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Ask HN: How would software look if hardware had stopped improving long ago?

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Re: Ask HN: How would software look if hardware had stopped improving long ago?

#31

Post by bilekas »

jerojero wrote: post #6

Just want to say that Discord and Slack do not solve the exact same problem as IRC. And here lies one of the most difficult aspects of protocols versus programs, protocols are much slower to adapt. Discord allows for a ton of functionalities that are not possible natively through IRC and it is a mistake to dismiss them. On the other hand, discord and slack offer pretty much the same things that we already had with MS…

I'm so glad someone brought this up around IRC. As a protocol it's still solid and holds up. It also benefits from p20 functionality.

As a stubborn user still today i always cringe a little when I hear that discord is just a better version of IRC.

Re: Ask HN: How would software look if hardware had stopped improving long ago?

#32

Post by krageon »

_8ysf wrote: post #15
lwansbrough wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Loading random URLs isn’t a great idea no.

Because your Slack preview is not loading random URLs, I suppose?

The "ease" of slack and discord stimulate not understanding the underlying technology.

Re: Ask HN: How would software look if hardware had stopped improving long ago?

#33

Post by krageon »

_8ysf wrote: post #10
tpmx wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Video is not in any way central to Slack. Slack solved a few key UX problems with IRC (history, search, centralized access control, team management). It could have been implemented on 90s hardware without any issues.

What key problems do you mean? Does e.g. IRCv3 solve them?

To business people, not having absolute centralised control over clients is a key issue.

Re: Ask HN: How would software look if hardware had stopped improving long ago?

#34

Post by hardware2win »

Comevius wrote: post #5

Hardware improvement slowed down considerably in the last 10 years. A Core i7-3970X from 2012 is still comparable to a typical notebook processor, or the fastest smartphone chips today, including the one in the Meta Quest Pro that was just announced. But imagine the same happening between 1992 and 2002. 10 years there meant fundamental incompatibility. A 486 computer with 8 MB RAM and VGA graphics card was already a…

>Hardware improvement slowed down considerably in the last 10 years.

Hmm, nvme disks? Gpus?

Re: Ask HN: How would software look if hardware had stopped improving long ago?

#35

Post by hardware2win »

_8ysf wrote: post #15
lwansbrough wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Loading random URLs isn’t a great idea no.

Because your Slack preview is not loading random URLs, I suppose?

Doesnt discord proxy or download it itself and then sends you their copy?

Re: Ask HN: How would software look if hardware had stopped improving long ago?

#36

Post by tluyben2 »

You can see from the demo or retro computing scene how far it can get if software devs keep optimizing every cycle and keep finding new tricks. One of those things is symbos[0], a cooperative tasking OS for computers that had a 3mhz cpu and were made mid 80s.

If you had shown this mid 80s, people (even people that programmed professionally for these computers), would've told you that you were crazy.

And there are many more example that, given enough time and effort, a lot more can be achieved with the same hardware but better software/compiler/algorithms and undocumented behaviour.

[0] http://www.symbos.de/

Re: Ask HN: How would software look if hardware had stopped improving long ago?

#37

Post by AlmostAnyone »

cjk wrote: post #28
cercatrova wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or startups like Mighty.app where, if your computer is too slow to run Chrome, just stream Chrome from the cloud. I just...don't even know what to say.

Mighty is such a great example of attacking the symptom(s) of the problem ("Chrome/the web is slow") rather than the root cause (rampant page size/complexity bloat, inefficient use of RAM/CPU, etc.). What a waste of talent and money.

How exactly should this talent and money change other's apps and companies? They are solving a problem, you're just talking idealism.

Re: Ask HN: How would software look if hardware had stopped improving long ago?

#38

Post by zetamax »

I don't think it would look that much different, in many ways it would just be less people using it, and for those that have it, they would be getting less out of it. If the prices had remained flat, even less productivity would have resulted. Consider how little a microwave oven, washing washing machine, or refrigerator has really changed, and how (relatively speaking) society questions that lack of change.

If we had been stuck in a cd-rom, dvd-rom, 56k world, I suppose we would would have seen quite a bit of improvement in user interface, graphic design, and market integration of those tools. However, I think we still in many ways will see micro-renaissances in areas with a similar vibe. If you look at a map of cell phone coverage in America, it's basically 1994 most places on the map, and those areas basically go far underdeveloped for what a middle class person could take advantage of in a post covid-19 America. In that sense, I think your overall question is more an invitation of what the potential of those areas is, rather than a "what if" alternative universe.

Re: Ask HN: How would software look if hardware had stopped improving long ago?

#39

Post by dusted »

Cooler and more "cyberpunk".

I often imagine how cool it'd be to "operate the computer" if we were generally stuck with 80x25 columns, maybe a separate "bitmapped" CRT for viewing graphical content.

I do enjoy the multimedia aspects of everyday computing immensely, and I'd miss my flacs and h265s..

But as for the software itself, excluding video games.. It'd not mind it.

Re: Ask HN: How would software look if hardware had stopped improving long ago?

#40

Post by 6510 »

AlmostAnyone wrote: post #37
cjk wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mighty is such a great example of attacking the symptom(s) of the problem ("Chrome/the web is slow") rather than the root cause (rampant page size/complexity bloat, inefficient use of RAM/CPU, etc.). What a waste of talent and money.

How exactly should this talent and money change other's apps and companies? They are solving a problem, you're just talking idealism.

If you give the devs 2 extra clock cycles they find ways to use 4 extra without doing anything new.
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