One of the things I really miss about those days was the sense of optimism. We knew computers were getting more powerful, we knew they would change society, I hoped they could help make things better for people everywhere. What we got was lock-in and locked-down hardware, mass-surveillance, ad-driven content farms and the attention economy. There have been positives, but man. What a let-down.
IBM launched the PCjr and it was a cover story. When's the last time anybody wrote about a new desktop? I guess Apple and Framework do something interesting occasionally. Does anybody else?
The industry has been around long enough to see itself become the villain. I'm sad for those who weren't around during its "hero" days. There was something special about running code copied from magazines, meeting and "trading" with like-minded people at early user group meetings, and having your mind blown by the computers and software that emerged from the tech heterogeneity of that time.
I appreciate my elders' experience, but do note that contemporary AI researchers and enthusiasts often feel similarly about AI advancements:
We watch AI models become better each month, not in ads, but in blogs and posts. While not making cover stories, new models do make the news. I was so excited when Dall-E first came out, I even hosted a guess-the-prompt party four years ago with what seems now like prehistoric-level generated images.
The AI industry may face more scrutiny and criticism than the computer hardware industry of the olden days, but we even have a semblance of open source communities who are trying to democratize this for everyone.
All this to say, similar sentiments still exist in the frontier, it's just that the frontier moved.
In the 80s and 90s, most of the enthusiasm I saw was from nerds who just wanted to make cool stuff and share it with people. It felt like magic to make computers do things.
Much (but not all) of the enthusiasm I see with AI today seems to be from people who think it will make them rich, powerful, and freed from the apparently intolerable burden of having to interact with other humans in order to generate and consume media.
There are a lot of nerds out there who just want to do cool things with AI and share it with people. They're just incredibly outshouted by the people who want to get rich off AI. One of the big problems with the modern internet is that the person trying to make money off something is always going to put far more effort into self-promoting than the person doing something interesting.
I definitely enjoyed the phase of AI stuff where it wasn't actually useful yet more than the current one.
Not just "we knew they were getting more powerful". We could watch it, month to month, just by reading the ads. Every month there was an ad or three for something that I had never even dreamed you could do with a computer.
You get what you make of it and I think your description of what we have is far too negative. You can actually get out of that oppressive world, you might not be able to use the latest hardware and may need to maintain some defence against the data parasites you describe but I'm fairly content with the situation we are in running:
- old off-lease hardware providing our services
- those services are based around free software and keep our data where we can 'see' it. No Apple-Google-Meta-Microsoft-etc accounts needed or wanted.
- older laptops, notebooks, mobile devices running free software
Content filtering takes care of the advertising and other data parasites. As to 'the attention economy' that is up to you as an individual to keep out of your life. Ditch the legacy media and you're already on the right trail, find alternatives where needed and you'll be fine.
If some product is locked down you just have to refrain from using it no matter how enticing it looks, no matter how slick the advertising, no matter how heavy the group pressure. You may have to live with your text messages showing up in a different colour on the screens of those who drank the Kool-Aid, you may have to insist on using a different communication channel than the one pushed by FaceMetabook, etc.
In short there is still a bright future for those who know how coax it from the materials at hand, you'll just have to fight the parasites who always appear in thriving ecosystems. Squash them like the bugs they are and you'll be fine unless you happen to live somewhere where the state uses repressive means to keep everyone and everything under its control. If this is the case you can try to fight it, especially while they have not achieved full control and there is still a chance of turning the ship around. If not you're probably best off by moving out of that state, the world is a big place and there's likely to be some country where your skills are welcomed.
Another view: in the past, when you started using a new technology, you wanted to explore it and find new ways to use it. Now, when you start using a new technology, you need to tiptoe around it and/or find ways to disable it.
Back in 1975, my dad got a copy of Creative Computing magazine from a colleague, and gave it to me as he knew I talked about computers. I was in heaven reading that mag. I still have it.
