59 replies to this topic 2 votes

[humanz.]

When I was a lad growing up in the 90s, computers were still considered magical whether you watched the old star trek movies with the commodore graphics or you watched a few cyberpunk films that depicted technology advancing to plateau's beyond man's dream. I personally feel in this time we know all the better and some of the design choices in todays offering simply doesn't inspire me like the old days. Even with all the bugs, slow internet, and headaches, that we had to deal with in , the journey was still fun whether we got mad, or frustrated like a love/hate relationship. I missed the old internet, not this web2.0 nonsense we're in right now.

Now things just seem too boring..

I remember as a Windows user I use to keep up with Apple's every move, I was really dazzled, and envious at the kinds of designs and features they were pushing back in the late 90s and early 2000s. Even the feel of computer hardware back in those days felt full of possibility.


Some memorable machines i liked:

Compaq Armada 4200
IBM Thinkpad 390X
Custom Built AMD Newcastles on display
Sony VAIO V505DC23
Titanium Powerbook
G3 iBooks
G4 Cube
iMac 2nd Gen (Graphite G4) (I was very fond of these machines in grade school got to experience slot load disc drives for the first time with OS9)

Yeah I'm nostalgia tripping but that feel when another generation will never understand..

[+Crisp]

I miss the old days where headaches were cured with a hand drill and if you were drowned and survived you were branded a Witch.
Today we have boring health and safety.

On a seriously note, technology has reached a stale point, but I think it's all down to funds and debts which is stopping it mostly.

[Haggis]

ah the old days lol

I remember my old 386 DX50

I loved it, use to play D/Generation on it lol for hours at a time lol

http://en.wikipedia....ki/D/Generation

[+remixedcat]

Crisp, on 29 January 2013 - 09:57, said:

I miss the old days where headaches were cured with a hand drill and if you were drowned and survived you were branded a Witch.
Today we have boring health and safety.

On a seriously note, technology has reached a stale point, but I think it's all down to funds and debts which is stopping it mostly.

or apple suing everybody.... -_-

[UXGaurav]

The magic started dying when they started dumbing everything so that grandma could use it.

[Wiggz]

The magic is there still, however it's saturated now. The tech market used to be one device and one device only...a PC if you were lucky...be it a C64, an Amiga, or a Mac....but still one machine for 2 things only...word processing and/or games.

Then the Internet hit and slowly but surely technology has advanced (not so slowly you might argue).

The fact is marketing will have people believe that they need a Nexus 10 for everyday tablet use and a Nexus 7 for night time use and a NExus 4 for everyday phone usage......as tech is cheaper it's more expected to own more.

Therefore those little bits of magic are spread much further and wider.

Personally, the magic you refer to, dissipated when my C64 was retired.

[nik louch]

I never considered computers "magical"!? I was programming simple BASIC logic puzzles when I was 7 and always saw them as a tool. The cyberpunk nonsense you remember was absolute guff that Holywood pushed.

[XerXis]

You're just getting old. Everything seems better when time has passed

[+Chicane-UK]

I think it is just about getting old... but also the sheer immersion in technology - it's all around us now.

Back when I was at school, mobile phones didn't exist, there was no internet (until right at the end of school.. on a 28k modem!) and PC's were still pretty basic. All that stuff seemed amazing but now it's everywhere and there are no quantum leaps in the techology - just evolutionary stuff. So I think combined with growing up and getting burned out on it, the more evolutionary nature of everything makes it seem less interesting.

[CSharp.]

No. Personally, I feel like computing has never been better or more "magical" than right now. Lots of mature choices for everyone, a healthy amount of competition in the mobile space, Microsoft having lost its monopoly. Innovative new form factors and approaches to computing. Incredible new developments in mobile computing. The internet of things picking up steam, interfaces starting to disappear completely, getting us closer to the dream of ubiquitous computingThere's absolutely no reason to be bored. And I've never been happier, could do more ,or had less trouble with my everyday computing devices. As well, the hurdle for newcomers to get started programming for any of these new devices has never been lower

[guitmz]

I miss my Pentium MMX 166Mhz... It was a great bro to me until 2007

[nekkidtruth]

I love everything about how technology and computers and the Internet have progressed since 1996 (When I first came online).

[The_Decryptor]

Computers have always been terrible and always will be.

And Geri Halliwell is still with us. And even better looking these days.

[freak180]

I agree, the spark is no longer there. I feel like we take technology for granted. You see kids from ages 7 - 13 carrying iPhones and Macbooks, iPad. Everybody has everything now in days..

[Soldiers33]

no one is stopping you from getting rid of all yuor new technology and using the "machines" you miss.