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Here's What Your Favorite Mac Apps Would Have Looked Like in 1999
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I bet a hypothetical Spotify on OS9 runs better than current Apple Music on OS12. AM user here but app is an absolute garbage fire
Organise protests against these companies and their shills who want to force digital scarcity on everyone. They have simply bought up and hoarded everything that exists in the physical world and now they want to do the same in the digital world too. They want to charge you for every little thing you do. They are digital robber barons and rent seekers and they want to take away government's ability to protect a nation's economy and then privatise everything including the police and the army. That would end social services completely so that the poorest will just be slaves and that would drive down wages for everyone.
They say their projects are decentralised to protect themselves from lawsuits and regulation. It isn't decentralised at all. They are simply a criminal cartel. Fight them by all means possible, including building platforms and games that shun scarcity and are affordable for everyone.
I’m curious what you mean by this? As in, you prefer a minimalist text-only interface/experience? Kind of like listening to a podcast instead of watching a television show?
Eh, wouldn’t MacOS 9 UI TextEdit be SimpleText? Or at least the Mac OS X Server 1.0/Rhapsody version of TextEdit? For the latter, the modern TextEdit is, like Mail.app or Chess.app, the same app it was back on NeXTstep. It’s just been continuously updated over the years (in the case of TextEdit, it often serves as a showcase for new developer facing frameworks, so it’s one of Apple’s developer examples).
The app they're showing in the video at 1:06 is SimpleText, though?
Yup.
(I believe Mail back then was called MailViewer, to be pedantic.)
I think he means something akin to my after-school days in high school, where I'd boot up dad's i386 and spend hours doing a tour of duty of Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe or enjoy some Oregon Trail. That type of parallel universe pre-internet, pre-subscription 'Klaus Schwab' model. No social media, no ads, no depressing, constant, never-ending COVID barrage like today.
But, of course, I'm merely guessing. For all I know, they're just lamenting the whole 'mobile websites' thing given the last sentence re: "condensed to a small screen".
It could be a bit of both. It’s tricky, though, when reflecting on the past, to judge just how much better the past actually was. I can reflect on the hardest times of my life and, while I definitely have it substantially better now, comparatively speaking, I can always think of things that might have been slightly better then, and there’s a risk that I can let those things cloud my vision of the past when, upon sober reflection, I absolutely would not relive those days (maybe even knowing what I know now).
If it’s possible for me to become momentarily nostalgic about times that were rock bottom for me, it’s so much easier to be nostalgic about times that sucked far less or were genuinely good. Kinda like the people who always relive their high school or college athletics glory days.
There are certain aspects of the time you’re describing that was better than today, and there are certainly aspects of today that really are truly awful, but overfocusing on the past with rosy glasses on can blind us to the things today that are actually kinda awesome.
Just for one example, when I was growing up, my only options for listening to music were the radio and cassette tapes. I didn’t really have a CD player until my teen years and had no capability to burn CDs until I was in college and got my first modern computer (and convenient internet access). When I could play CDs, I mostly checked stuff out of the library because I didn’t have much money and the spending money I had tended to go to video games instead. So I had a Walkman I bought with my own money, even as my friends had fancy jukebox players that could hold more music than I ever could dream of. Today, streaming is a thing, and I can have a near infinite music library, all a search or Siri command away, and I can even have Siri play me a random mix tailored to me (instead of needing to choose a playlist). Clearly, I’m spoiled for choice when it comes to music, in a way I couldn’t have imagined growing up. And while physical media has its fun aspects (and I own a MiniDisc player and turntable today and would totally buy a reel to reel stereo if I could justify it and will buy CDs of stuff I really want hard copies of —or just record it to MiniDisc), I wouldn’t go back to a pre-streaming music world.
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I am more nostalgic for the year 2010. Specifically late 2009-2013. I had a pet deer that I adored, tech was innovating instead of regressing (adding more features worthy of upgrading vs. taking features away) and there was no COVID hysteria. I met my girlfriend in 2013, and things were perfect until recently where people are afraid to leave their house and UI design continues its downward slide into the 80s again.
I miss life pre internet, but I don't miss that i386 or UI design from that time one bit. We sadly seem to be going backwards, and the future no longer looks as bright. The World Economic Forum creeps me out. I don't want to even live to see 2030 the way things are going these days. I wish I had a DeLorean to go back to 2010 again.
