4 ms·
The one thing about that era that has always seemed unique is that for people who lived it, a few years was a very big deal. Even now that I'm much older, talki
by jghn 6mo ago
The one thing about that era that has always seemed unique is that for people who lived it, a few years was a very big deal. Even now that I'm much older, talking to people in my age range it still blows my mind how different people's life experiences were just due to be 2-3 years different in age.
Especially for anything tech oriented.
Talk to people who were computer science majors in the 90s, you'll find that their curriculum varied wildly depending on exactly what years they were there. a 2-3 year difference could be huge.
Same is true for how they experienced the internet, interacted with media, whether or not they were mobile native or landline native, and so much more.
Less tech oriented but the 90s had an enormous shift in terms of corporate culture. The people who were a few years older than me reported wearing suits to work. By the time I went off to be a corpo, it was usually casual wear, not even business casual. For the same types of roles & companies!
The list is endless.
- ethbr1 5mo agoIn retrospect, nobody remembers the exact date of an invention/product. In the moment, there's a sharp "time before it existed" and "time after it existed." I.e. late 2006, there was no mass market iPhone-like device; late 2007, there was
- Izkata 5mo agoThere were ones before that, my mom had one. Apple added polish and used a capacitive touchscreen instead of a resistive one, then amped up the hype in their commercials, so everyone forgot these existed.
- snozolli 5mo agoPossibly a Palm Treo, introduced in 2002, or a Windows-based PocketPC, introduced in 2000. I always felt that Apple basically reimplemented PalmOS with the benefit of ~10 years newer technology and a wildly efficient Chinese supply chain. I definitely wouldn't say that these devices were mainstream. They were very much targeted toward business people and hardcore nerds. The iPhone definitely revolutionized the market, with its vastly more desirable aesthetic and approachable interface.
- Izkata 5mo agoIt may have been a 2005 phone or something. I think it was a Nokia, Motorola, or Samsung phone (our whole family was on those at the time), but whatever it was it had just about the complete form factor and an app store - mostly a screen with a grid of apps on home, with a couple of buttons at the bottom (more Android than iPhone). Maybe it had a slide-out keyboard? Can't remember that part for sure.