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I can't imagine what it would feel like to be a 20 year old tech enthusiast today confronted with OS X 10.4 (or .5 or .6) In my bitterness, it makes me think o

I can't imagine what it would feel like to be a 20 year old tech enthusiast today confronted with OS X 10.4 (or .5 or .6) In my bitterness, it makes me think of someone in the Dark Ages, standing before a Classical sculpture: "how was it that humanity was once capable of such works?" But tastes change. In the Dark Ages, what they actually thought was probably "what heathen decadence is this?", and today maybe they think "photo-realistic icons: cringe!"

deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
AnnikaL 1y ago
I'm 20, and I vaguely remember using 10.5 or 10.6 when I was a young child, so nostalgia I guess?
- thomassmith65 1y ago
  I had nostalgia for the original Macintosh GUI, whose look was similar to 'flat design'.
jabwd 1y ago
Started out as a developer in the 10.4/10.5 days. Mostly coz I was messing around with trying to get stuff to run in a semi-darkmode :) and theming things. Messing about in the system folder wasn't as complicated back then
karel-3d 1y ago
10.4 looks and behaves basically the same as ... whatever is the latest macOS version. (I stopped caring about macOS versions few years ago) even with Liquid Glass it still behaves similarly. The app installation is still the same "ikea dmg app dragging", and occasional zip or pkg. The Finder window already has bookmarks in the left bar. The dock behaves identically. (They went through their weird 3D dock phase but that was... Leopard? I think?) There is no Mac App Store but barely anyone uses this nowadays anyway... Spotlight... was new in Tiger. It is much more recognisable than Windows XP vs 11. XP behaves very differently to 11!
- karel-3d 1y ago
  Now I remember, a lot of the Mac apps back then had this weird "side panel" thing where side panel went "out" of the window. I don't know the precise name of the pattern, but that would be probably the most confusing thing. Oh also the + button didn't do full screen as today, but... it did... something. I never understood the point of the + button.
  - robenkleene 1y ago
    Re the side panel, you're probably thinking of "Drawers". Here's a screenshot https://www.oreilly.com/api/v2/epubs/0596003706/files/tagoreillycom20070301oreillyimages146558.png.jpg https://www.oreilly.com/api/v2/epubs/0596003706/files/tagore...
    - karel-3d 1y ago
      Yes, that exactly! They used to be common in 10.4 days.
  - lode 1y ago
    > Oh also the + button didn't do full screen as today, but... it did... something. I never understood the point of the + button. When I first came from Windows I was confused about this as well, but once I got the hang of it, it became the most logical thing to me. The green + button zoomed the window to the minimum window size that showed the full content. (For example, one page in a word processor or one slide in presentation software.)
    - Cockbrand 1y ago
      That functionality was adopted from Classic Mac OS, and I loved it. Too bad this isn't properly supported any more.
      - badc0ffee 1y ago
        Hold down Option and the <> in the green circle for full screen will turn into a + for maximize. You can also double click the title bar in most applications for the same effect.
graemep 1y ago
> n my bitterness, it makes me think of someone in the Dark Ages, standing before a Classical sculpture: "how was it that humanity was once capable of such works?" What do you mean by "Dark Ages"? I do not think there was a loss of ability, but a difference in what an empire spends vs what independent kingdoms spent on. There are many beautiful artifacts and buildings from the early middle ages. A lot will not have survived, but there is some that has - things like the Sutton Hoo ship burial to Anglo Saxon churches (just drawing on things I have seen myself).
- thomassmith65 1y ago
  Opinion among historians has shifted on whether the Dark Ages were so dark, but "Dark Ages" evokes what I wanted re: GUIs.

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

AnnikaL 1y ago

I'm 20, and I vaguely remember using 10.5 or 10.6 when I was a young child, so nostalgia I guess?

thomassmith65 1y ago
I had nostalgia for the original Macintosh GUI, whose look was similar to 'flat design'.

jabwd 1y ago

Started out as a developer in the 10.4/10.5 days. Mostly coz I was messing around with trying to get stuff to run in a semi-darkmode :) and theming things. Messing about in the system folder wasn't as complicated back then

karel-3d 1y ago

10.4 looks and behaves basically the same as ... whatever is the latest macOS version. (I stopped caring about macOS versions few years ago) even with Liquid Glass it still behaves similarly. The app installation is still the same "ikea dmg app dragging", and occasional zip or pkg. The Finder window already has bookmarks in the left bar. The dock behaves identically. (They went through their weird 3D dock phase but that was... Leopard? I think?) There is no Mac App Store but barely anyone uses this nowadays anyway... Spotlight... was new in Tiger. It is much more recognisable than Windows XP vs 11. XP behaves very differently to 11!

karel-3d 1y ago
Now I remember, a lot of the Mac apps back then had this weird "side panel" thing where side panel went "out" of the window. I don't know the precise name of the pattern, but that would be probably the most confusing thing. Oh also the + button didn't do full screen as today, but... it did... something. I never understood the point of the + button.
- robenkleene 1y ago
  Re the side panel, you're probably thinking of "Drawers". Here's a screenshot https://www.oreilly.com/api/v2/epubs/0596003706/files/tagoreillycom20070301oreillyimages146558.png.jpg https://www.oreilly.com/api/v2/epubs/0596003706/files/tagore...
  - karel-3d 1y ago
    Yes, that exactly! They used to be common in 10.4 days.
- lode 1y ago
  > Oh also the + button didn't do full screen as today, but... it did... something. I never understood the point of the + button. When I first came from Windows I was confused about this as well, but once I got the hang of it, it became the most logical thing to me. The green + button zoomed the window to the minimum window size that showed the full content. (For example, one page in a word processor or one slide in presentation software.)
  - Cockbrand 1y ago
    That functionality was adopted from Classic Mac OS, and I loved it. Too bad this isn't properly supported any more.
    - badc0ffee 1y ago
      Hold down Option and the <> in the green circle for full screen will turn into a + for maximize. You can also double click the title bar in most applications for the same effect.

graemep 1y ago

> n my bitterness, it makes me think of someone in the Dark Ages, standing before a Classical sculpture: "how was it that humanity was once capable of such works?" What do you mean by "Dark Ages"? I do not think there was a loss of ability, but a difference in what an empire spends vs what independent kingdoms spent on. There are many beautiful artifacts and buildings from the early middle ages. A lot will not have survived, but there is some that has - things like the Sutton Hoo ship burial to Anglo Saxon churches (just drawing on things I have seen myself).

thomassmith65 1y ago
Opinion among historians has shifted on whether the Dark Ages were so dark, but "Dark Ages" evokes what I wanted re: GUIs.