The piece recreates the process of getting a game for a Commodore 64 in 1986, when new software often came as code printed in computer magazines rather than as a ready-to-install download. A child bikes to a mall, searches for COMPUTE!’s Gazette, and brings home an issue offering just two games. To play Survivor, they must first type in a BASIC “Automatic Proofreader,” then the MLX utility for entering machine-language listings, and finally roughly 30 lines of BASIC and 350 lines of hexadecimal code. Even with tools to catch errors, the work could take about eight hours; saving to cassette adds a long wait, while a single typing mistake could derail the effort.
The detailed scenario makes a broader point about how dramatically software access has changed. In the imagined 1986, choices are scarce, programs have little independent review, and acquiring them depends on a magazine, hours of manual labor, and sometimes fragile, costly dial-up connections that occupy the household phone line. The piece contrasts those constraints with today’s app stores, while noting that the C64 still allowed simple personalization: users could change screen and border colors by entering memory-address commands, though the changes vanished when the machine was switched off or a program ran. It closes by suggesting that “program” may better describe software people actually create through hands-on work, distinguishing it from software generated by machines.
Summary generated by AI from the linked article. hn.today is not affiliated with Hacker News or Y Combinator.
Walter Koenig, best known as Pavel Chekov in Star Trek, died in Los Angeles on October 25, 2026, at age 90. The actor and screenwriter also played Alfred Bester in Babylon 5 and reprised Chekov in six Star Trek films. (en.wikipedia.org)
Donald Trump has introduced a new name for artificial intelligence and is unhappy that people are not adopting it. The dispute centers on his effort to replace the widely used term “AI.” (neowin.net)
Chocolate candies such as Sno-Caps taste bland and unpleasant to some longtime fans. The piece investigates changes in chocolate products and why consumers think their flavor has declined. (grubstreet.com)
Robert Reich argues that Elon Musk’s control of Starlink gave him undue influence over US foreign policy after he reportedly slowed Ukraine’s military-grade service. He urges people to stop buying Musk’s products and calls for taxing billionaires, limiting their political and media power, and reducing government reliance on their companies. (theguardian.com)
Maine’s school cellphone ban aims to help teens focus in class and connect with one another. Schools are reporting positive changes since the policy took effect. (apnews.com)
Professional deskilling is the loss or weakening of expertise and skills in people’s work. The topic asks who is responsible for preventing or addressing that decline. (degruyterbrill.com)
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