Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 388 posts

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

#161

Post by melq »

reaperducer wrote: post #144
ncallaway wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It also doesn't change the fact that Google Maps is very bad at being a map. It's entire UI flow is oriented for giving turn-by-turn directions for people who know where they are and where they are going; As it turns out, that is probably the most popular use case for maps in the world. Note also that for most smartphone users of Google Maps the use-case is actually much broader than that. The UI flow also totally…

As it turns out, that is probably the most popular use case for maps in the world. Your sentence starts out like you're stating a fact, but then peters out with "probably." Do you have data on this? I'd posit the opposite: That exploration is far more used in online maps. Aside from Uber drivers, SV types, and wannabe road warrior squinters, nobody uses maps for their daily activities. People know where they're going…

I think it depends where you are driving. I live in a large city and there are way more people using maps for their daily activities that you might think. In my parents neighborhood in the suburbs, and in rural areas, I think you're probably right. If there are only a few ways to get somewhere, you probably aren't using maps.

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

#162

Post by BlueTemplar »

jungletime wrote: post #136

The problem is human memory! People forget all the features, and dependencies software has. Since the natural direction of the Universe is entropy. As time goes on, software is developed, dependencies are broken, and features quietly stop working. When you look into fixing it, you notice that its this giant hairball of dependencies which nobody can unwind. So then the next best thing is to put another layer of abstra…

Rust/Vulkan?

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

#163

Post by ralusek »

Erlich_Bachman wrote: post #126
magduf wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then you got the wrong printer. Some manufacturers do a good job of supporting Linux (HP is probably the best actually; their drivers all ship standard in most distros), others don't bother.

There are absolutely others that bother, for example Brother: https://support.brother.com/g/s/id/linux/en/faq_prn.html?c=u...

Brother bothers.

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

#164

Post by BlueTemplar »

nvesp wrote: post #131

Whoa no need to attack the poor mouse. It has its place. Especially in a generation of PC gamers that came up with optical mice. Me personally the muscle memory I have from PC gaming for some reasons or other seem to have made navigating ui with a mouse that much more intuitive to me over the last 2 decades and some odd years. To the point it actually feels really good and extremely proficient to me. I feel like I'm…

As a PC gamer I can only say : O_o

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

#165

Post by [deleted] »

hoorayimhelping wrote: post #35

This post again with its ridiculous ranting examples. "This text searching program that searches text against text is way faster and simpler than a fully rendered, interactive map of the entire world with accurate roads and precision at the foot / meter level." No. Shit, really? Get out of town. Yes, some very popular apps have bad UX. But some apps have incredible UX. Cherry picking the bad ones while ignoring the g…

[deleted]

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

#166

Post by dagaci »

For the web users if a user spends more time clicking and browsing, this contributes to the interactive usage statistics of the web app.

Apps like facebook, twitter, linkedin, instagram often feel like your wading through mud.

The drive to have users spend more time in your web app overrides and has a higher priority over efficiency of the user experience.

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

#167

Post by BlueTemplar »

pjungwir wrote: post #129

I have a lot of sympathy for this article. (And all the comments about how much faster computers are today: I interpreted the article to be talking about the ease of UI, in other words how fast the interface lets you do things, not how fast the computer does things.) I have a private Rails app I've used as a freelancer for 7-8 years for time tracking, invoicing, expenses, and financial reports, and I've tried to make…

Stop. Making. Web. "Apps".

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

#168

Post by ralusek »

GekkePrutser wrote: post #30
soulofmischief wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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/

Not really :) Consider a VT100. It could only go up to 19200 baud, and couldn't actually handle constant streams at that speed . However I do agree with the general message of the article. Current UX is a mess, websites are overblown by tons of javascript. There's no reason there should be loading spinners in this day and age with the power we have at our fingertips.

There's no reason there should be loading spinners in this day and age...when spinners are almost exclusively used in web apps in order to denote that the web browser is yet to receive the necessary data over YOUR internet connection.

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

#169

Post by welly »

reaperducer wrote: post #144
ncallaway wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It also doesn't change the fact that Google Maps is very bad at being a map. It's entire UI flow is oriented for giving turn-by-turn directions for people who know where they are and where they are going; As it turns out, that is probably the most popular use case for maps in the world. Note also that for most smartphone users of Google Maps the use-case is actually much broader than that. The UI flow also totally…

As it turns out, that is probably the most popular use case for maps in the world. Your sentence starts out like you're stating a fact, but then peters out with "probably." Do you have data on this? I'd posit the opposite: That exploration is far more used in online maps. Aside from Uber drivers, SV types, and wannabe road warrior squinters, nobody uses maps for their daily activities. People know where they're going…

People use maps for daily activities all the time. Not to find where they're trying to get to, but for how to get somewhere more quickly - ie. public transport directions, or if it's quicker to walk than go by bus/train/tram.

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

#170

Post by stiray »

I am just stepping away from web topic as it is irelevant. Slow VM, huge text files, lasignas of code stacked one on another. Comparison here just isnt fair, I do understand that people who never expirienced MFC 6 application cant compare it to browser. As they know only browser/electron/...

But just last weekend I have installed Windows 7 on modern i7 computer (with SSD). Sure, half of drivers didnt work etc. but it did boot. Everything I have started was instantanious. The dreaded decompressing stage at end of installation? 5-10 seconds. Then I have installed Windows 10 with office, I am so sorry I didnt install Office 97 (I didnt have installation) to the Windows 7, as I did install 356 to the machine, so I cant compare here (and for my usage they are both more than enough). But. The Windows 7 was much faster in everything while not offering major improvement in features.

Bottom line. The software was optimized for what the hardware speed was at that time. On new computers it is lightning fast. When the hardware become faster, no one cared to optimize anything and layers of bloat added to it. Sure, the production of software is cheaper, everyone could code today ("omg, i need to free allocated memory, the horror").

Instead of improving on features, performance, we have optimized on production costs. And major improvements on hardware processing power are lost in more bloat in code and adding endless layers of abstractions, virtual machines, wastefull protocols, languages. It is sad.

Post reply on HN