4 ms·

Software did less in 1996. That's why it was so much better! :-)

Quekid5 6y ago
That's actually not a terrible point :). I do remember WordPerfect (the DOS version) being absolutely incredible... in no small part because you could "reveal codes" (or whatever the name of that feature was). I helped my dad produce a couple of textbooks using WP and the most difficult thing we ever encountered was... printer drivers. (Which is still a pain point today if you're not using Windows/Mac.)
- emteycz 6y ago
  Frankly, that's a pain point even if you're using Windows or Mac.
  - Quekid5 6y ago
    Ah. I've been out of the ecosystem for so many years. It used to be simple on those platforms... :/
    - eyelidlessness 6y ago
      It’s an exaggeration to say it’s a pain point on Mac for most printers. I’m sure some aren’t supported by the standard flow, but that flow is literally “select your printer which is already identified, agree to download a driver and wait a bit”. It’s as painful as installing a web extension if you don’t have to go find it first.
      - ASalazarMX 6y ago
        Well, except your printer now has its own OS, and asks to be connected to the Internet so it can download security updates it wouldn't need if it wasn't connected to the internet.
        eyelidlessness 6y ago
        Huh? This isn’t something I’ve ever heard of from Apple’s distribution of printer drivers. Neither of the Brother printers I’ve used since this system was put in place (Snow Leopard, widely regarded as the high water mark for macOS quality) have required or requested network access other than for availability. Are you talking about something specific that’s well documented or just being paranoid and sharing careless inference?
        ASalazarMX 6y ago
        I was talking about the printers themselves. Back then you just worried about the drivers on your computer, now you have to keep in mind that your printer needs to update its firmware on its own.
        eyelidlessness 6y ago
        But I don’t need to worry about either. My OS vendor distributes it and I trust their distribution model. My printer has no say at all.
- Jare 6y ago
  I remember so well being ashamed that PC users were still typing docs in such primitive UIs while I was "desktop publishing" with WYSIWYG on my Atari ST. "Reveal codes" blergh a modern computer should be better than that! 30 years later, I love writing markdown and stay away from GUI rich text editors as much as I can.
  - pjmlp 6y ago
    As one of those PC users, that could only use Amiga 500 from friends during weekend meetups and demoscene parties, I definitely don't miss those days of only having c:\> to work with.
mhd 6y ago
We still don't do much more customer-facing, we just do a lot more internally. Just judging actually useful features, I'd put a lot of DOS software on favorable grounds compared to your average immutable functional serverless Kafka-backed hexagonal 12 factor SOLID web app.

That's actually not a terrible point :). I do remember WordPerfect (the DOS version) being absolutely incredible... in no small part because you could "reveal codes" (or whatever the name of that feature was). I helped my dad produce a couple of textbooks using WP and the most difficult thing we ever encountered was... printer drivers. (Which is still a pain point today if you're not using Windows/Mac.)

emteycz 6y ago
Frankly, that's a pain point even if you're using Windows or Mac.
- Quekid5 6y ago
  Ah. I've been out of the ecosystem for so many years. It used to be simple on those platforms... :/
  - eyelidlessness 6y ago
    It’s an exaggeration to say it’s a pain point on Mac for most printers. I’m sure some aren’t supported by the standard flow, but that flow is literally “select your printer which is already identified, agree to download a driver and wait a bit”. It’s as painful as installing a web extension if you don’t have to go find it first.
    - ASalazarMX 6y ago
      Well, except your printer now has its own OS, and asks to be connected to the Internet so it can download security updates it wouldn't need if it wasn't connected to the internet.
      - eyelidlessness 6y ago
        Huh? This isn’t something I’ve ever heard of from Apple’s distribution of printer drivers. Neither of the Brother printers I’ve used since this system was put in place (Snow Leopard, widely regarded as the high water mark for macOS quality) have required or requested network access other than for availability. Are you talking about something specific that’s well documented or just being paranoid and sharing careless inference?
        ASalazarMX 6y ago
        I was talking about the printers themselves. Back then you just worried about the drivers on your computer, now you have to keep in mind that your printer needs to update its firmware on its own.
        eyelidlessness 6y ago
        But I don’t need to worry about either. My OS vendor distributes it and I trust their distribution model. My printer has no say at all.
Jare 6y ago
I remember so well being ashamed that PC users were still typing docs in such primitive UIs while I was "desktop publishing" with WYSIWYG on my Atari ST. "Reveal codes" blergh a modern computer should be better than that! 30 years later, I love writing markdown and stay away from GUI rich text editors as much as I can.
- pjmlp 6y ago
  As one of those PC users, that could only use Amiga 500 from friends during weekend meetups and demoscene parties, I definitely don't miss those days of only having c:\> to work with.

mhd 6y ago

We still don't do much more customer-facing, we just do a lot more internally. Just judging actually useful features, I'd put a lot of DOS software on favorable grounds compared to your average immutable functional serverless Kafka-backed hexagonal 12 factor SOLID web app.