4 ms·

These kinds of articles come up occasionally about how good things were back on the day but I think it's largely due to forgetting all the problems, like: - BS

by deeg 6y ago

These kinds of articles come up occasionally about how good things were back on the day but I think it's largely due to forgetting all the problems, like: - BSOD - Running out of memory and trying to shift stuff to high mem. - Software would come with 20 install floppies. Good luck if it failed on #18. - Running out of ports for external devices. - Plug 'n Play that didn't play. - Modems over analog telephony. There's a long list.

coliveira 6y ago
It is true that things were not perfect in the 80s, but the author has a point. The point is that software designers had the goal of making things at least seem easier and consistent for users. That is the reason for standardized interfaces and APIs. Nowadays, computing seems to have become a free for all, where developers don't care (or have lost the hope of) presenting software in a way that is easy to use. Users are supposed to magically "figure out" how things work, and if they don't is because they're "stupid". Software users nowadays are supposed to put up with whatever crappy interface is was designed last week, just for the sake of "refreshing the UI" (see the disastrous UI updates promoted by Google and FB).
- kolinko 6y ago
  Well, the point of making users "figure it out" is so that you don't need a 100-page manual, or a training session to use the software. As for the fact that interfaces change - I noticed that it's an issue mostly with Windows&Linux. MacOS has a high consistency of interfaces across the apps - might be due to a HIG that Apple publishes?
Firehawke 6y ago
I could write a book on the headaches of getting certain hardware to actually go to an IRQ and/or address that won't conflict with another device. That hell went from MS-DOS all the way into Windows 98 and only went away once Windows 2000/XP made PnP actually work reliably.
fragsworth 6y ago
> Plug 'n Play that didn't play We called it "Plug 'n Pray".
- pcdoodle 6y ago
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1IqqlW1U4k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1IqqlW1U4k Computer Man.
ajsnigrutin 6y ago
Ahem... - knowing right IRQs to have sound in a game - editing autoexec.bat to get your cd drive to work - hoping your game and your graphics card are compatible (as much as we can hate Microsoft, DirectX was a good thing they did) - wanna chat with girls? First dialup modem, then knowing AT commands to disable "wait for dial tone", because somehow that didn't work in my country, installing an irc client, knowing the right server address and port to connect to, to be finaly able to send "asl?" to some random "_HornyGirl_" and getting back "13/f/cali" ...
- BruceEel 6y ago
  > then knowing AT commands to disable "wait for dial tone", because somehow that didn't work in my country, I spent the good part of a week thinking my Smartlink 2400 was defective before I figured that one out...

by deeg 6y ago

coliveira 6y ago

It is true that things were not perfect in the 80s, but the author has a point. The point is that software designers had the goal of making things at least seem easier and consistent for users. That is the reason for standardized interfaces and APIs. Nowadays, computing seems to have become a free for all, where developers don't care (or have lost the hope of) presenting software in a way that is easy to use. Users are supposed to magically "figure out" how things work, and if they don't is because they're "stupid". Software users nowadays are supposed to put up with whatever crappy interface is was designed last week, just for the sake of "refreshing the UI" (see the disastrous UI updates promoted by Google and FB).

kolinko 6y ago
Well, the point of making users "figure it out" is so that you don't need a 100-page manual, or a training session to use the software. As for the fact that interfaces change - I noticed that it's an issue mostly with Windows&Linux. MacOS has a high consistency of interfaces across the apps - might be due to a HIG that Apple publishes?

Firehawke 6y ago

I could write a book on the headaches of getting certain hardware to actually go to an IRQ and/or address that won't conflict with another device. That hell went from MS-DOS all the way into Windows 98 and only went away once Windows 2000/XP made PnP actually work reliably.

fragsworth 6y ago

> Plug 'n Play that didn't play We called it "Plug 'n Pray".

pcdoodle 6y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1IqqlW1U4k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1IqqlW1U4k Computer Man.

ajsnigrutin 6y ago

Ahem... - knowing right IRQs to have sound in a game - editing autoexec.bat to get your cd drive to work - hoping your game and your graphics card are compatible (as much as we can hate Microsoft, DirectX was a good thing they did) - wanna chat with girls? First dialup modem, then knowing AT commands to disable "wait for dial tone", because somehow that didn't work in my country, installing an irc client, knowing the right server address and port to connect to, to be finaly able to send "asl?" to some random "_HornyGirl_" and getting back "13/f/cali" ...

BruceEel 6y ago
> then knowing AT commands to disable "wait for dial tone", because somehow that didn't work in my country, I spent the good part of a week thinking my Smartlink 2400 was defective before I figured that one out...