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As someone who started using computers in 1982, I would have to disagree. Computers today are incredibly powerful, and because of that, operating systems and a

As someone who started using computers in 1982, I would have to disagree. Computers today are incredibly powerful, and because of that, operating systems and applications have become complex beasts themselves. My first computer only had 4K and a text based interface. As an end user, I only needed to know a handful of commands. Most navigation was done through multiple choice text menus. Even moving into the early 90s, when using System 6 and System 7 on Macs, the very notion of needing a second mouse button was considered a bad thing. If you needed that right button, your application design was too complex. Fast forward a quarter of a century, and I can't live without a context menu, but I have 35 years of accumulated knowledge that lets me take this stuff for granted.. IMO, the amount of stuff I need to know today to get around a computer is an order of magnitude more than "back when". Back in the old days, all you had to do was load and run stuff off discretely labeled physical media like a cassette or floppy. You only ran one program at a time. You didn't need to worry about network security, because the only network you could afford consisted of you putting your sneakers on and bringing a disk to another machine. Your computer was turned off with a switch. There was no need for a "shut down" command to fire. If you had a virus, it meant you caught a cold. Things were really simple back then.

ekianjo 10y ago
> Back in the old days, all you had to do was load and run stuff off discretely labeled physical media like a cassette or floppy. You only ran one program at a time. You didn't need to worry about network security, because the only network you could afford consisted of you putting your sneakers on and bringing a disk to another machine. Your computer was turned off with a switch. There was no need for a "shut down" command to fire. If you had a virus, it meant you caught a cold. Things were really simple back then. That's way back in time. I was referring to the good old 90s, where the web took off with home computers that were already running stuff like Win95 and people were not complaining about being clueless on how to use them. Even older people (>50s) has no big issue to start using computers then, and I'd argue Win95 was a way harder system to learn for a newbie than Windows 7 or Windows 10. And on top of that recent operating systems are fairly stable and don't crash anymore when you plug a USB device or things like that - they have automatic driver installs, a bunch of hardware already supported by default, and I could go on and on. The situation is MUCH better for the end user nowadays than 20 years ago.
- tluyben2 10y ago
  But not than 30 years ago in the ways you mentioned. You had one book and knew all. That even worked with Unix. Then 3.1 and 95 came and stuff got complex. Yes, we are better for it but less complex for the end user is not really true. Those arcane commands (remember we had wordperfect which was keyboard only and everyone was fine with it) were maybe annoying but fast and efficient once you knew them.
- sosborn 10y ago
  > I was referring to the good old 90s, where the web took off with home computers that were already running stuff like Win95 and people were not complaining about being clueless on how to use them. Even older people (>50s) has no big issue to start using computers then I remember this time completely different than you do.

ekianjo 10y ago

> Back in the old days, all you had to do was load and run stuff off discretely labeled physical media like a cassette or floppy. You only ran one program at a time. You didn't need to worry about network security, because the only network you could afford consisted of you putting your sneakers on and bringing a disk to another machine. Your computer was turned off with a switch. There was no need for a "shut down" command to fire. If you had a virus, it meant you caught a cold. Things were really simple back then. That's way back in time. I was referring to the good old 90s, where the web took off with home computers that were already running stuff like Win95 and people were not complaining about being clueless on how to use them. Even older people (>50s) has no big issue to start using computers then, and I'd argue Win95 was a way harder system to learn for a newbie than Windows 7 or Windows 10. And on top of that recent operating systems are fairly stable and don't crash anymore when you plug a USB device or things like that - they have automatic driver installs, a bunch of hardware already supported by default, and I could go on and on. The situation is MUCH better for the end user nowadays than 20 years ago.

tluyben2 10y ago
But not than 30 years ago in the ways you mentioned. You had one book and knew all. That even worked with Unix. Then 3.1 and 95 came and stuff got complex. Yes, we are better for it but less complex for the end user is not really true. Those arcane commands (remember we had wordperfect which was keyboard only and everyone was fine with it) were maybe annoying but fast and efficient once you knew them.
sosborn 10y ago
> I was referring to the good old 90s, where the web took off with home computers that were already running stuff like Win95 and people were not complaining about being clueless on how to use them. Even older people (>50s) has no big issue to start using computers then I remember this time completely different than you do.