Killer Apps

Twenty-six years ago today the spreadsheet program Lotus 1-2-3 was released and it quickly became known as a killer app. Now despite the evil sounding term, a killer app (or killer application) isn't one that ends up causing your computer to crash or fail at a regular interval but rather a program or function that is considered to be so vital and so cutting edge that it becomes more of a necessity rather than an optional extra. Lotus 1-2-3 (for those who don't know) was the precursor to Excel in the sense that it was the first spreadsheet program that quickly caught on and led to the development of spreadsheets to what we know them to be today.

Now I can date myself by claiming to have actually used the DOS version of Lotus 1-2-3 though it was in no way comparable to the degree and the amount that I currently use Excel. Though there are some commonalities between the two, looking back on what was considered cutting edge at the time and what is considered cutting edge today, you might as well try to compare apples to oranges. These days there are plenty of people out there who can work wonders with Excel and short of making it sing, they can practically make it do anything else. I myself use it so much and so often that I sometimes see grids even when I'm not stuck staring at a computer screen.

But not all killer apps are as functional as a spreadsheet program or word processor. Some are a bit more fun. When the XBox was first released the killer app for that console was the game Halo which for a long time set the standard of what was cutting edge graphically and content-wise. Even in that short span of time, the degree of detail and story behind some of these games has gone forward by leaps and bounds and soon I think we'll reach a point where it will be impossible to tell reality from the game world.

But are killer apps a good thing? I remember when there were new games that came out on the PC or new software that was released, the big question always became whether or not the computer we currently had would be able to run it or not. I can recall sitting in dismay to find out that the computer we had at home wouldn't be able to run some of the games I wanted and at a time when upgrading a computer was a relatively major undertaking, it wasn't something you jumped into lightly. I can recall having to put off such purchases until such time that the technology that we had at home was able to keep up with the requirements of the software.

And to me that was like the whole chicken and the egg concept. Which drove the other? Did designers and programmers purposely design software that pushed the upper limits of computing in order to drive hardware technology development or was it the other way around? I couldn't and still can't tell which drives the other but I think it's a necessary process. There are times however when I feel that some development is done to the detriment of getting something to work in a relatively stable state. I liked Windows 95, 98, 2000 and even liked XP. What really began to bother me though was that by the time I got to Vista, they had changed the interface so much that you had to literally re-learn how and where to find simple things. It wasn't like before. Sure the advancement of technology was wonderful but does it have to come with the consequence of having to learn something brand new all over again? I think not.

I think the development of killer apps will continue and for the most part it will be a beneficial growth process. I just hope that I'm able to keep up with the development. Given the state of the economy these days I am not one to jump up and upgrade to the latest technology at the drop of a hat. Still, I can't help but be amazed at how far we've come from even something as commonplace these days as a spreadsheet. Looking at the screen capture of the DOS version and fondly (though not too fondly) recalling the way in which you had to hit control and a number sequence to apply bold, italics or underlines in spreadsheets and word processor documents to now doing so at the click of a button makes me wonder how far we can go in another 20-some years.