly still run). This could be even more true for Linux. Apple had a wilder ride, but you can always emulate. This isn't about user experience, more about a mindset, that newer generation seems to tragically forget. Once you buy a service, you give up control and ownership. Same way how artists, works and prices constantly change on streaming platforms. On the surface it seems easier, but...

For your example, Microsoft can alter that price any time it sees fit, discontinue platforms you use, alter the interface drastically or cut a crucial feature in tomorrow's update... I wouldn't cope with such, and am sorry for those who must.

And when that happens, LibreOffice, GSuite and even Apple’s iWork suite can open the documents.

Word for the Mac has been in continuos production since 1986. It made through a 16 bit MacOS (I’m yada yada yada’ing) , to 32 bit “clean” System 7 on a 68040, to classic MacOS PPC to native OS X on PPC Carbon 32 bit, to x86 64 bit OS X APIs to ARM.

Would you really want to use Windows 3.1 Word in 2025? One of the major issues with Windows is that it carries stoubf cruft from 1992.

There are for instance still a dozen ways to define a string in Windows programming depending on the API and you have to convert between them

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