Orphaned Technology
Encyclopedia
Orphaned technology is a descriptive term for computer
products, programs, and platforms that have been abandoned by their original developers. Orphaned technology refers to software, such as abandonware
and antique software, but also to hardware
and practices. In computer software standards and documentation, deprecation
is the gradual phasing-out of a software or programming language
feature.
For users of superior technologies that have been withdrawn from the market, there is a choice between maintaining their surrounding environments in some form of emulation or switching to other supported products and losing those capabilities.
Examples of orphaned technologies that still have or had a following after being dropped include:
Symbolics Inc's operating systems, Genera and OpenGenera, were twice orphaned, as they were ported from LISP machines to computers using the Alpha 64-bit
CPU. User groups often exist for specific orphaned technologies, such as The Hong Kong
Newton User Group, Symbolics Lisp [Machines] Users' Group, and Newton Reference.
Orphan technologies also refer to technologies for which there is a need, but not a large enough market to make investment in the technology financially viable.
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
products, programs, and platforms that have been abandoned by their original developers. Orphaned technology refers to software, such as abandonware
Abandonware
Abandonware are discontinued products for which no product support is available, or whose copyright ownership may be unclear for various reasons...
and antique software, but also to hardware
Hardware
Hardware is a general term for equipment such as keys, locks, hinges, latches, handles, wire, chains, plumbing supplies, tools, utensils, cutlery and machine parts. Household hardware is typically sold in hardware stores....
and practices. In computer software standards and documentation, deprecation
Deprecation
In the process of authoring computer software, its standards or documentation, deprecation is a status applied to software features to indicate that they should be avoided, typically because they have been superseded...
is the gradual phasing-out of a software or programming language
Programming language
A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely....
feature.
For users of superior technologies that have been withdrawn from the market, there is a choice between maintaining their surrounding environments in some form of emulation or switching to other supported products and losing those capabilities.
Examples of orphaned technologies that still have or had a following after being dropped include:
- AmigaAmigaThe Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
- 16/32-bit computer - The Apple IIApple IIThe Apple II is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977...
series - 8-bit computer - Apple LisaApple LisaThe Apple Lisa—also known as the Lisa—is a :personal computer designed by Apple Computer, Inc. during the early 1980s....
- 16/32-bit graphical computer - Newton PDAApple NewtonThe MessagePad was the first series of personal digital assistant devices developed by Apple for the Newton platform in 1993. Some electronic engineering and the manufacture of Apple's MessagePad devices was done in Japan by the Sharp Corporation...
(Apple Newton) - tablet computer - CP/MCP/MCP/M was a mass-market operating system created for Intel 8080/85 based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc...
- 8-bit program loader - Commodore 64Commodore 64The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
- 8-bit computer - DEC AlphaDEC AlphaAlpha, originally known as Alpha AXP, is a 64-bit reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by Digital Equipment Corporation , designed to replace the 32-bit VAX complex instruction set computer ISA and its implementations. Alpha was implemented in microprocessors...
- 64-bit microprocessorMicroprocessorA microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and... - HyperCardHyperCardHyperCard is an application program created by Bill Atkinson for Apple Computer, Inc. that was among the first successful hypermedia systems before the World Wide Web. It combines database capabilities with a graphical, flexible, user-modifiable interface. HyperCard also features HyperTalk, written...
- hypermedia - ICAD (KBE)ICADICAD was a Knowledge-Based Engineering system that was based upon the Lisp programming language...
- knowledge-based engineering - Javelin SoftwareJavelin SoftwareJavelin Software Corporation was a company in Cambridge, Massachusetts which developed an innovative modeling and data analysis product, also called Javelin, and later Javelin Plus...
- modeling and data analysis - LISP machinesLisp MachinesLisp Machines, Inc. was a company formed in 1979 by Richard Greenblatt of MIT's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory to build Lisp machines. It was based in Cambridge, Massachusetts....
- LISP oriented computer - Classic Mac OSMac OSMac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...
- m68k operating system - Microsoft BobMicrosoft BobMicrosoft Bob was a Microsoft software product, released in March 1995, which provided a new, nontechnical interface to desktop computing operations. It was one of Microsoft's more visible product failures...
- graphical helper - NeXTNeXTNext, Inc. was an American computer company headquartered in Redwood City, California, that developed and manufactured a series of computer workstations intended for the higher education and business markets...
and NeXTSTEPNEXTSTEPNeXTSTEP was the object-oriented, multitasking operating system developed by NeXT Computer to run on its range of proprietary workstation computers, such as the NeXTcube...
- object oriented computer - OpenDocOpenDocOpenDoc was a multi-platform software componentry framework standard for compound documents, intended as an alternative to Microsoft's Object Linking and Embedding ....
- compound documents (mac, os/2) - OS/2OS/2OS/2 is a computer operating system, initially created by Microsoft and IBM, then later developed by IBM exclusively. The name stands for "Operating System/2," because it was introduced as part of the same generation change release as IBM's "Personal System/2 " line of second-generation personal...
- next generation ms-dos - PrographPrographPrograph is a visual, object-oriented, dataflow, multiparadigm programming language that uses iconic symbols to represent actions to be taken on data. Commercial Prograph software development environments such as Prograph Classic and Prograph CPX were available for the Apple Macintosh and Windows...
- visual programming system
Symbolics Inc's operating systems, Genera and OpenGenera, were twice orphaned, as they were ported from LISP machines to computers using the Alpha 64-bit
64-bit
64-bit is a word size that defines certain classes of computer architecture, buses, memory and CPUs, and by extension the software that runs on them. 64-bit CPUs have existed in supercomputers since the 1970s and in RISC-based workstations and servers since the early 1990s...
CPU. User groups often exist for specific orphaned technologies, such as The Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
Newton User Group, Symbolics Lisp [Machines] Users' Group, and Newton Reference.
Orphan technologies also refer to technologies for which there is a need, but not a large enough market to make investment in the technology financially viable.