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Screenshots from developers and Unix people taken in 2002

anders.unix.se

31–40 of 241 posts

Re: Screenshots from developers and Unix people taken in 2002

#31

The itunes interface hasn't changed much in the last 13 years. Not many software products go that long without a major reskin, especially seeing as it came from a company that prides itself on it's progressive design.

I quite miss the brushed metal look. It is interesting that you could take OSX from back then and put it in front of someone today and it'll behave mostly the same. Sadly the same could not be sad about mainstream Linux environments (GNOME3, Unity etc.) or Windows 8/10. Windows 10 you can to some extent. Thought provoking.

> Windows 10 you can to some extent.

Only compared to Windows 7 or Vista maybe. Definitely no compared to, NT4/Me/2000/XP from back then.

> Sadly the same could not be sad about mainstream Linux environments

I'm still wondering what the Unity/Gnome/KDE devs smoke. From what I've gathered from Gnome users, the only way to make it bearable is by ripping out half its functionality and replacing it with (Gnome-specific) extensions. That can't be the way forward, can it?

(Although non-mainstream Linux desktops are an exception, too: Openbox e.g. didn't change too much over the last five or so years I've been using it, but it's so vastly configurable that my configuration has massively evolved over the years, and I figure it's similar for most of its users.)

Re: Screenshots from developers and Unix people taken in 2002

#32

Amazed that Dennis Ritchie used a non-monospace font, I don't think I have seen any other serious developer use one. Also amused to see the Jerkcity comic open in Jordan Hubbard's screenshot.

I've tried it a few times, but it's just so painful when you want things to align. Now, if you had a really good code layout tool that could 'snap' parts of lines so that they horizontally align at sensible places, I think non-monospace fonts could be useful. In fact, having smart alignment would be great even with monospace fonts. I work in emacs and it's frustrating when the editor decides to 'fix' your own spacing…

> having smart alignment would be great even with monospace fonts.

The "smart" magic you are looking for is called "tabs".

Re: Screenshots from developers and Unix people taken in 2002

#33
post #6

So both creators of C used Windows...

Was probably the cheapest way to get a terminal to unix running at the time. I've been in lots of shops where the given computer is Windows, because that's what the rest of the company runs, and most of my time is spent in terminal windows to unix (Unix long ago, Linux these days).

I recall trying to get actual unix on a PC, back around '94 or '95. I actually contacted the local Sun rep, and it was cumbersome and expensive. I gave up.

Re: Screenshots from developers and Unix people taken in 2002

#36
"I do not tend to listen to music through my workstation, since that both distracts me and wastes cpu power. My workstation is a dual CPU, 500 MHZ system, but I like things to work fast, not be bogged down with decompressing music, etc." (Jon Hall)

Re: Screenshots from developers and Unix people taken in 2002

#37

I really liked these. This makes me feel old. I look at those desktops (particularly the Windows 95 one) and think they look clean and neat, with few distractions. I also know that they ran speedily on rubbish hardware. After ditching my BBC B (I was poor), I remember using Win 3.1 on a 386SX with 4MB RAM that someone had thrown out and installing software to take over program manager and make it look like Win95 beca…

> This makes me feel old. I look at those desktops (particularly the Windows 95 one) and think they look clean and neat, with few distractions. I also know that they ran speedily on rubbish hardware. Are you kidding? It was nightmare to do anything on Windows 98. There were so many things that could result in "dead" state and only solution was to restart and not to mention those frequent BSOD. There was a reason why…

If you thought Win98 was bad, you need to try WinME :)

Windows 2000, however, was the pinnacle of MS Operating Systems. It has been downhill ever since.

Re: Screenshots from developers and Unix people taken in 2002

#38
post #28

You know you've made it when you can casually say “I don’t know how to make a screenshot, because I normally use my computer in text-mode.” Badass Richard.

He also tends not to view websites like HN, GitHub, etc., at least as of a few years ago. I'm not sure if it is because he is still in text mode all the time, because he disagrees with using sites that might somehow involve something that isn't free source, or because he just delegates to others the task of surfing the web and getting information for him. He definitely spends a lot of time emailing though.

I admire him a lot. From some discussion with him and what I've read, I have the feeling that he is in a constant battle with much of the world to try to get them to free all software. I really can't say for certain whether he is really going too far, but his dedication and courage go far beyond what most people are capable of. Even if you disagree with him, it's difficult not to admire him for that.

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