---
title: CD or CDs
date: 2024-12-21
permalink: daily/2024/12/21/cd
tags:
  - software-development
cta: ~
snippet: |
  What if we still released software by burning every version to a physical disk and distributed it around the world?
---

This week, I re-watched Revolution OS - a 2001 documentary about the history of Linux, open source and the free software movement.

I was also explaining to my son about how software used to be distributed on CD-ROMs.

This got me thinking.

What if we still primarily distributed software on physical media like CD-ROMs?

What if every release to your software project had to be burned to a disc, transported and inserted into a server to be installed.

This may take days or weeks instead of seconds or minutes.

Once a version is distributed, it isn't quick or easy to fix a bug or release a feature.

You can't simply update the version on every CD that was distributed with some hardware or attached to a computing magazine.

How would you change writing software if you worked this way?