Top 10 software programs

John Dvorak came up with what he thinks are the top 10 software programs that were either the most successful or the most innovative in the modern era of desktop computing. His column explains the criteria behind the selections.

10. Microsoft BASIC (1976)
9. Sendmail (circa 1983)
8. Aldus Pagemaker (1985)
7. dBASE II (1980)
6. Photoshop (1990)
5. The Mac OS (1984)
4. The Mosaic browser (1993)
3. Apache (1995)
2. WordStar (1978-1979)
1. VisiCalc (1979)