The Birth of Personal Software

In the early days of the PC revolution, something transformative happened. Computers stopped being machines exclusively for specialists and became tools for daily life. The Macintosh vision expressed it unforgettably: a computer made for people, not for engineers. That phrase wasn’t speaking about technology. It was speaking about freedom. About the possibility of creating without asking for permission.

Over time, that freedom was diluted. The industry professionalized, development became complex, and the world of software remained dominated by a small group of experts. The rest of the world learned to wait. Wait for new features. Wait for improvements. Wait for solutions. The distance between a need and the tool that resolves it became too great.

My start in programming and the echo of that promise

That vision of freedom resonated with me from very early on. I was nine years old when I took my first programming course. At that moment, I wasn’t thinking about careers or industry. I was solving the real problems of a child. Organizing my things, playing with ideas, automating small tasks that seemed magical to me. Creating code wasn’t a technical act. It was a natural extension of my curiosity.

The Personal Computer allowed me something that today we recognize as the essence of Personal Software. Taking control. Experimenting. Feeling that an intention could transform into a functional tool without asking anyone for permission. What I lived in that stage was, without knowing it, an early form of being a Solver. An early form of creating software that responded to my own needs and not to external expectations.

That sensation of autonomy was a spark that was lost for many over the years, but that artificial intelligence is returning to anyone who has a clear intention.

When the Solver replaces the Coder

The Personal Software movement marks a shift. We no longer speak of the Coder as the central figure. We speak of the Solver. A person who is not defined by their mastery of syntax, but by their clarity of intention. A person who doesn’t need to write code, but to resolve a real problem with precision.

Artificial intelligence opened this door. You express what you want and a microtool appears that responds to your need. You adjust it, use it, and adapt it without entering the complex world of traditional development.

The promise returns

This evolution connects directly with the original promise of the Macintosh. If in the eighties the idea of a computer for people was introduced, today we introduce its natural equivalent. Software made by people, not programmers. Where the central role is not who dominates the code, but who dominates the intention. Where the Solver replaces the Coder.

Personal Software returns the power to each individual to create the exact tools they need, at the moment they need them. Immediacy, clarity, and action. That is the heart of the movement. The future does not belong only to those who program, but to those who solve.