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Ask HN: What discontinued company/product do you wish was still around?

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Re: Ask HN: What discontinued company/product do you wish was still around?

#951

Post by scroot »

dminor14 wrote: post #480
birchy wrote: post #382

The scripting language for the Macintosh's rolodex-type database (Hypercard) called "HyperText". I'm not aware of any more natural language scripting tool before or since. I can still write code in it, some two decades later... For example: 'put the first character of the third word of line 5 of card field "sometext" into theChar' or 'put the value of card field "typehere" * 1.25 into theValue'

I was on the HyperCard 2.0 team. I'm also nostalgic for it. It's a shame no one has created anything as simple and useful for generating web pages.

One could argue that things have regressed:

https://twitter.com/ecgade/status/1029795513514774529

Re: Ask HN: What discontinued company/product do you wish was still around?

#952

Post by fphhotchips »

albedoa wrote: post #708
rsync wrote: post #71

Altavista. I miss it every single day. Searching for technical (unix, programming, etc.) content is so much easier when you can use nested parens and proper boolean language. This is in contrast to google where searches return things that don't even contain your keywords. This is in contrast to google where the modifiers like allinsite: and '+' and "quotes" are not respected or change their behavior over time. Man I…

I was just asking about this Google "feature" on Twitter [1]. I can't imagine why anyone would want "must include" to mean anything but, and if it doesn't mean exactly that to Google, then they shouldn't say it. > does anyone know why Google does this with search their results? what does the word “must” mean here, practically? 1. https://twitter.com/albedoa/status/1047502325005336576

The "must include" bit is a link. If you click it, you're telling Google that results must include that term (rather than may include, which is the default).

Re: Ask HN: What discontinued company/product do you wish was still around?

#954

Post by scarecrowbob »

cbm-vic-20 wrote: post #932
scarecrowbob wrote: post #106

Old school Radio Shack.

"Resistor? Sorry we only sell Sprint phones."

Actually, the last time I was in one (Fredericksburg, TX maybe 2016?), they still had components. The folks in the store had no idea what they were, and there was a really bad selection,

but there were parts.

Re: Ask HN: What discontinued company/product do you wish was still around?

#958

Post by Ayesh »

wishinghand wrote: post #202

The Macbook Pro chassis before the OLED touchstrip. I'm a web developer and learned on MBPs. The touchpad was the right size, the keys had the right amount of travel, the form factor and weight were perfect. Right now I'm considering moving to developing on a Galaga Pro and using Windows/WSL. I've got most things setup on my desktop how I like using HyperTerm (I had too much trouble with Cmder), VS Code, and ZSH. I c…

Checkout Laragon (laragon.org). It comes with php, nginx/Apache, mysql/mariadb, etc in a way that you can swap them out. Cmder is nicely integrated and the binaries can be added to PATH, so they will work in Cmder or a y other shell too.

Re: Ask HN: What discontinued company/product do you wish was still around?

#959

Post by cerberusss »

Dunedan wrote: post #802
function_seven wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple has ditched so many cool things in the MacBook line. 1) MagSafe. I know they really want to go all in on USB-C, but the original MagSafe connector was awesome. Even the weaker 2.0 version was nice. There were two instances where that connector saved my laptop. 2) The laser-drilled power indicator. That was so cool. It looked like the light magically appeared through the aluminum. Now there's no indication whats…

I thought I'd miss MagSafe. After nearly two years without it, it turns out: I don't, because USB-C cables will disconnect in a lot of situations where MagSafe would've disconnected as well and USB-C has the advantage of allowing me to choose the side to plug the charging cable in, which is pretty convenient.

Same here.

The funny thing is, some people have a hard time losing features no matter what. There are alternatives to MagSafe, such as the Griffin BreakAway, but they don't buy these.

Re: Ask HN: What discontinued company/product do you wish was still around?

#960

Post by aerovistae »

chaosbutters314 wrote: post #614
aerovistae wrote: post #83

Ensemble Studios, makers of Age of Empires, Age of Empires 2, and Age of Mythology, some of the best RTSs ever made. There are other great RTSs, but they're all great in different ways from the Age series, which nothing else resembles. Microsoft bought them, and shut them down not long after for insufficient profits. Sigh. Age of Empires IV is being made now since they noticed there's demand, but the studio they chos…

You know aoe2 is pretty big on steam and voobly right now, right? They are even having a $60k tourney (I think sponsored by MS). It is still a pretty big and active community and easy to get a game. Plus, there have been a bunch of great DLCs in the past few years

yeah, I'm one of the most active players there. But that just goes to underscore my point....I'm playing a game from 20 years ago because they're not around to make new ones anymore.
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