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Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower than it was in 1983 (2017)

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Re: Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower than it was in 1983 (2017)

#11

Post by squiggleblaz »

stopads wrote: post #5

It boggles my mind how terrible the web is becoming on lower end connections. I have about 200ms of delay to most servers and about 5Mbit of bandwidth, and many major web pages take over 30 seconds to load if I don't block most of the assets. It's insane that webpages are now loading megabytes of data across hundreds of http requests before the images even start downloading. I've completely given up on the mobile web…

> I've completely given up on the mobile web since I can't block things the way I need to.

Can't you just use uBlock Origin with Firefox Mobile and run it behind a localhost VPN like Blokada? It's not perfect but it seems enough for me. A different localhost VPN will probably give you even better results, if you customise it to your specific purpose.

Re: Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower than it was in 1983 (2017)

#12

Post by dayvid »

I remember turning on the computer and waiting for the motherboard company logo to finish flashing. After that was the Windows logo. I also remember waiting for the dial-up modem to connect to the internet and waiting hours for a video to download. Heck, last week I played a game streaming on GeForceNow and I was surprised by how seamless the whole experience was.

Maybe some web apps are inconvenient, but you can easily setup a command line interface or Linux system and move blazing fast.

Re: Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower than it was in 1983 (2017)

#15

Post by soulofmischief »

dayvid wrote: post #12

I remember turning on the computer and waiting for the motherboard company logo to finish flashing. After that was the Windows logo. I also remember waiting for the dial-up modem to connect to the internet and waiting hours for a video to download. Heck, last week I played a game streaming on GeForceNow and I was surprised by how seamless the whole experience was. Maybe some web apps are inconvenient, but you can eas…

> you can easily setup a command line interface or Linux system and move blazing fast

Well... not really. Terminal response times are way slower than they used to be in the 80's. Sure, we have greater throughput, but we also have greater latency. https://danluu.com/term-latency/

Re: Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower than it was in 1983 (2017)

#17

Post by pier25 »

stopads wrote: post #5

It boggles my mind how terrible the web is becoming on lower end connections. I have about 200ms of delay to most servers and about 5Mbit of bandwidth, and many major web pages take over 30 seconds to load if I don't block most of the assets. It's insane that webpages are now loading megabytes of data across hundreds of http requests before the images even start downloading. I've completely given up on the mobile web…

I usually browse with my phone on wifi with fiber and it's still mostly terrible. There are ads and popups everywhere. It feels like Indiana Jones avoiding traps to get to the golden idol.

Re: Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower than it was in 1983 (2017)

#18

Post by mfer »

dayvid wrote: post #12

I remember turning on the computer and waiting for the motherboard company logo to finish flashing. After that was the Windows logo. I also remember waiting for the dial-up modem to connect to the internet and waiting hours for a video to download. Heck, last week I played a game streaming on GeForceNow and I was surprised by how seamless the whole experience was. Maybe some web apps are inconvenient, but you can eas…

> you can easily setup a command line interface or Linux system and move blazing fast.

Maybe the HN crowd can but not your average or median computer users

> I remember turning on the computer and waiting for the motherboard company logo to finish flashing

I still have computers that take some time to boot. Issue is, I just rarely power off/on. Instead the computers go to sleep which if much faster to come out of.

Of all the tasks this is an uncommon one.

Re: Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower than it was in 1983 (2017)

#19

Post by TheRealPomax »

mfer wrote: post #18
dayvid wrote: post #12

I remember turning on the computer and waiting for the motherboard company logo to finish flashing. After that was the Windows logo. I also remember waiting for the dial-up modem to connect to the internet and waiting hours for a video to download. Heck, last week I played a game streaming on GeForceNow and I was surprised by how seamless the whole experience was. Maybe some web apps are inconvenient, but you can eas…

> you can easily setup a command line interface or Linux system and move blazing fast. Maybe the HN crowd can but not your average or median computer users > I remember turning on the computer and waiting for the motherboard company logo to finish flashing I still have computers that take some time to boot. Issue is, I just rarely power off/on. Instead the computers go to sleep which if much faster to come out of. Of…

Nah, I still can't set up a linux that's both graphical and feels snappy to this day.

Re: Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower than it was in 1983 (2017)

#20

Post by benrbray »

TomBombadildoze wrote: post #6

Almost everything on computers is perceptually more rich, useful, and intuitive than it was in 1983.

That may have been true circa 2010, but in the past decade we've seen rich settings menus and compact, information dense interfaces stripped away in favor of "mobile first" designs.

Typically, whenever a website / program I use gets a UI update, the only change is that all padding on buttons, text, etc. has been increased by 50% meaning I need to scroll in order to see a 5-item list! Windows 10 control panel is an example of this phenomenon.

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