One of the things I really miss about those days was the sense of optimism. We knew computers were getting more powerful, we knew they would change society, I hoped they could help make things better for people everywhere. What we got was lock-in and locked-down hardware, mass-surveillance, ad-driven content farms and the attention economy. There have been positives, but man. What a let-down.
criddell•12m ago
Computers used to be fun.
IBM launched the PCjr and it was a cover story. When's the last time anybody wrote about a new desktop? I guess Apple and Framework do something interesting occasionally. Does anybody else?
AnimalMuppet•10m ago
Not just "we knew they were getting more powerful". We could watch it, month to month, just by reading the ads. Every month there was an ad or three for something that I had never even dreamed you could do with a computer.
CharlesW•8m ago
The industry has been around long enough to see itself become the villain. I'm sad for those who weren't around during its "hero" days. There was something special about running code copied from magazines, meeting and "trading" with like-minded people at early user group meetings, and having your mind blown by the computers and software that emerged from the tech heterogeneity of that time.
techdmn•21m ago
criddell•12m ago
IBM launched the PCjr and it was a cover story. When's the last time anybody wrote about a new desktop? I guess Apple and Framework do something interesting occasionally. Does anybody else?
AnimalMuppet•10m ago
CharlesW•8m ago