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Ask HN: Do you miss 90s simplicity?

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Re: Ask HN: Do you miss 90s simplicity?

#91

Post by Aeolun »

caymanjim wrote: post #50
lousken wrote: post #16

News websites https://web.archive.org/web/19990128201038/http://dnes.sezna... no spying, popups, animations, autoplaying videos, clickbait thumbnails... just a simple website with information now I have to use three addons just to get back this clean look

archive.org isn't archiving the spam. Websites were far, far worse visual and interactive experiences then. Everything blinked and scrolled, popups were rampant and almost impossible to dismiss, there were no ad blockers. It was a nightmare. There weren't sophisticated ad tracking systems or geolocation databases for targeted advertising, but there was far less privacy and security.

The fact that all these databases were disconnected arguably gave you much more privacy than can be achieved now.

Re: Ask HN: Do you miss 90s simplicity?

#93

Post by CM30 »

Yes and no.

I do miss how web development/software engineering was simpler in the 90s, since it felt like it was a lot more accessible when you didn't have all these JavaScript frameworks to learn, CSS tricks to master, and programming languages to mess around with. Also felt like standards were a lot lower in general online back then, so non designers could create comparatively decent looking sites/apps and people weren't so fussy about UX design/usability in general.

And I definitely enjoyed the simplicity of your typical video game back then too. No DLC, no pay to win, no microtransactions, no lootboxes, you just bought a game, and everything on the disc/cart was yours to play. Yeah game design wasn't quite as polished back then, but there were plenty of great games to enjoy none the less, and when they were good, they just worked.

Additionally, I guess the world felt simpler in its optimism too. The Soviet Union had just fell, the internet was new and exciting and the War on Terror hadn't started. Everyone felt like things were getting better, and in Western countries, people's rights were arguably at their most respected. It wasn't perfect by any means, and some rights still needed to be fought for, but it felt peaceful.

Still, I don't miss all of it. Today's tech is better. Science has obviously advanced and moved on. Many sporting achievements happened between the 90s and today. Thousands or even millions of great works of fiction got released, and many things considered impossible happened too.

So it depends really.

Re: Ask HN: Do you miss 90s simplicity?

#94

Post by caymanjim »

Aeolun wrote: post #91
caymanjim wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

archive.org isn't archiving the spam. Websites were far, far worse visual and interactive experiences then. Everything blinked and scrolled, popups were rampant and almost impossible to dismiss, there were no ad blockers. It was a nightmare. There weren't sophisticated ad tracking systems or geolocation databases for targeted advertising, but there was far less privacy and security.

The fact that all these databases were disconnected arguably gave you much more privacy than can be achieved now.

I agree. I meant to expand on that a bit, in that no one used SSL and individual site security was lax or non-existent. Now the transport is secure but the data is intentionally shared to far more people. It was just a mess back then.

Re: Ask HN: Do you miss 90s simplicity?

#96

Post by danellis »

gvd wrote: post #64
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm also in my 40s, and I strongly disagree. While I don't see the 90s as some sort of idyllic calm Zen, the nature of discourse and social connection (or lack thereof) I feel has been seriously harmed by technology. While I think it's a mistake to look at the past through rose-colored glasses, I also think it's a mistake to think "Oh, well things have always been that way."

The 90s simpler? You try learning a new technology on YouTube in the 90s or reading blogs etc. Students have it so easy these days

There might be more signal, but there's also a lot more noise.

Re: Ask HN: Do you miss 90s simplicity?

#97

Post by lousken »

caymanjim wrote: post #50
lousken wrote: post #16

News websites https://web.archive.org/web/19990128201038/http://dnes.sezna... no spying, popups, animations, autoplaying videos, clickbait thumbnails... just a simple website with information now I have to use three addons just to get back this clean look

archive.org isn't archiving the spam. Websites were far, far worse visual and interactive experiences then. Everything blinked and scrolled, popups were rampant and almost impossible to dismiss, there were no ad blockers. It was a nightmare. There weren't sophisticated ad tracking systems or geolocation databases for targeted advertising, but there was far less privacy and security.

I don't remember any popups back when I was on Windows 98, it started with XP and IE6 for me but czech sites might've been a little different. And yea, there were blinking and scrolling on personal sites but sites like seznam.cz were clean.

Re: Ask HN: Do you miss 90s simplicity?

#98

Post by brownbat »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #53
smacktoward wrote: post #8

Let me answer your question with another question. How old are you? Because I'm in my 40s, which means I was in my 20s during the 1990s. And from my perspective, it was not a notably simpler time back then than it is today. It was not some pastoral idyll, it was just a time a lot like now, except it was a little harder to get a hold of people. But I do notice that when I talk to people in their 20s and 30s, they ofte…

I'm also in my 40s, and I strongly disagree. While I don't see the 90s as some sort of idyllic calm Zen, the nature of discourse and social connection (or lack thereof) I feel has been seriously harmed by technology. While I think it's a mistake to look at the past through rose-colored glasses, I also think it's a mistake to think "Oh, well things have always been that way."

I miss going into a locally owned coffee shop with a bunch of bored people reading worn paperbacks or writing in journals, often interested in striking up a conversation with a random stranger.

Big coffee chains changed that experience. And smartphones have raised the bar, the opportunity cost to meeting a random stranger is higher, because you could be distracting yourself on the Internet.

On the other hand, having a collaborative encyclopedia in my pocket at all times is pretty great.

Re: Ask HN: Do you miss 90s simplicity?

#99

Post by zzo38computer »

Yes, including analog television. The new television system is stupid and is no good.

Now we have many bad thing such as: the mess being made of WWW (they try to put everything in there, even though many things are better without), complicated computer design with anti-features and other stupid stuff, blu-ray movies, DMCA, USB, etc. Much of that stuff they did not have so much in the nineties.

Of course, we do have good stuff now too, not only the bad stuff. Many improvements are made, but stuff is also made worse stuff too.

Re: Ask HN: Do you miss 90s simplicity?

#100

Post by iamnothere »

ddingus wrote: post #35
craigsmansion wrote: post #23

I miss 90s complexity! Sparc, MIPS, and Alpha were still alive. Assembly was a thing. Mobile telephones for mortals were a marvel and technological breakthrough that could let you communicate everywhere. 3D graphics could run in software, and Abrash' Black Book was a black book, and even more, wizards had managed to capture things in hardware for the PC with some sort of voodoo. Now we have 1.5 dominant boring archit…

I think we are headed back that direction. Custom hardware is coming again. It's coming because we've hit walls on sequential compute. Multi-core parallel and concurrent models are building nicely, but software lags behind, and those problems are hard. Some problems do not benefit from either of those things too. Enter custom silicon. The combination of software and well realized custom silicon to enhance performance…

Also specialization into specific niches, with cool accessories, like the SBCs are doing. It's pretty exciting. I mean, Python on a chip is pretty amazing.
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