Garrett Murray
Recently, @gruber wrote a Daring Fireball post (in reply to a New Yorker article by Kyle Chayka) about something near and dear to my heart: “The Relief of Simple Software”. I wrote about how, nearly 22 years ago, this exact scenario became the catalyst for me writing my first native app, xPad for macOS: https://karbonbased.io/posts/2026/01/textedit-and-the-relief-of-simple-software
Karbon Based — TextEdit and the Relief of Simple Software

Karbon Based is the internet home of Garrett Murray. Garrett is the Founder & Managing Director of Karbon, a mobile apps design and development agency. His current interests include mechanical keyboards, video games, technology and photography.

Karbon Based
Jan 26 at 10:52pmIvory for Mac
Show threadBen SKJan 26
@garrettmurray ok but how was Scratch retired 11 years ago. Time is weird. Loved that app!
Show threadGarrett MurrayJan 26
@bensk Hah, I know, right? I had to check the xPad release date three times, because I thought there was no way 22 years ago could be correct. Oooof.
Show threadLuke Dorny Jan 27
@garrettmurray @gruber omg Stickies and TextEdit. Single tools.
Like you say, new behavior options in Apple’s tools for keeping files open and saving has helped so much. Cool to read about the olden golden days. Thank you.