Fits on a floppy, great idea:
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.
Yep, these criteria make the good stuff:
Launches instantly. Faster startup, nothing unnecessary to load.
Does one thing well. Focused features, fewer bugs, software that lasts.
But, I disagree on some details:
Native only. No dependency bloat, every line of code earns its place.
I usually don’t feel like “native” is crucial these days. Whatever your definition of native is, it’s not a prerequisite for building great software. Even for desktop/mobile platform development using the vendor-intended language and frameworks, the downsides are…a lot, lately.
You can create software that is fast and focused with any language or stack if you’re careful. So, I might replace this one with something about attention to details and care for the craft.
Runs on older systems. Older devices deserve love too.
I love it when this happens. It’s easier to make it work outside native environments, too!
I think the applications are less important than the data. I’d change this one to something about the ability to store one’s own data on a floppy-sized local file instead of in an opaque cloud or a row in a SaaS database somewhere.
Maybe the big idea is that the application and data should fit on the floppy. 🤔