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The three Windows apps named in the argument are VLC media player, Google Chrome (or Chromium), and Steam. How-To Geek’s Dibakar Ghosh makes a category-by-category case for them: VLC for playing media, Chrome for browsing the web, and Steam for PC gaming. “Greatest of all time” is an opinion, not a measured ranking or the result of a comparative test.
Why these three apps?
Ghosh’s case is that each app became important in a different part of everyday PC use. VLC addresses the challenge of opening media files; Chrome represents a particular approach to web browsing; Steam brings game distribution and library features together. The article offers historical perspective and opinion, not benchmarks or a systematic comparison with alternatives.
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VLC media player: a practical answer to media files
Ghosh recalls that playing downloaded media in the early 2000s could mean searching for separate codecs. His argument is that VLC earned trust by playing a wide range of files without making users hunt those down. He also points to conversion, streaming, and audio and video effects as uses beyond playback. These are the author’s descriptions of VLC’s appeal, rather than an independently verified assessment of its current format support or reliability.
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Google Chrome and Chromium: a browser built around convenience
The article credits Chrome with popularizing a combined address and search bar, a browsing experience that felt faster, and isolation between tabs. It also identifies Chromium as the open-source project behind Chrome and notes that Brave and Microsoft Edge are Chromium-based. These are the article’s historical and technical descriptions; it does not establish current browser architecture, feature parity, or market share. The case for Chrome is therefore about the browsing experience and influence Ghosh attributes to it, not proof that it is the best browser for every workflow or platform.
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Steam: more than a place to buy PC games
Ghosh argues that Steam helped make digital PC game distribution convenient. He points to discounts, achievements, cloud saves, and library sharing as features that helped it develop into a gaming platform rather than remaining just a store. This is the author’s analysis, not a current audit of which features are available to every account, game, or region.
The article also uses Steam’s investment in Linux gaming to make a broader point: a PC game library can matter beyond Windows. It mentions the Steam Deck handheld gaming PC as context for that argument, not as a product recommendation or a comparison of hardware. The piece does not assess Steam Deck models, performance, or compatibility.
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Are they objectively the greatest Windows apps?
The article does not establish an objective winner. It supplies no scoring method, benchmark results, or systematic comparison with competing apps. Instead, its claim is that VLC, Chrome or Chromium, and Steam have each made a lasting case in a distinct category. A reader choosing an app should still consider the specific need: media playback and formats for VLC, browser workflow and platform support for Chrome or Chromium, and game catalog, platform support, and library features for Steam.
Source and attribution
This interpretation is based on Dibakar Ghosh’s opinion article for How-To Geek, republished by Yahoo Tech on September 12, 2026: “These 3 Windows apps deserve to be called the greatest of all time.”
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