5 ms·

> The technology world moved much more slowly then than it does now. Respectfully disagree.

actionfromafar 4y ago
I feel it is slower now. 1981 IBM PC - turn key useful but expensive and clunky 1982 Commodore 64 - cheap, good gfx + sound 1985 Amiga - you could drop someone from today (2022) on an Amiga and they could still find their way around the UI and write a document, save it, print it, use the calculator, whatever. (Before you start comparing with MacOS v1 and Windows v1, yes, true, but Windows 1 has clunky UI and neither MacOS nor Windows could execute more than program at a time. Only Amiga had that.) So, within 4 years we went from the "Personal Computer" becoming a real actual thing with the PC, to having basically the same desktop metaphor we still use today, with the Amiga. That's incredible development speed. The only thing I have seen which was just as fast, was the iPhone driving adoption of touch interfaces and mobile Internet. This also drove the concept of an "app" as something you pick and choose and expect to be there for major brands and services. It's hard to say if the "PC" (I mean that loosely) or the iPhone/touch/mobile trifecta had a greater impact. On the one hand, almost "everyone" are or will soon have a smartphone, so that has a huge impact. On the other hand, while "PC" adoption was not ubiquitous, it drove major changes in mass culture (printing, music, video) and industry and economy. Not everyone had a computer, but everyone was aware of them and were impacted by them in ways large and small.
- usrn 4y ago
  I for one have gotten rid of my smartphone. Where the PC extended your mind smartphones are only tools for corporations to manipulate you.
  - themadturk 4y ago
    It's really not an either/or proposition.
- bluedino 4y ago
  > So, within 4 years we went from the "Personal Computer" becoming a real actual thing with the PC, to having basically the same desktop metaphor we still use today, with the Amiga. That's incredible development speed. Except in 1984 we had the Macintosh, and a year before that we had the Apple Lisa. So only 2 years. Even faster.
  - actionfromafar 4y ago
    (Before you start comparing with MacOS v1 and Windows v1, yes, true, but Windows 1 has clunky UI and neither MacOS nor Windows could execute more than program at a time. Only Amiga had that.) I picked my goal posts arbitrarily, but an Amiga could basically run all software we have today, if the CPU was faster. Stream music + download something + editing a text, for instance. The Mac OS could only have done this a little bit later. But sure, yes, the UI of the Mac was incredible, only 2 years after IBM PC.
  - LocalH 4y ago
    The Amiga had proper preemptive multitasking (what I would consider a key part of today's "desktop metaphor"), long before the Mac.
    - apricot 4y ago
      The Apple Lisa had preemptive multitasking years before the Amiga.
      - actionfromafar 4y ago
        So did many systems. About 3 people used them.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
flenserboy 4y ago
What makes it seem that it moved much more slowly — look how long 8-bit machines held on — was just how much it cost to get into a system. Platforms had long lives then because people were not keen on seeing their investments disappear out from under them. Note that an Apple //c cost about $1300 in 1984, the equivalent of $3600 or so today. You're going to want to see just how long you can keep that going even though technology improvements are flying by outside your door, and they really were doing that back in the day. There were multiple, barely-interacting tech markets running concurrently.

I feel it is slower now. 1981 IBM PC - turn key useful but expensive and clunky 1982 Commodore 64 - cheap, good gfx + sound 1985 Amiga - you could drop someone from today (2022) on an Amiga and they could still find their way around the UI and write a document, save it, print it, use the calculator, whatever. (Before you start comparing with MacOS v1 and Windows v1, yes, true, but Windows 1 has clunky UI and neither MacOS nor Windows could execute more than program at a time. Only Amiga had that.) So, within 4 years we went from the "Personal Computer" becoming a real actual thing with the PC, to having basically the same desktop metaphor we still use today, with the Amiga. That's incredible development speed. The only thing I have seen which was just as fast, was the iPhone driving adoption of touch interfaces and mobile Internet. This also drove the concept of an "app" as something you pick and choose and expect to be there for major brands and services. It's hard to say if the "PC" (I mean that loosely) or the iPhone/touch/mobile trifecta had a greater impact. On the one hand, almost "everyone" are or will soon have a smartphone, so that has a huge impact. On the other hand, while "PC" adoption was not ubiquitous, it drove major changes in mass culture (printing, music, video) and industry and economy. Not everyone had a computer, but everyone was aware of them and were impacted by them in ways large and small.

usrn 4y ago
I for one have gotten rid of my smartphone. Where the PC extended your mind smartphones are only tools for corporations to manipulate you.
- themadturk 4y ago
  It's really not an either/or proposition.
bluedino 4y ago
> So, within 4 years we went from the "Personal Computer" becoming a real actual thing with the PC, to having basically the same desktop metaphor we still use today, with the Amiga. That's incredible development speed. Except in 1984 we had the Macintosh, and a year before that we had the Apple Lisa. So only 2 years. Even faster.
- actionfromafar 4y ago
  (Before you start comparing with MacOS v1 and Windows v1, yes, true, but Windows 1 has clunky UI and neither MacOS nor Windows could execute more than program at a time. Only Amiga had that.) I picked my goal posts arbitrarily, but an Amiga could basically run all software we have today, if the CPU was faster. Stream music + download something + editing a text, for instance. The Mac OS could only have done this a little bit later. But sure, yes, the UI of the Mac was incredible, only 2 years after IBM PC.
- LocalH 4y ago
  The Amiga had proper preemptive multitasking (what I would consider a key part of today's "desktop metaphor"), long before the Mac.
  - apricot 4y ago
    The Apple Lisa had preemptive multitasking years before the Amiga.
    - actionfromafar 4y ago
      So did many systems. About 3 people used them.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

flenserboy 4y ago

What makes it seem that it moved much more slowly — look how long 8-bit machines held on — was just how much it cost to get into a system. Platforms had long lives then because people were not keen on seeing their investments disappear out from under them. Note that an Apple //c cost about $1300 in 1984, the equivalent of $3600 or so today. You're going to want to see just how long you can keep that going even though technology improvements are flying by outside your door, and they really were doing that back in the day. There were multiple, barely-interacting tech markets running concurrently.