Old Software Doesn't Die, It Just . . .

Can't think of a punch line for the title above.

I'm one of a select group of people -- those who still have and use their Office 97 CD. I just finished installing the Shortcut Toolbar, which I love dearly. It's nice to have it back on my screen, ten years after its original release. Some things never go out of style.

It's made me think of other software I miss, most of which won't run on modern computers. Heck, most of which I probably couldn't find any longer.

• Sketcher, the first natural-media paint program I ever played with. It featured black-and-white drawing media.
• All those cheesy morph programs! I needed one a while back, and couldn't find one anywhere.
• Rock 'n Rap & Roll -- sooooo cheesy. We loved it, though. I wish I still had it, I'd like to try using the sounds from it in FruityLoops. (For my own personal use, of course.)
• Who could ever forget ZipMagic, which made zip files miracuously act like file folders? Wow. Even my Dad understood how to use it.
• That DOS-based fortune-teller program, the one that read your aura by having you place your hands on the computer screen. (A concept I borrowed for my Flash aura reader.) My family got a lot of mileage out of that one.
• Ohhh, the Windows voodoo doll. I loved that one.
• The Pagan Daybook. Hm -- Download.com has a new version!!!!
• My Barbie screen saver. I think I might still have that one.
• The Dallas Cowboys web browser. How could something suck that much but still be cool?
• Font Monster. Wow. Best font management program ever. It had one little invaluable feature I can't find anywhere else -- it could modify a dingbat font so programs correctly saw the font as a dingbat instead of as text.
• Windows Macro Recorded -- I miss the original Win 3.1 recorder. I have to use Macro Express now, which is clearly a professional-level tool, but it isn't free-with-Windows.
• All the games. Zork. Leather Goddesses of Phobos. Ultima.

I'm trying to think if there is any other piece of software I've been using for ten years. Different versions don't count.

• Pretty Good Solitare -- I'm sure my family has been playing for ten years. It's not on my PC, but I do play it at the parent's home. We don't like the newer version as much, so we've never upgraded.
• Original Windows stuff that has never been upgraded (or at least not obvious-to-me upgraded):
• Notepad
• Calculator
• Character Map
• I'm sure there are others, but I use these three regularly.
• Xenu Link Sleuth -- still the best.
• WS_FTP, the original version -- I know some people have trouble getting it to run on Win XP, but I haven't had any problems. Almost impossible to find now -- the new version isn't as streamlined. Please don't ask me to email you a copy.

Wow, that's a short list. I thought there would be more.