In the 80s, I regularly went to B&N to troll the computer mags. They're all gone now.
My hot rod magazines have all disappeared, too. Magazines like "Chrysler Engines". Sigh. The only one left is Hot Rod.
I still subscribe to Linux and Admin magazines, and look forward to getting them. They are nostalgic while still filled with genuinely useful information. There is something categorically different in the experience of sitting down and reading curated articles vs consuming an endless stream of updates. Both are worthwhile, and I’m glad both are options.
Plus, it’s a rare win/win of indulgence and plausible productivity.
I grew up pre-internet in the middle of nowhere, more than a mile from the nearest neighbor and 20 miles from anything you could call a town. and we had a somewhat oddball home computer that noone else had at school. Computer magazines were literally my only source of information for my system. I remember checking the mailbox every day and then spending hours reading every word in each new issue. typing in programs, dreaming of owning the fancy upgrades and new hardware.
I love being able to access almost anything instantly, but it kind of reduces my appreciation of everything at the same time
I love the comments today. I share many of the feelings described here. The question is... can we get that back without time travel?
I'm a technology enthusiast but haven't been blown away by any new hardware in a while.
I wondered if this was age-related, but my kid and his friends don't seem to be too excited either. In fact, he's now into mechanical analog watches and even grabbed my wife's Swatch which she hasn't used in over 10 years!
I remember the ‘90s fondly in this regard. 1000 pages issue of Computer Shopper, the early days of Wired, and so much variety of publications. But especially because after work I wrote dozens of articles for Software Development Magazine and even judged the Jolt Awards a few years.
I miss the days of eagerly picking up the latest PCFormat from the cornershop. The guides, the reviews, but mostly the CD running some old Macromedia Shockwave/HTML website with random apps and tools I could never download in the few minutes a day of dial-up time. Wish I’d kept some of my favourite issues.
> Today I almost certainly have more retro computer magazines than you do. By my count, I now have nearly 700 issues of various computer magazines from the 70s, 80s and 90s!
I have nearly 200 issues just of PC Magazine. If I toted up the rest, I might have more than you!
I miss those free CD-ROMS on the cover. I consumed so much software in the 1990s that way. I swear I've played the Tomb Raider 2 demo for hours without ever having rented or owned the actual game.
>By its third issue PC was square-bound, because it was too thick for saddle-stitch. At first the magazine published new issues every two months, but became monthly as of the August 1982 issue, its fourth. In March 1983 a reader urged the magazine to consider switching to a biweekly schedule because of its thickness. Although the magazine replied to the reader's proposal with "Please say you're kidding about the bi-weekly schedule. Please?", after the December 1983 issue reached 800 pages in size, in 1984 PC began publishing new issues every two weeks, with each about 400 pages in size.
I don't believe BYTE ever reached 800 pages, but it came close. The only other computer magazine I know of that reached >400 pages per issue is ... 80 Micro, in 1982 and a special issue in 1983.[1] The magazine folded in 1988, which tells you just how quickly the TRS-80 market collapsed once the IBM PC (as represented by PC) got going.
I think Mondo 2000 is the spiritual predecessor of Wired. So much weird stuff in there. I used to flip through articles about smart drugs wondering if they really worked. The caveat was always that the long term consequences aren't known.
Well, there could be a cohort of Mondo readers who have been on them for the past 40 years. They might be able to say if there have been long term consequences.
One of the things I really miss about those days was the sense of optimism. We knew computers were getting more powerful, we knew they would change society, I hoped they could help make things better for people everywhere. What we got was lock-in and locked-down hardware, mass-surveillance, ad-driven content farms and the attention economy. There have been positives, but man. What a let-down.
Computers used to be fun.
IBM launched the PCjr and it was a cover story. When's the last time anybody wrote about a new desktop? I guess Apple and Framework do something interesting occasionally. Does anybody else?
