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The decline of computers as a general-purpose technology

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Re: The decline of computers as a general-purpose technology

#51

Post by user-the-name »

8draco8 wrote: post #30
brainless wrote: post #6

This is what I personally feel is just missing these days. I was never part of the leading edge of hobby computing. I was very far off, geographically, growing up a teenager in India. But back then, 1998 - 2006 ish, I feel the Internet was a lot more about experiments. I would read up on some software or hardware group all the time. LUGs were way popular. I used to be on chat rooms from MIT or other unis every other…

Classic PC and even some laptops especially with open operating systems are still fantastic tool for learning and tinkering. There's just more options now for people that simply wants to consume media without thinking too much about everything else. PC enthusiast scene is getting bigger every year.

Learn what? Installing Linux on a computer doesn't really teach you anything much at all about computers. It teaches you about Linux.

Re: The decline of computers as a general-purpose technology

#52

Post by rimliu »

jacquesm wrote: post #36
brainless wrote: post #6

This is what I personally feel is just missing these days. I was never part of the leading edge of hobby computing. I was very far off, geographically, growing up a teenager in India. But back then, 1998 - 2006 ish, I feel the Internet was a lot more about experiments. I would read up on some software or hardware group all the time. LUGs were way popular. I used to be on chat rooms from MIT or other unis every other…

The mainstream was never going to be part of the tinkerers and hackers. But the depressing thing is to what extent todays hackers have become consumers. But, we've still got linux and a lot of hardware support for that. I'll likely be the last bastion of general purpose computing.

No, the depressing thing is how many people on HN want others to be just like them.

Re: The decline of computers as a general-purpose technology

#53

Post by kuschku »

koonsolo wrote: post #48
brainless wrote: post #6

This is what I personally feel is just missing these days. I was never part of the leading edge of hobby computing. I was very far off, geographically, growing up a teenager in India. But back then, 1998 - 2006 ish, I feel the Internet was a lot more about experiments. I would read up on some software or hardware group all the time. LUGs were way popular. I used to be on chat rooms from MIT or other unis every other…

Why the negative outlook? The world now is way more awesome for hackers than it was back then! 1. You can find any information you want, in an instant. 2. Hardware is very cheap, computers can be tiny, you can order components from anywhere 3. Robotics and electronics are way cooler now, with drones etc. 4. Software development is way more productive with all the libraries and tools we have right now. 5. When I was a…

> 2. Hardware is very cheap, computers can be tiny, you can order components from anywhere

In the past I could get any component I might need from a local store in 20 minutes. now I've got 2 weeks to 3 months turnaround on shipping from shenzhen.

Re: The decline of computers as a general-purpose technology

#54

Post by exporectomy »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #35
vladvasiliu wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hear people saying this a lot, and I admit I sometimes think it myself. But I'm not sure how true it is, as opposed to just a perception. > Not even to the level that I, a curious teenager, had experienced in those years I think therein lies the rub. Teenagers curious about computers aren't very common. And even back then (early 2000s), my experience in Europe was the same [0]. Most of the people in my school didn'…

I don't think it's curiosity about computers - it's more general curiosity about how certain kinds of systems work. It isn't even about appliances and mass consumption. That's a relevant view, but not a very revealing one. Computers are an idealised example of an organised system which is assembled/operated by solving puzzles. Some people enjoy solving those kinds of puzzles. Most people don't. The first kind of pers…

Lots of technologies start out appealing to technologists until they mature enough to reach mainstream adoption. It's not disturbing, it's a sign that they were successful! Cars did the same, and aeroplanes, and electricity. I'm happy the internet is now as common and easy to use as electricity. Geeks can move on to the next interesting immature technology. Perhaps cryptocurrency or machine learning or whatever. The world is full of exciting things.

