Radiohead album hides an app that only runs on an '80s computer

Re:Radiohead album hides an app that only runs on an '80s co... by JimDabell on Friday July 14, 2017 @07:55AM (#14769093)

Atari's GEM/TOS also had applications, abbreviated as "app", in the mid-80s. I don't know where people got the idea that "app" is something recent, but I've started seeing people say it in a few places lately. It's not true at all, we definitely had apps in the 80s.

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Re:Radiohead album hides an app that only runs on an '80s co... by jccc on Friday July 14, 2017 @08:20AM (#14769190)

I think those people are saying -- reasonably -- that the word app is recent in the mainstream popular language, not that it was never ever used by anyone until the iPhone.

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Re:Radiohead album hides an app that only runs on an '80s co... by spatulon on Friday July 14, 2017 @08:38AM (#14769274)

Windows called them programs (until recently), and Android & iOS call them apps, so it's likely that most people have only started hearing the term in the last 10 years.

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Re:Radiohead album hides an app that only runs on an '80s co... by michrassena on Friday July 14, 2017 @11:53AM (#14770738)

I remember hearing the Windows control panel functions referred to as applets 20 years ago or so. Likewise, java programs embedded into a web page were also called applets.

Is applet but a diminution of application, or of app?

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Re:Radiohead album hides an app that only runs on an '80s co... by digi_owl on Friday July 14, 2017 @11:19AM (#14770457)

Best i can tell, win32 binaries are still programs, UWP binaries are apps.

All in all i can't shake the feel that apps are more "restrictive" in how they can be used...

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Re:Radiohead album hides an app that only runs on an '80s co... by taeric on Friday July 14, 2017 @11:49AM (#14770706)

So long as we all agree the term "applet" was asinine. :)

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Re:Radiohead album hides an app that only runs on an '80s co... by boondaburrah on Friday July 14, 2017 @01:00PM (#14771281)

Why do all my programs end it .PRG then? :P (currently struggling to get data off of an old ST - good old RS232 strikes again)

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Re:Radiohead album hides an app that only runs on an '80s co... by mocko on Friday July 14, 2017 @01:48PM (#14771712)

Fellow ST user here! .prg was the most common extension but .app was certainly used in some cases. I think it denoted a different format.

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Re:Radiohead album hides an app that only runs on an '80s co... by d_k_f on Friday July 14, 2017 @02:26PM (#14772089)

Weren't .prgs the actual "foreground"-programs while .apps were the small helper tools that ran in the background and stayed resident even if not in focus? I distantly remember some apps getting a spot in the menu bar...

(It's been ages since I touched that system, good times, though.)

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Re:Radiohead album hides an app that only runs on an '80s co... by 6581 on Friday July 14, 2017 @02:42PM (#14772196)

The resident tools were .ACC (desktop accessories).

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Re:Radiohead album hides an app that only runs on an '80s co... by d_k_f on Saturday July 15, 2017 @10:27AM (#14776770)

Ahh, right. Thanks for the refresher!

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Re:Radiohead album hides an app that only runs on an '80s co... by c3d on Saturday July 15, 2017 @02:20AM (#14775265)

Actually, the .app extension Das sometimes used. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_TOS

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