Ronture's Blog

Posted on: 12-27-2020 (Sunday, December 27th, 2020)View Calender

My Software Enthusiasm
If you know me, you may know that I'm obsessed with computers. Ever since I was a little kid, I loved playing on my grandmother's Windows XP computer and playing games. Among my favorites were Peggle and Bejeweled 2, developed by PopCap Games. I would [from time to time] visit the PopCap website, which was filled with fun and delight at most turns. If you go there today, you will not find as many computer games anymore. I then developed a new motto after I was metaphorically 'fed up' with the discontinuation certain softwares: "Everything Archived". I have this huge software archive located at... What's that place called? ...oh yeah, my dad's NAS. I've collected Google setup files, old and rare Android apps, a collection of what I find to be legitimate PopCap Games for Microsoft Windows, and AOL's Instant Messenger. I've also archived Microsoft's PowerPoint Viewer that got discontinued back in 2018 or '19. Am I serious? Probably. You can't be too sure when it comes to the existence of modern day software. I downloaded Adobe's Flash Player and really early Flash versions: ones that didn't exist in the 32-bit format. So Matthew, why don't you have all* of the zipped flash files?* 14-year-old me didn't think that I would need them, BUT HERE WE ARE! I'm disappointed in Adobe's discontinuation of Flash. If Macromedia wasn't purchased by Adobe in the first place, this probably wouldn't have happened. Thinking about it now, Flash probably would have been discontinued a lot earlier due to lack of use. Now when I visit old computers and find software that you cannot find from the original developers, I archive them if I can. Here's another story about music that relates to this topic. -~- My second-cousin got me into listening to TheFatRat's music, and I decided in late 2019 that I was going to give him a CD of 5 of TFR's songs. I decided that I liked his music and that I was going to listen to more of it. After I discovered my love for his pre-2015 stuff, I found out on his Tumblr page that he had TheRatNest Mixtapes that were taken off of his SoundCloud profile, and that I would download and listen to his remaining TheRatNest Mixtapes from his Box download page. Guess what? I LOVED THEM! Since I knew there were more out there, I browsed around Reddit for any sign of free downloads! Lo and behold, someone found a Vkontakte page for him and his music! Unfortunately, I had to make an account to get to even listening to his music, so I did just that. It turns out that there were 43 TRACKS ON THE MUSIC PAGE!!! I was surprised at how many TheRatNest Mixtapes there were on that site! I KID YOU NOT, there were 9 of 14 (that I am currently aware of) on that page. I download them, I download more in the future, then I LOSE SOME, and now I'm stuck with 28 music files that I rescued. Yes, the method stopped working. Yes, I am disappointed. If I've learned something from my experiences with software, it's that it won't be around forever. I am very grateful for the Internet Archive and all that they do. Can you believe that they've been archiving pages since 1997? It's awesome! I have another story to tell about Rusky Rusk and his music, but that's for another time too. Signing off, Matthew // Ronture

My Software Enthusiasm

If you know me, you may know that I'm obsessed with computers.

Ever since I was a little kid, I loved playing on my grandmother's Windows XP computer and playing games. Among my favorites were Peggle and Bejeweled 2, developed by PopCap Games. I would [from time to time] visit the PopCap website, which was filled with fun and delight at most turns. If you go there today, you will not find as many computer games anymore. I then developed a new motto after I was metaphorically 'fed up' with the discontinuation certain softwares: "Everything Archived".

I have this huge software archive located at... What's that place called? ...oh yeah, my dad's NAS. I've collected Google setup files, old and rare Android apps, a collection of what I find to be legitimate PopCap Games for Microsoft Windows, and AOL's Instant Messenger. I've also archived Microsoft's PowerPoint Viewer that got discontinued back in 2018 or '19.

Am I serious? Probably.

You can't be too sure when it comes to the existence of modern day software. I downloaded Adobe's Flash Player and really early Flash versions: ones that didn't exist in the 32-bit format.

So Matthew, why don't you have all of the zipped flash files?

14-year-old me didn't think that I would need them, BUT HERE WE ARE! I'm disappointed in Adobe's discontinuation of Flash. If Macromedia wasn't purchased by Adobe in the first place, this probably wouldn't have happened. Thinking about it now, Flash probably would have been discontinued a lot earlier due to lack of use.

Now when I visit old computers and find software that you cannot find from the original developers, I archive them if I can. Here's another story about music that relates to this topic.

-~-
My second-cousin got me into listening to TheFatRat's music, and I decided in late 2019 that I was going to give him a CD of 5 of TFR's songs. I decided that I liked his music and that I was going to listen to more of it. After I discovered my love for his pre-2015 stuff, I found out on his Tumblr page that he had TheRatNest Mixtapes that were taken off of his SoundCloud profile, and that I would download and listen to his remaining TheRatNest Mixtapes from his Box download page. Guess what? I LOVED THEM! Since I knew there were more out there, I browsed around Reddit for any sign of free downloads! Lo and behold, someone found a Vkontakte page for him and his music!

Unfortunately, I had to make an account to get to even listening to his music, so I did just that.

It turns out that there were
43 TRACKS ON THE MUSIC PAGE!!!

I was surprised at how many TheRatNest Mixtapes there were on that site! I KID YOU NOT, there were 9 of 14 (that I am currently aware of) on that page.
I download them, I download more in the future, then I LOSE SOME, and now I'm stuck with 28 music files that I rescued. Yes, the method stopped working. Yes, I am disappointed.

If I've learned something from my experiences with software, it's that it won't be around forever. I am very grateful for the Internet Archive and all that they do. Can you believe that they've been archiving pages since 1997? It's awesome!

I have another story to tell about Rusky Rusk and his music, but that's for another time too.

Signing off,

Matthew // Ronture