Re: The decline of computers as a general-purpose technology

#55

Post by brainless »

koonsolo wrote: post #48
brainless wrote: post #6

This is what I personally feel is just missing these days. I was never part of the leading edge of hobby computing. I was very far off, geographically, growing up a teenager in India. But back then, 1998 - 2006 ish, I feel the Internet was a lot more about experiments. I would read up on some software or hardware group all the time. LUGs were way popular. I used to be on chat rooms from MIT or other unis every other…

Why the negative outlook? The world now is way more awesome for hackers than it was back then! 1. You can find any information you want, in an instant. 2. Hardware is very cheap, computers can be tiny, you can order components from anywhere 3. Robotics and electronics are way cooler now, with drones etc. 4. Software development is way more productive with all the libraries and tools we have right now. 5. When I was a…

Don't get me wrong, I am not talking about myself here. I am still an absolute curious fellow. I just started learning woodworking, I am 37 years old now. I start learning something new each year.

I meant the current trend of digital products which are, in my opinion, more like a TV than "computers".

Re: The decline of computers as a general-purpose technology

#56

Post by exporectomy »

shaan7 wrote: post #32
vladvasiliu wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hear people saying this a lot, and I admit I sometimes think it myself. But I'm not sure how true it is, as opposed to just a perception. > Not even to the level that I, a curious teenager, had experienced in those years I think therein lies the rub. Teenagers curious about computers aren't very common. And even back then (early 2000s), my experience in Europe was the same [0]. Most of the people in my school didn'…

> But phones? I just can't be bothered to care about them. Can I make calls and check some maps? It's great! I understand where you are coming from, and it makes 100% sense if you own a PC/laptop as well. But guess what? In a lot of places the majority of population (including younger people) do NOT have them. Their first and only experience of computers is a mobile phone. Even though "teenagers who care about comput…

Is it really any more limiting? They can make programs in Scratch or other web apps on their phone. It's not "real" native software but it wasn't in the 1980's either. Kids then used BASIC interpreters. Compilers for "real" programming languages like C were unaffordable. Even assembly language and machine language were often inaccessible because computers didn't have an assembler or hex editor and you couldn't get new software like that without spending money.

Re: The decline of computers as a general-purpose technology

#57

Post by pwdisswordfish6 »

niftich wrote: post #16

Note that the article is about innovation and performance gains in general-purpose processors slowing, and about the increasing shift onto specialized computing engines by those who seek further performance gains for specific workloads. This was foreshadowed with the Netburst not being able break 4 GHz in 2004-2005, and CPUs having to shift to multi-core. This bought "classic" CPUs more time, but CUDA showed up in 20…

You must be new here to expect Hacker News to read an article before commenting.

Re: The decline of computers as a general-purpose technology

#59

Post by Talanes »

shaan7 wrote: post #43
vladvasiliu wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do get your point, but I don't agree it supports the thesis that there's a "regression" happening. Broadly, I could see two situations in which people only get a phone and have no computer: either "poor" countries, where they can't afford a computer and will get a phone that's better than nothing, and very affluent ones where they'll just get a phone or tablet and not care. Although I'm not sure that this second ca…

[for simplicity, I'm using the term "computer" as a desktop/laptop computer] > Phones never were open They certainly were more open than today. It was much easier to fiddle around with the software with smartphones that Nokia used to have, for example. Both iOS and Android were easier in that respect, too. So there's clearly been a regression there. However, if you meant "phones were never as open as PCs", ah yes the…

>It was much easier to fiddle around with the software with smartphones that Nokia used to have

Uh, as a young person during that time, I think there may have been one kid in my high school who was the right combination of nerdy and well-off to get a smartphone. It was still cool if your flip-phone came with any internet-connected features at all.

Re: The decline of computers as a general-purpose technology

#60

Post by sriku »

user-the-name wrote: post #51
8draco8 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Classic PC and even some laptops especially with open operating systems are still fantastic tool for learning and tinkering. There's just more options now for people that simply wants to consume media without thinking too much about everything else. PC enthusiast scene is getting bigger every year.

Learn what? Installing Linux on a computer doesn't really teach you anything much at all about computers. It teaches you about Linux .

That's today, but it wasn't so initially. You'd learn about your monitor's scan modes, how the disk is structured, dumping bytes between devices, optimizing for load by placing bytes on the outer sectors of floppy disks, using RAM as a disk to speed things up, and whole lot of "useless" things that build machine sympathy.
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