> Because the last release of the app was in 2002, and it was for Windows 95/98/2000/NT4, we’ve got a little bit of work to do to get it running on macOS
Much of today's software is going to be nothing more than a memory 22 years from now, after their authors run out of funding and they turn down the saas infrastructure that they shoehorned into it for that sweet, sweet recurring income. And more likely than not, we'll still be able to run this program from 2002, in 2046.
This is why I always say we need to create federated and open source solutions. At the minimum we need apps that are not locked down to SaaS providers.
The article covers everything I miss about desktop applications in a nutshell. Mostly that wild sense of discovering what you can do with a computer that you might not have tried to do at all or left to experts. But also not least that you can still run it decades later.
A really interesting read. From the discontinuation notice[1] that the article links to:
> Perhaps it comes down to this: indirectly, our own personal benefit for writing PlantStudio software and our other projects includes all the other wonderful free stuff on the internet, and it would cost us trillions of dollars if we had to pay for the creation of all that diversity ourselves. We don't mind using guilt to effect change :-) but this time, with products under free license, it will be guilt to go do something positive in the world to pass on the gift, rather than a one-for-one exchange with us.
That's a wonderful sentiment from the humans who put a lot of effort into building this software (and eventually decided to give it away).
I looked long and hard for something like this for Bonsai. I eventually found a Japanese app, but I'm yet to put in the effort to get it running. I don't think it worked in Whisky so I need to go deeper. https://www.jfp.co.jp/bonsai_dl/
Beautiful, thanks for sharing! Looks like I've found side project number 301: Three.js PlantStudio. Combined with the botany-focused image segmentation / mapping models they've got now, you could even work off people's real plants...
Much of today's software is going to be nothing more than a memory 22 years from now, after their authors run out of funding and they turn down the saas infrastructure that they shoehorned into it for that sweet, sweet recurring income. And more likely than not, we'll still be able to run this program from 2002, in 2046.
> Perhaps it comes down to this: indirectly, our own personal benefit for writing PlantStudio software and our other projects includes all the other wonderful free stuff on the internet, and it would cost us trillions of dollars if we had to pay for the creation of all that diversity ourselves. We don't mind using guilt to effect change :-) but this time, with products under free license, it will be guilt to go do something positive in the world to pass on the gift, rather than a one-for-one exchange with us.
That's a wonderful sentiment from the humans who put a lot of effort into building this software (and eventually decided to give it away).
[1] https://www.kurtz-fernhout.com/press.htm
I looked long and hard for something like this for Bonsai. I eventually found a Japanese app, but I'm yet to put in the effort to get it running. I don't think it worked in Whisky so I need to go deeper. https://www.jfp.co.jp/bonsai_dl/
I love that this silly app had a "Plant Wizard" with 10 steps and a progress bar with icons. That's really good UI design.