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Some people miss the old user interfaces. Windows 95, XP, 2000 etc. What is the reason? We had some programs with a horrible interface (Real Player, for example

Some people miss the old user interfaces. Windows 95, XP, 2000 etc. What is the reason? We had some programs with a horrible interface (Real Player, for example), but never with this level of stupidity. It's more of a joke than an interface, like reddit's competition for the worst volume control: https://uxdesign.cc/the-worst-volume-control-ui-in-the-world-60713dc86950 https://uxdesign.cc/the-worst-volume-control-ui-in-the-world...

nebula8804 3y ago
Continued "enshittification" of all aspects of life. Your OS gets worse but everything else has gotten worse as well: your food gets smaller/worse quality due to the dollar continuing to lose its value, getting harder and harder to live the lifestyle your parents had (house prices, costs of college etc.) Now you can argue that anything that has hitched a ride on moore's law has improved exponentially. In fact this is what several groups point to: Elon Musk stans love to argue how the world has gotten better not worse thanks to exponential growth and the government loves to point to the declining costs of things like TVs as an indication that inflation is not so bad. Its a red herring though. That new computer is so much better but now has layers of privacy invading/security compromising fat that ye old Windows 95 PC didn't have. That TV might cost a nickel but is more locked down and made out of more of the cheapest throw away components than your old Tube ever had. In a way its an insult to how decent your old TV was.
- abnercoimbre 3y ago
  And then you have people like me, making a living by inviting anyone who listens to events that preach the following: software quality has gone off a cliff [0] and we must do something pronto. Never imagined this would be a career worth pursuing; it's grim when you think about it. [0] https://handmadecities.com/about https://handmadecities.com/about
  - nebula8804 3y ago
    I remember seeing this a while back. I wanted to say thank you for the effort! I am concerned though that this is just another form of inflation. If you think about it, you need to have the skillset to develop this software to your liking. That itself is a time sink but lets put that aside and assume you already have the skillset because you made the investment for other reasons. You could then argue that the investment made in learning how to make these apps is spread across this as well as anything else you use the skill for: GREAT Right? Well, you are forgetting that you are sacrificing time to build and then maintain these applications. So in a way you are still paying for these applications. Also one concern I have about your listing there is the same concern I have every time I force myself to use Linux as my primary system and then give up and go back to Mac: Curation. Have you considered drawing up a list of typical workflows for a bunch of different kinds of users and then ensuring at least the common use cases are taken care of? As it stands, it seem like you have a lot of interesting apps but they are are just a hodgepodge of random things. There is no cohesive curation or (potential)quality control behind them. This grinds my gears about Linux. You handmade apps get a pass but your typical distro? no way: They package together whatever desktop environment they like which itself consists of terrible everyday tools that have varying quality. Just open up the Calculator on a Gnome based distro. It is crummy compared to the Mac or Windows(classic) calculator. Then try out each and every other app on the menu. Seems like there was no real cohesion put into it. Furthermore, lets just accept that you have to tailor these handmade apps to your liking and that eventually there will be a handmade app for everything a user could want. Ok fine, but I still hate the fact that in todays day and age, this idea has to be extend to EVERYTHING in your life. You gotta understand how to maintain your car because good luck finding a mechanic that wont do the bare minimum. How about the slop they serve at many food establishments? You have to "handmade" all your food/liquid intake. Ditto for everything else (maintenance or removing other ways corporations screw you). How do you even preserve the value of the currency you try so hard to earn? You can't it is slowly going to 0.
HyperSane 3y ago
The old green-screen keyboard only interfaces took longer to learn how to use but with time you could get much faster than modern mouse-centric GUIs.

nebula8804 3y ago

Continued "enshittification" of all aspects of life. Your OS gets worse but everything else has gotten worse as well: your food gets smaller/worse quality due to the dollar continuing to lose its value, getting harder and harder to live the lifestyle your parents had (house prices, costs of college etc.) Now you can argue that anything that has hitched a ride on moore's law has improved exponentially. In fact this is what several groups point to: Elon Musk stans love to argue how the world has gotten better not worse thanks to exponential growth and the government loves to point to the declining costs of things like TVs as an indication that inflation is not so bad. Its a red herring though. That new computer is so much better but now has layers of privacy invading/security compromising fat that ye old Windows 95 PC didn't have. That TV might cost a nickel but is more locked down and made out of more of the cheapest throw away components than your old Tube ever had. In a way its an insult to how decent your old TV was.

abnercoimbre 3y ago
And then you have people like me, making a living by inviting anyone who listens to events that preach the following: software quality has gone off a cliff [0] and we must do something pronto. Never imagined this would be a career worth pursuing; it's grim when you think about it. [0] https://handmadecities.com/about https://handmadecities.com/about
- nebula8804 3y ago
  I remember seeing this a while back. I wanted to say thank you for the effort! I am concerned though that this is just another form of inflation. If you think about it, you need to have the skillset to develop this software to your liking. That itself is a time sink but lets put that aside and assume you already have the skillset because you made the investment for other reasons. You could then argue that the investment made in learning how to make these apps is spread across this as well as anything else you use the skill for: GREAT Right? Well, you are forgetting that you are sacrificing time to build and then maintain these applications. So in a way you are still paying for these applications. Also one concern I have about your listing there is the same concern I have every time I force myself to use Linux as my primary system and then give up and go back to Mac: Curation. Have you considered drawing up a list of typical workflows for a bunch of different kinds of users and then ensuring at least the common use cases are taken care of? As it stands, it seem like you have a lot of interesting apps but they are are just a hodgepodge of random things. There is no cohesive curation or (potential)quality control behind them. This grinds my gears about Linux. You handmade apps get a pass but your typical distro? no way: They package together whatever desktop environment they like which itself consists of terrible everyday tools that have varying quality. Just open up the Calculator on a Gnome based distro. It is crummy compared to the Mac or Windows(classic) calculator. Then try out each and every other app on the menu. Seems like there was no real cohesion put into it. Furthermore, lets just accept that you have to tailor these handmade apps to your liking and that eventually there will be a handmade app for everything a user could want. Ok fine, but I still hate the fact that in todays day and age, this idea has to be extend to EVERYTHING in your life. You gotta understand how to maintain your car because good luck finding a mechanic that wont do the bare minimum. How about the slop they serve at many food establishments? You have to "handmade" all your food/liquid intake. Ditto for everything else (maintenance or removing other ways corporations screw you). How do you even preserve the value of the currency you try so hard to earn? You can't it is slowly going to 0.

HyperSane 3y ago

The old green-screen keyboard only interfaces took longer to learn how to use but with time you could get much faster than modern mouse-centric GUIs.