The industry has been around long enough to see itself become the villain. I'm sad for those who weren't around during its "hero" days. There was something special about running code copied from magazines, meeting and "trading" with like-minded people at early user group meetings, and having your mind blown by the computers and software that emerged from the tech heterogeneity of that time.
I appreciate my elders' experience, but do note that contemporary AI researchers and enthusiasts often feel similarly about AI advancements:
We watch AI models become better each month, not in ads, but in blogs and posts. While not making cover stories, new models do make the news. I was so excited when Dall-E first came out, I even hosted a guess-the-prompt party four years ago with what seems now like prehistoric-level generated images. The AI industry may face more scrutiny and criticism than the computer hardware industry of the olden days, but we even have a semblance of open source communities who are trying to democratize this for everyone.
All this to say, similar sentiments still exist in the frontier, it's just that the frontier moved.
In the 80s and 90s, most of the enthusiasm I saw was from nerds who just wanted to make cool stuff and share it with people. It felt like magic to make computers do things.
Much (but not all) of the enthusiasm I see with AI today seems to be from people who think it will make them rich, powerful, and freed from the apparently intolerable burden of having to interact with other humans in order to generate and consume media.
It's not the same.
There are a lot of nerds out there who just want to do cool things with AI and share it with people. They're just incredibly outshouted by the people who want to get rich off AI. One of the big problems with the modern internet is that the person trying to make money off something is always going to put far more effort into self-promoting than the person doing something interesting.
I definitely enjoyed the phase of AI stuff where it wasn't actually useful yet more than the current one.
I agree with the earlier part of your comment, but am not clear about this part:
>and freed from the apparently intolerable burden of having to interact with other humans in order to generate and consume media.
Can you explain it?
Not just "we knew they were getting more powerful". We could watch it, month to month, just by reading the ads. Every month there was an ad or three for something that I had never even dreamed you could do with a computer.
You get what you make of it and I think your description of what we have is far too negative. You can actually get out of that oppressive world, you might not be able to use the latest hardware and may need to maintain some defence against the data parasites you describe but I'm fairly content with the situation we are in running:
- old off-lease hardware providing our services
- those services are based around free software and keep our data where we can 'see' it. No Apple-Google-Meta-Microsoft-etc accounts needed or wanted.
- older laptops, notebooks, mobile devices running free software
Content filtering takes care of the advertising and other data parasites. As to 'the attention economy' that is up to you as an individual to keep out of your life. Ditch the legacy media and you're already on the right trail, find alternatives where needed and you'll be fine.
If some product is locked down you just have to refrain from using it no matter how enticing it looks, no matter how slick the advertising, no matter how heavy the group pressure. You may have to live with your text messages showing up in a different colour on the screens of those who drank the Kool-Aid, you may have to insist on using a different communication channel than the one pushed by FaceMetabook, etc.
In short there is still a bright future for those who know how coax it from the materials at hand, you'll just have to fight the parasites who always appear in thriving ecosystems. Squash them like the bugs they are and you'll be fine unless you happen to live somewhere where the state uses repressive means to keep everyone and everything under its control. If this is the case you can try to fight it, especially while they have not achieved full control and there is still a chance of turning the ship around. If not you're probably best off by moving out of that state, the world is a big place and there's likely to be some country where your skills are welcomed.
I think the biggest difference is, in the past, technology felt "enabling" and now it feels "predatory"
Another view: in the past, when you started using a new technology, you wanted to explore it and find new ways to use it. Now, when you start using a new technology, you need to tiptoe around it and/or find ways to disable it.
Back in 1975, my dad got a copy of Creative Computing magazine from a colleague, and gave it to me as he knew I talked about computers. I was in heaven reading that mag. I still have it.
In the 80s, I regularly went to B&N to troll the computer mags. They're all gone now.
My hot rod magazines have all disappeared, too. Magazines like "Chrysler Engines". Sigh. The only one left is Hot Rod.
