Specifically, what did you think was plausible and what did you think was around the corner (even if either really never came to fruition)?
Ask HN: 90s programmers, what did you expect the future of tech to look like?
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Re: Ask HN: 90s programmers, what did you expect the future of tech to look like?
#2I expected more VR. Much more VR.
From the perspective of early-90s, I was all-in on Plan 9 and expected to see a lot more influence from it. Unfortunately that didn't really happen, with a few exceptions (/proc).
Re: Ask HN: 90s programmers, what did you expect the future of tech to look like?
#3Didn't expect FoxPro to die so fast.
Re: Ask HN: 90s programmers, what did you expect the future of tech to look like?
#4I expected more VR. Much more VR. From the perspective of early-90s, I was all-in on Plan 9 and expected to see a lot more influence from it. Unfortunately that didn't really happen, with a few exceptions (/proc).
With this hindsight, any predictions for the future? 30 years from now?
Re: Ask HN: 90s programmers, what did you expect the future of tech to look like?
#5"90s" programmer only by the skin of my teeth, but I didn't the internet centralizing. It just seemed like every company and person would have their site (and possibly domain) and they'd use that to communicate in their own way. My peers went to college before facebook and even friendster- we communicated by personal websites and blogs. These aren't technologists, but that was what was available to us so they picked up just enough html to publish.
I thought the future was making that publishing easier. I wasn't wrong about that- twitter and facebook are easy. I just missed the consequences of "easy" becoming "walled garden."
Re: Ask HN: 90s programmers, what did you expect the future of tech to look like?
#6A lot more visible (i.e. on the street) robots.
We see robots in manufacturing plants (e.g. cars), but not too many visible when you walk down the street. Of course, they're there, but hidden inside various normal looking objects. Automatic street lights, driverless trains, boom gates for public transport.
Re: Ask HN: 90s programmers, what did you expect the future of tech to look like?
#7Well, I certainly didn't expect to still be coding for loops by hand in a text editor after 30 years. Guess it could be worse, at least I (mostly) don't have to worry about memory leaks anymore. So that's something I guess.
Re: Ask HN: 90s programmers, what did you expect the future of tech to look like?
#8I expected more VR. Much more VR. From the perspective of early-90s, I was all-in on Plan 9 and expected to see a lot more influence from it. Unfortunately that didn't really happen, with a few exceptions (/proc).
With this hindsight, any predictions for the future? 30 years from now?
My prediction is that once the capability reaches contact lenses, it'll become mass adoption. The physicality of wearing a headset while walking or moving is difficult for lots of people, and tiring. Contact lenses weigh a lot less, and are less intrusive to others.
Of course, it doesn't come without pitfalls, but that's just my prediction.
Re: Ask HN: 90s programmers, what did you expect the future of tech to look like?
#9So many 'trends' back then. A few that come to mind (from the pre-web days, anyway):
* Thin clients: everybody was going to have a 'dumb terminal', and all the computing/storage would happen elsewhere. There were many variations on this idea.
* PIMs: Palm Pilots and all the variations. I knew a guy who quit his job to develop Palm Pilot wares, claiming it was 'the future'. In a way, he was right.
* Windows: Linux was barely there, Unix was for neckbeards and universities, and it looked like Mac was mostly dead. It looked like Microsoft was about to swallow the world.
* The end of mice and keyboards: Yes, it sounds silly today. but supposedly VR/voice/whatever was going to replace it all.
Re: Ask HN: 90s programmers, what did you expect the future of tech to look like?
#10Didn't expect FoxPro to die so fast.
Half the data for my dissertation came from a little known and abandoned FoxPro database maintained by an obscure government agency.
Accessing was a nightmare. I miss those simpler days.