Software so compelling or uniquely useful that it drives people to adopt the hardware it runs on.
"One mark of a good computer is the appearance of a piece of software specifically written for that machine that does something that, for a while at least, can only be done on that machine."
—Steven Levy, quoted in Popular Computing.
In the early days of personal computing, for a while there seemed to be no outstanding reason for people to buy computers, either for business or personal use. hardware companies spent time trying to create a marketplace for their products. WHen the Apple II was launched, there was little really useful software available that could drive people to buy the hardware. Two years after launch saw the release of Visicalc, the first spreadsheet softare, and the first 'killer app'. it was the first of several killer applications that defined the value of owning a PC or Apple computer and drve people to buy the hardware. Lotus 1-2-3 did a similar thing for the IBM PC, combining spreadsheet, charting, and database functions into one software package. Businesses saw the value of the software and bought machines in droves, for the purpose of getting the software going. WordStar followed, driving hardware sales even further. On the Macintosh, MacPaint and MacWrite showcased the power of the graphical user interface, enabling intuitive graphic design and WYSIWYG word processing. Later on, Aldus PageMaker, paired with Apple’s LaserWriter printer, turned the Mac into the dominant desktop publishing platform and helped cement the percieved value of Apple's hardware with creatives. HyperCard introduced the concept of hyperlinking and inspired future multimedia and web technologies. Other key applications included Paradox for databases and even Microsoft Flight Simulator, which became both a popular game and a benchmark for PC performance. Without these early programs hardware sales would have lagged, but thanks to them the market exploded, and here we are today.
So what are the 'killer apps' today? What drives people to buy more and better hardware? I'd argue that the World Wide Web is that driver. Without a web browser, most people would have little use for expensive hardware.
It was a killer app that drove my first smartphone purchase, a G1/HTC Dream. I was convinced by seeing the ease with which one of my friends could navigate using the then-new Google Maps navigation software. I was hooked. These days the app i miss most is As I wrestle to get a working phone again, that's the thing i miss most, pretty much instant, synchronous communication. If I could get a dumb phone with Signal available, i'd buy one of those in a heartbeat.
$ xclip -o | wc -w
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