I still subscribe to Linux and Admin magazines, and look forward to getting them. They are nostalgic while still filled with genuinely useful information. There is something categorically different in the experience of sitting down and reading curated articles vs consuming an endless stream of updates. Both are worthwhile, and I’m glad both are options.
Plus, it’s a rare win/win of indulgence and plausible productivity.
https://www.linux-magazine.com/
I grew up pre-internet in the middle of nowhere, more than a mile from the nearest neighbor and 20 miles from anything you could call a town. and we had a somewhat oddball home computer that noone else had at school. Computer magazines were literally my only source of information for my system. I remember checking the mailbox every day and then spending hours reading every word in each new issue. typing in programs, dreaming of owning the fancy upgrades and new hardware.
I love being able to access almost anything instantly, but it kind of reduces my appreciation of everything at the same time
I love the comments today. I share many of the feelings described here. The question is... can we get that back without time travel?
I'm a technology enthusiast but haven't been blown away by any new hardware in a while.
I wondered if this was age-related, but my kid and his friends don't seem to be too excited either. In fact, he's now into mechanical analog watches and even grabbed my wife's Swatch which she hasn't used in over 10 years!
I remember the ‘90s fondly in this regard. 1000 pages issue of Computer Shopper, the early days of Wired, and so much variety of publications. But especially because after work I wrote dozens of articles for Software Development Magazine and even judged the Jolt Awards a few years.
I miss the days of eagerly picking up the latest PCFormat from the cornershop. The guides, the reviews, but mostly the CD running some old Macromedia Shockwave/HTML website with random apps and tools I could never download in the few minutes a day of dial-up time. Wish I’d kept some of my favourite issues.
> Today I almost certainly have more retro computer magazines than you do. By my count, I now have nearly 700 issues of various computer magazines from the 70s, 80s and 90s!
I have nearly 200 issues just of PC Magazine. If I toted up the rest, I might have more than you!
I miss those free CD-ROMS on the cover. I consumed so much software in the 1990s that way. I swear I've played the Tomb Raider 2 demo for hours without ever having rented or owned the actual game.
OP had a commitment to preserving history. Well done.
But no “Nibble”? That was my go to mag for Apple programming. I wish I had saved them like OP!
I always enjoyed Softline - the irreverent sibling to Softalk.
As I am a hoarder, you're better off not having saved them!
From Wikipedia <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCMag>:
>By its third issue PC was square-bound, because it was too thick for saddle-stitch. At first the magazine published new issues every two months, but became monthly as of the August 1982 issue, its fourth. In March 1983 a reader urged the magazine to consider switching to a biweekly schedule because of its thickness. Although the magazine replied to the reader's proposal with "Please say you're kidding about the bi-weekly schedule. Please?", after the December 1983 issue reached 800 pages in size, in 1984 PC began publishing new issues every two weeks, with each about 400 pages in size.
I don't believe BYTE ever reached 800 pages, but it came close. The only other computer magazine I know of that reached >400 pages per issue is ... 80 Micro, in 1982 and a special issue in 1983.[1] The magazine folded in 1988, which tells you just how quickly the TRS-80 market collapsed once the IBM PC (as represented by PC) got going.
[1] The special issue has an editorial titled "There's no end in sight". <https://archive.org/details/80-microcomputing-magazine-1983-...>
I fondly remember when Wired magazine was almost all tech articles, instead of 50% advertisements, and 40% paid content.
When was that? The first issue? By 1994 they'd made it over 50% ads. A randomly chosen sample if you want to refamiliarize yourself with just how many ads magazines had back then: https://archive.org/details/wired-magazine-02.10-1994-octobe...
I think Mondo 2000 is the spiritual predecessor of Wired. So much weird stuff in there. I used to flip through articles about smart drugs wondering if they really worked. The caveat was always that the long term consequences aren't known.
Well, there could be a cohort of Mondo readers who have been on them for the past 40 years. They might be able to say if there have been long term consequences.