I continually reflect on how big of a deal it would actually be, long term, to lose the last 20 years of IT progress.

Cell phones on 3G are bleeding-edge, that's far as it goes.

Dial-up internet still has a place in the world, and in many cases 56K is still as fast as you'll get.

CD-ROMs (or if you're ritzy, DVD's) are still the Lingua Franca for transferring bulk data, most affordable USB sticks scarcely carry 256MB.

Social media as we know it simply didn't exist; IRC and things like AIM ruled the day; MySpace was brand new.

Google wasn't, actually, very evil at all. Yet. Youtube didn't exist.

Windows XP was in its prime.

Oh, take me back. Things suck now.

🍩 wholesomedonut

2023-12-12 · 5 months ago · 👍 drh3xx, Minko_Ikana

4 Comments ↓

☕️ Morgan · Dec 12 at 07:18:

It was fun! I was at Uni, had recently discovered Linux, broadband was going strong in my part of the world... so lots to do.

As a hobbyist coder though I really appreciate all the toys we have today, and how available/cheap they are. I'll stick with today :)

Glad I got to experience both, and the transition. Having today's (online/technical) world presented as normal is pretty crazy.

⛵️ olav · Dec 12 at 07:54:

Twenty years ago I still had a single, bulky CRT monitor on my desk. My kids started to be interested in games. I built them some Windows PC from MiniITX boards and parts.

Hardware projects still were hard. There were no Arduino boards or single-boad-computers like Raspberry Pis.

I remember how difficult it was to set up a small Linux computer as server or NAS in your home.

WiFi was only just appearing. There were cables all over the place.

So, I love the time we are in right now.

🐐 drh3xx · Dec 12 at 11:07:

I'd probably opt for Win2k over 98 for any Microsoft needs but on the whole I agree that the current IT landscape is fecking awful. Oh to be in a time where smartphone ownership or even having an Email account is practically mandatory.

🚀 Minko_Ikana · Dec 12 at 11:12:

Almost 40 years ago... Tandy 1000 and an IBM both upgraded to a screaming fast 386 with MSDOS. Wolfenstein was the hottest game of the day... :)