Is Your Program a YASATDOOT?

YASATDOOT = Yet Another Software Application That Does Only One Thing

This thought came to me when I received today's email from PC World Daily Downloads spotlighting Duplicates.NET, a program that can identify duplicate files with the same contents but different names. Sounds like a really useful little program somebody wrote because he has a very specific need for it. And sure, he might as well make it available to others, as long as it's all written and ready to go.

But it occurs to me that I see a lot of software applications that only do one thing. Problem is that any application carries its baggage -- installation time, learning curve, hard drive space, cognitive friction -- so the user is likely to skip over a one-off program like this, however useful, given the baggage factor.

Nevertheless, I have nothing but best wishes for the author of Duplicates.NET and hope his creation finds a niche.

AB -- 10-19-06