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>There is so much beauty in those screenshots. The more technology advances, the more elegant old machines appear. I believe there is a devolutionary effect in

>There is so much beauty in those screenshots. The more technology advances, the more elegant old machines appear. I believe there is a devolutionary effect in technology, it has been observed multiple times, which can be summarily described such that even though new technology supplants older tech, older tech still works: this serves only to frustrate the kids into making newer tech/redefining work. Old machines don't really become less useful: the users needs change. We can learn things from old, perfectly working tech. But around the edges of the zeitgeist, a lot of great old well worked and worn things get forgotten in the rush to new shine ..

reaperducer 7y ago
It also feels like we've gone from a mode of thinking that computers should work for people to an era of people working for computers. One ubiquitous example is when a web page asks for a phone number and it requires the input to be in a specific format. Considering how simple it is for a computer to strip out non-numeric information and reformat a string, this is mind-numbingly annoying to me.
- trevyn 7y ago
  You would be amazed at what people mindlessly enter into fields if you don’t enforce thinking.
  - frank2 7y ago
    That fact nonwithstanding, users might be better served by having more "freedom of expression", e.g., by software that lets the user type any text into any field. Of course, if the user doesn't succeed in entering a phone number when asked for a phone number, the user will probably need to confront that fact eventually (or fail to achieve what he or she set out to achieve) but it doesn't have to be during the typing into the field. In fact, that is how web forms worked in the early and mid 1990s IIRC, and I have second-hand information that it was easy to get random users to interact productively with a web form during those years compared to how easy it was to get them to interact productively with other UIs, e.g., a form implemented in Windows 95.
- dgb23 7y ago
  We don't do this kind of thing for very good reasons. The more rigid/precise but also guided the input, the less errors and misunderstandings can happen. The trade-off is very small and comes down to a very minor annoyance and in some cases there are only upsides because a more guided experience can be more convenient.
pjmlp 7y ago
I am quite confident that a large majority of the population would be more than happy with an Amiga 500, updated to deal with modern Web.
- fit2rule 7y ago
  Totally. I mean .. this is a thing: https://hackaday.com/2017/01/03/getting-the-amiga-500-online/ https://hackaday.com/2017/01/03/getting-the-amiga-500-online...
  - reaperducer 7y ago
    That Hackaday article is a little odd to me. Speaking of the 500, it says, "There was one task from that era you almost certainly wouldn’t have done on your Amiga though, and that was connect it to the Internet... Later Amigas received Internet abilities..." The first Amiga was the A1000 — two years before the 500 — and was perfectly capable of internet communication. It's where I first saw a web browser. Sure, the connection was dialup, but so was everyone's back then.
    - pjmlp 7y ago
      Indeed, I just doubt it could handle the Quake sized web pages, hence my point about being updated for the Web.

reaperducer 7y ago

It also feels like we've gone from a mode of thinking that computers should work for people to an era of people working for computers. One ubiquitous example is when a web page asks for a phone number and it requires the input to be in a specific format. Considering how simple it is for a computer to strip out non-numeric information and reformat a string, this is mind-numbingly annoying to me.

trevyn 7y ago
You would be amazed at what people mindlessly enter into fields if you don’t enforce thinking.
- frank2 7y ago
  That fact nonwithstanding, users might be better served by having more "freedom of expression", e.g., by software that lets the user type any text into any field. Of course, if the user doesn't succeed in entering a phone number when asked for a phone number, the user will probably need to confront that fact eventually (or fail to achieve what he or she set out to achieve) but it doesn't have to be during the typing into the field. In fact, that is how web forms worked in the early and mid 1990s IIRC, and I have second-hand information that it was easy to get random users to interact productively with a web form during those years compared to how easy it was to get them to interact productively with other UIs, e.g., a form implemented in Windows 95.
dgb23 7y ago
We don't do this kind of thing for very good reasons. The more rigid/precise but also guided the input, the less errors and misunderstandings can happen. The trade-off is very small and comes down to a very minor annoyance and in some cases there are only upsides because a more guided experience can be more convenient.

pjmlp 7y ago

I am quite confident that a large majority of the population would be more than happy with an Amiga 500, updated to deal with modern Web.

fit2rule 7y ago
Totally. I mean .. this is a thing: https://hackaday.com/2017/01/03/getting-the-amiga-500-online/ https://hackaday.com/2017/01/03/getting-the-amiga-500-online...
- reaperducer 7y ago
  That Hackaday article is a little odd to me. Speaking of the 500, it says, "There was one task from that era you almost certainly wouldn’t have done on your Amiga though, and that was connect it to the Internet... Later Amigas received Internet abilities..." The first Amiga was the A1000 — two years before the 500 — and was perfectly capable of internet communication. It's where I first saw a web browser. Sure, the connection was dialup, but so was everyone's back then.
  - pjmlp 7y ago
    Indeed, I just doubt it could handle the Quake sized web pages, hence my point about being updated for the Web.