Fits on a Floppy is a "manifesto for small software" inspired by the storage limit of a standard old-timey 3.5-inch floppy disk: 1.44MB.
"Software has lost its way," writes Matt Sephton, "Apps that once shipped on a single floppy disk now demand gigabytes of your storage, minutes of your time, and far too much of your patience."
Why It Matters
Downloads in a blink. No progress bars, no waiting around.
Launches instantly. Faster startup, nothing unnecessary to load.
Respects your device. Low memory, low CPU, longer battery life.
Native only. No dependency bloat, every line of code earns its place.
Does one thing well. Focused features, fewer bugs, software that lasts.
Runs on older systems. Older devices deserve love too.
If 1.44MB seems an unreasonably small limit nowadays, you might be surprised to learn how many contemporary apps and games fit on 160 magnetic tracks (or close to it).
Note, though, that floppies themselves are no longer manufactured. Which is alarming, given that some frighteningly important things still depend on them.
I'm such a fan of similar code-economy things. Code Golf is the hardcore practice of doing the most with the least code. Virtual consoles such as Pico-8 have low-level logic and constraints hard-coded in an interpreter, allowing the game code itself to be concise and expressive. Hypercard never dies! If there's an apex to this creative form, it may be Linus Akesson's A Mind is Born, 256 bytes of extremely deep magic.
Concludes Sephton, in his manifesto: "I don't miss floppy disks. I miss the mindset they demanded—that every byte matters, that constraints breed creativity, and that software should be light on its footprint."
You can even download the animated background of the manifesto site as a macOS screensaver. The file size: 1.44MB.
