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Gee. Nobody would criticize antique car repair or collecting. Nor pretty much any other historical recreators. Makes me angry that retro computing gets special

Gee. Nobody would criticize antique car repair or collecting. Nor pretty much any other historical recreators. Makes me angry that retro computing gets special criticism.

082349872349872 6y ago
When I was young, model railroading was a thing. When those hobbyists were young, I think the railroads may have been the high-paying high-tech jobs. (and there's even overlap: SPRINT started out life as the Southern Pacific Railroad INTernal network) (if an old-timer is a 50 year old car, I just realised that WalterBright's will probably qualify soon, if it doesn't already)
AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
> Makes me angry that retro computing gets special criticism. Part of me wants to cynically say that it is because people spending time with retro computing tech will realize how ludicrously bloated and slow things are nowadays despite several orders of magnitude more computing power. Almost all of these machines boot faster, have no input latency at all, aren't riddled with complexity for its own sake, and can still accomplish a lot of the tasks we use computers for today (albeit with some limitations like only running one program at a time). Even the interfaces were often much more coherent and understandable because they lacked the same obfuscating abstraction we have today, and the non-GUI one's at least were also incredibly responsive.
- Shikadi 6y ago
  I have a longing for a modern computer with modern software but with the lost simplicity of old.
pmiller2 6y ago
Are you talking about the word "impractical?" I could certainly level a few criticisms at vintage car collecting. For one, it's a fairly inaccessible hobby. Not a lot of people have the money or space to purchase, maintain, and store more than 1 vintage car. As daily drivers, vintage cars lack modern safety features. Many are gas guzzlers, which is not only hard on the wallet, but bad for the environment. As for restoration, that takes a lot of specialized skills and equipment, which adds to both the cost and inaccessibility. There are definitely reasons why you don't hear about a lot of people collecting vintage cars.

Gee. Nobody would criticize antique car repair or collecting. Nor pretty much any other historical recreators. Makes me angry that retro computing gets special criticism.

082349872349872 6y ago

When I was young, model railroading was a thing. When those hobbyists were young, I think the railroads may have been the high-paying high-tech jobs. (and there's even overlap: SPRINT started out life as the Southern Pacific Railroad INTernal network) (if an old-timer is a 50 year old car, I just realised that WalterBright's will probably qualify soon, if it doesn't already)

AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago

> Makes me angry that retro computing gets special criticism. Part of me wants to cynically say that it is because people spending time with retro computing tech will realize how ludicrously bloated and slow things are nowadays despite several orders of magnitude more computing power. Almost all of these machines boot faster, have no input latency at all, aren't riddled with complexity for its own sake, and can still accomplish a lot of the tasks we use computers for today (albeit with some limitations like only running one program at a time). Even the interfaces were often much more coherent and understandable because they lacked the same obfuscating abstraction we have today, and the non-GUI one's at least were also incredibly responsive.

Shikadi 6y ago
I have a longing for a modern computer with modern software but with the lost simplicity of old.

pmiller2 6y ago

Are you talking about the word "impractical?" I could certainly level a few criticisms at vintage car collecting. For one, it's a fairly inaccessible hobby. Not a lot of people have the money or space to purchase, maintain, and store more than 1 vintage car. As daily drivers, vintage cars lack modern safety features. Many are gas guzzlers, which is not only hard on the wallet, but bad for the environment. As for restoration, that takes a lot of specialized skills and equipment, which adds to both the cost and inaccessibility. There are definitely reasons why you don't hear about a lot of people collecting vintage cars.