When was the last time you got a free software update after 20 years?

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SpinnerMan

New member
Apr 16, 2024
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Not very often eh? A free software update when the previous release was literally 20 years ago?

When was the last time that a new commercial software release of a program would fit on a single floppy disk? LOL?

When was the last time you got a new commercial DOS based program?

I bet for most people, been quite a long time….
 
I bought SR6 in December of 2005.

I bought ZtreeWin v1.11 from Zedtek in October 1996, and Kim Henkel is still putting out updates every few months. Though technically it's a "console" based x64 program. Updates are here: https://www.ztw3.com/forum/forum.php

I bought Semware Professional (Programmer's text editor) in May of 1999. It came on a floppy disk in the mail with a nice book. :) There's still a Google Groups "SemWare TSE Pro (text editor) for Windows Beta Testing", though it's mostly dead... but not completely. :)

Those are the oldest software products I can think of that I still use regularly. I literally use Ztree all day every day. I have been switching to Notepad++ from Semware gradually... and sadly.
 
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Not very often eh? A free software update when the previous release was literally 20 years ago?

When was the last time that a new commercial software release of a program would fit on a single floppy disk? LOL?

When was the last time you got a new commercial DOS based program?

I bet for most people, been quite a long time….

Yup. Blew my little mind too. Thanks Steve!
 
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Now I don't feel so bad for some of my own projects that I put on the back burner.
 
Well, to be fair, whilst it doesn't still fit on a 3.5" floppy disk drive anymore like it was always intended to for portability reasons, Total Commander née Windows Commander née Norton Commander is the most used program on my computers (never ever shut down) and has always had free upgrades since I started using it in the very early 90's pre even Windows 3.11. Norton Commander was my GUI for DOS before Windows was even an OS.
 
PC Game Guild Wars: Released April 28, 2005
Guild Wars Reforged: Released December 3rd, 2025 Free for existing players who bought the game. Still no subscription. Major game engine and rendering improvements and some new content as well.

It won't run under DOS and no, it won't fit on a single floppy disk. Not even a LS120 SuperDisk.