Back in the 8-bit era (and for a little while afterward), games and other software came in boxes. So to produce a software product, you had to not only write the code, but also create and print all of that supporting material. A product was a physical thing like a cassette tape or cartridge or disk and the boxes often included thick manuals - sometimes even spiral bound! There were games that had manuals with dozens of pages filled with wild concept art, maybe some stickers, etc.
You were getting quite a lot, really! And yet somehow, as things progressed, you got less and less. Now there are no more boxes. There are no manuals. Hell, there's usually not even a help file anymore. There are no stickers. No physical things to put on a shelf. Nothing real.
And, given how things seem to be nowadays, I don't really understand how any of that was possible. Small indie companies can barely survive selling software *without* the added costs of producing all that extra stuff!
@bigzaphod I have my boxed version of Logic Pro 7 at home, and I love the fact that it has paper manuals for all the instruments. It just feels complete.
