revolutionary apps

Over at EWeek, Peter Coffee lists his "25 Killer Apps of All Time" and Firefox makes the list. Up there with greats like Lotus 123, the original Netscape, and Mac Paint, Firefox definitely sites in my top 25 killer apps of all time.

Posted by asa on December 17, 2006 6:46 PM

reactions, thoughts, comments, etc.

I'm not sure this guy really understand what a killer app really is. I mean com'on...he lists different versions of the same app, yet a killer app can only be a killer app once. Wikipedia defines a killer app as "a computer program that is so useful or desirable that it proves the value of some underlying technology, such as a gaming console, operating system, or piece of computer hardware.".

Take his listing of Excel as an example. Before Excel for Windows, there was Excel for the Mac. The first Excel was a killer app, thus creating a need for it in Windows producers/users minds. It wasn't a killer app a second time around. It already changed everything by the fact it became needed on Windows. It already "proved the value of some underlying technology" but didn't re-prove it since it was already proved.

Plus, he totally missed Napster...now that, was a killer app in the category of VisiCalc, Netscape, and iTunes. A killer app, changes the face of things and how it's medium is thought of.

I would call Firefox a great peice of software, but what would make it a killer app? Nothing about it has ever been totally fresh in a killer app kind of way. I think he's just doing this for attention and knows that including Firefox will get a lot of us Firefox fans to link to him and make his list seem relevant.

Sorry, but I just ain't buying his list. It's way too shaky. Some of those listed were definately killer apps, but not all, and he certainly misses some. What about ICQ? Anyone realize how much that actually changed the way people chatted? I doubt we'd have our MSN messengers, Yahoo Messengers, AIMs, or jabbers without ICQ a decade ago.

This guy didn't even think about this list did he?

Posted by: Devon | December 17, 2006 8:09 PM

Netscape is listed as the application that "redefined surf". Welll :-) For the vast majority, it's the application that "defined surf"....

Posted by: Daniel Glazman | December 18, 2006 2:36 AM

As an AutoCAD Guy... I found it funny that all the screen shots were circa "initial release" time... but the AutoCAD screenshot was the 2006 version (next to last)...

AutoCAD looked a whole lot different back then! and oddly enough, I don't even know what it looked like!

Posted by: steve | December 18, 2006 6:45 AM

Another weird one: How many people used Internet Explorer 1.0? I was paying attention at the time, and I didn't even see it until 2.0. It didn't make an impact on the web until 3.0.

I can understand listing IE, but IE 1.0 is an odd choice.

Posted by: Kelson | December 18, 2006 9:09 AM

I hate to be pedantic, but OS X and Windows 3.0 are not an apps, they're operating systems. Although the author indeed lists some significant milestones, it is not very well thought out, and the auto slideshow format is annoying. Does anyone remember Lotus Magellan? Now that was groundbreaking, although now largely forgotten.

Posted by: Douglas Clifton | December 19, 2006 7:28 AM

The person forgot about NCSA Mosaic!

Posted by: Bob | December 21, 2006 4:35 PM