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Why I Don't Use Netscape (1999)

complang.tuwien.ac.at

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Re: Why I Don't Use Netscape (1999)

#221

Post by classichasclass »

exitb wrote: post #74
forgotmypw17 wrote: post #70

I still use this strategy, though these days, I primarily use Mosaic and Netscape for testing. I tend to browse without JavaScript enabled, except for places I already trust to not abuse it. And if there is anything blocking me from accessing the page, such as a modal dialog, a cookie notice, a survey, a prompt to sign up for the newsletter, I close the tab. Over time, I have found that type of rude lack of considera…

Are there any version of Mosaic that are able to handle modern HTTPS?

Bolt it on! Here's XMosaic 2.7b5 with TLS 1.3 on my own SPARC. (Disclosure: my project.)

https://oldvcr.blogspot.com/2022/07/crypto-ancienne-20-now-b...

Re: Why I Don't Use Netscape (1999)

#222

Post by incanus77 »

romland wrote: post #200
incanus77 wrote: post #194

Unrelated to this content (I think), tuwien.ac.at is a domain I have not seen nor thought of in decades. I see that there’s new stuff there too, but does anyone recall why this might have been a well-known domain in the 90s? I feel like I used to regularly read some content or download software from there, probably UNIX stuff.

I had the _exact_ same feeling; when I read your comment I started googling a bit but I came up short. In my case it should probably have been one or some of: MUDs, Linux, Debian, Amiga, shareware, usenet, IRC.

Yeah, same. Likely UNIX utilities, Linux software or howtos (Red Hat, Debian), maybe usenet. Maybe an FTP repository?

Re: Why I Don't Use Netscape (1999)

#223

Post by incanus77 »

incanus77 wrote: post #222
romland wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had the _exact_ same feeling; when I read your comment I started googling a bit but I came up short. In my case it should probably have been one or some of: MUDs, Linux, Debian, Amiga, shareware, usenet, IRC.

Yeah, same. Likely UNIX utilities, Linux software or howtos (Red Hat, Debian), maybe usenet. Maybe an FTP repository?

Maybe a combination of these — I found this:

http://hep.itp.tuwien.ac.at/~www/particle/Doc/debnotes.html

Debian 1.x/2.x days, likely a prominent mirror?

Re: Why I Don't Use Netscape (1999)

#224

Post by prange »

prange wrote: post #202
seba_dos1 wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Edge is not free. I wouldn't seriously consider using a non-free application for something as essential as everyday web browsing. You can't really have usable vertical tabs in Chromium via plugins either, unless you're content with wasting a lot of horizontal space for an ugly sidebar and vertical space for uselessly duplicated tab bar. Firefox is the only actual choice I'm aware about.

> I wouldn't seriously consider using a non-free application for something as essential as everyday web browsing. Why? Are you considering forking Firefox?

For clarification - if you either contribute code or money to Firefox, you are clearly supporting the existence of a free browser.

I don’t see how just using it does. So if you aren’t contributing to it you may as well use the browser with the best feature set for your use case.

Re: Why I Don't Use Netscape (1999)

#225

Post by aendruk »

badsectoracula wrote: post #13

Considering all the discussions about JavaScript and sites with primarily text requiring it, this looks like the more things change, the more they remain the same :-P. Also see Wirth's Plea for Lean Software[0] from 1995 for another "timeless" issue. I did find this bit interesting too... > Apart from this practical reason, there's a principal one: The first time I invoked Netscape, it said that it is obsolete and re…

I dread the day Google contrives some trick to make Picasa do this. That and Paint Shop Pro 8 are still going strong on my parents’ new computers.

Re: Why I Don't Use Netscape (1999)

#227

Post by deanCommie »

mrtksn wrote: post #20

So the "movement" against modern browser features is not a movement and has nothing to do with these features but its simply a version of "kids these days lost their ways" thinking. A version of conservatism, I guess. "Everything was better in the good old days" and "The new generation is horrible, the humanity is doomed" kind of thoughts are probably a manifestation of fading youth.

There is another more simpler layer to this:

Most people on HackerNews remember when they were the target demographic for most software. And they no longer are.

If you're under 40, this is how we all started. The target demographic since the explosion of the internet is no longer software engineers. That feels bad for people, and they lash out conservatively.

Because they're not wrong - the software IS worse. For them (us).

Re: Why I Don't Use Netscape (1999)

#228

Post by jasonlotito »

tannhaeuser wrote: post #19
badsectoracula wrote: post #13

Considering all the discussions about JavaScript and sites with primarily text requiring it, this looks like the more things change, the more they remain the same :-P. Also see Wirth's Plea for Lean Software[0] from 1995 for another "timeless" issue. I did find this bit interesting too... > Apart from this practical reason, there's a principal one: The first time I invoked Netscape, it said that it is obsolete and re…

Firefox on Ubuntu (which I'm not using anymore for these and other reasons) and presumably on other OSs does exactly that: refuse to open new tabs/sites once every two weeks or so, telling me "one more thing we need to do" ie self-update. So you're loosing all your browsing context, though FF does a better job restoring it after restart than it used to, but still that's user-hostile and self-important as fuck. And th…

That this complaint is pointing at Firefox when it's not Firefox at all, is interesting. How many things do we associate with one thing when it's actually something else entirely.

It's a shame, really.

Re: Why I Don't Use Netscape (1999)

#229

Post by tracker1 »

badsectoracula wrote: post #13

Considering all the discussions about JavaScript and sites with primarily text requiring it, this looks like the more things change, the more they remain the same :-P. Also see Wirth's Plea for Lean Software[0] from 1995 for another "timeless" issue. I did find this bit interesting too... > Apart from this practical reason, there's a principal one: The first time I invoked Netscape, it said that it is obsolete and re…

+1 on PSP after v7, especially after the Corel buyout of Jasc. It was hands down a favorite before, after it just got worse. Kind of wish I still had my v7 and serial number, though I could probably find it... I've been okay with Pinta and Paint.Net for most things I need such a software for. I still liked PSP better.

Re: Why I Don't Use Netscape (1999)

#230

Post by tracker1 »

GTP wrote: post #71
tannhaeuser wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does a browser really have to be so complex that it warrants updates more often than the very sites that are being browsed? Contrast this with the design of idk MP3: a relatively simple and ultra-stable decoder app with a large variety of backend pipelines that can create MP3s. That's how the web pre-JS, pre-CSS was like. Or, with a perspective from information theory: downloading hundreds and hundreds of megabytes a…

>Does a browser really have to be so complex that it warrants updates more often than the very sites that are being browsed? Contrast this with the design of idk MP3: a relatively simple and ultra-stable decoder app with a large variety of backend pipelines that can create MP3s. The problem is the recent trend that everything has to be a web application. So browsers aren't just to access information anymore, but lite…

It's easier to update software on a single server then hundreds or millions of desktops.
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