I still prefer to own music, and don't do subscriptions (excepting internet access, utilities) and I've been burned by services shutting down or libraries vanishing (many shows vanishing from Netflix, or other services, you can't buy shows like Cold Case with Kathryn Morris, or buy a DVD set of SeaQuest DSV due to license limbo. I haven't even finished either show which used to exist on streaming but went bye bye. I got used to discovering music on Google Play Music and YouTube Music is NOT the same. I just buy it all and can watch/rewatch and replay it any time. I was out more than $400 each month in subs alone. It's crazy how they fool you with $2/mo here and $5/mo there. Now I'm the old guy who still has '1,000 songs in his pocket'. I have lost track of many excellent music artists who went into a black hole due to services losing contract and stupidly never looked at my watch while their songs played to see who they were, as I figured it'd stick given I was paying.
I'd rather save money and keep what I like vs. being drained monthly for 'convenience'. That's how they get ya.
Also, no matter what carrier I go with, I hike a lot. I visit wildlife parks a lot. signal is 'no service' or '2 bars of 1x' in most places, and I don't want to be without my music because of that. I always have an offline library. Same for home. I still buy VHS tapes (50 cents at Goodwill/flea markets). I hope to find a set of SeaQuest tapes soon. I miss that show. It's unobtainium online.
I miss life pre internet, but I don't miss that i386 or UI design from that time one bit. We sadly seem to be going backwards, and the future no longer looks as bright. The World Economic Forum creeps me out. I don't want to even live to see 2030 the way things are going these days. I wish I had a DeLorean to go back to 2010 again.
I still prefer to own music, and don't do subscriptions (excepting internet access, utilities) and I've been burned by services shutting down or libraries vanishing (many shows vanishing from Netflix, or other services, you can't buy shows like Cold Case with Kathryn Morris, or buy a DVD set of SeaQuest DSV due to license limbo. I haven't even finished either show which used to exist on streaming but went bye bye. I got used to discovering music on Google Play Music and YouTube Music is NOT the same. I just buy it all and can watch/rewatch and replay it any time. I was out more than $400 each month in subs alone. It's crazy how they fool you with $2/mo here and $5/mo there. Now I'm the old guy who still has '1,000 songs in his pocket'. I have lost track of many excellent music artists who went into a black hole due to services losing contract and stupidly never looked at my watch while their songs played to see who they were, as I figured it'd stick given I was paying.
I'd rather save money and keep what I like vs. being drained monthly for 'convenience'. That's how they get ya.
Also, no matter what carrier I go with, I hike a lot. I visit wildlife parks a lot. signal is 'no service' or '2 bars of 1x' in most places, and I don't want to be without my music because of that. I always have an offline library. Same for home. I still buy VHS tapes (50 cents at Goodwill/flea markets). I hope to find a set of SeaQuest tapes soon. I miss that show. It's unobtainium online.
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"The Good Old Days" phenomenon reflects human nature, where many times a certain aspect of our youth (be it 5, 10, 20 or 40+ years ago) can appear to be better than it was because we forget the bad from then, we focus on the good from then, we over-prioritize the bad from "now," and we under-appreciate the good "now."
And Time does heal all (or most) wounds, helped by our often having options in life to help move on.
But I don't think "The Good Old Days" phenomenon is a good comparison against tech preferences such as UI, where Time does most definitely not heal the wounds of flat design and remnants of iOS7's overnight reworking of Apple's UI.
When Apple and other tech leaders bandwagonly abandon intuitive user interface design elements for the sake of something new, fresh, modern, scaled-down/minimalist, etc., we users too often have no options to help us accept and/or move on. THAT is the difference!
And Time does heal all (or most) wounds, helped by our often having options in life to help move on.
But I don't think "The Good Old Days" phenomenon is a good comparison against tech preferences such as UI, where Time does most definitely not heal the wounds of flat design and remnants of iOS7's overnight reworking of Apple's UI.
When Apple and other tech leaders bandwagonly abandon intuitive user interface design elements for the sake of something new, fresh, modern, scaled-down/minimalist, etc., we users too often have no options to help us accept and/or move on. THAT is the difference!
Well, I don't remember any 'bad' happening in 2010. At least flat design wasn't yet a thing yet!
Here here. By the way, I was thinking, one appropriate exception to your sig file might be to append it with “except for underwear,” no?
I don't understand how underwear would relate to 'if it ain't broke don't fix it'. or 'change for sake of change is always a bad idea'. Hasn't underwear remained pretty much the same for decades?
I mean, to change to a new pair, say daily at minimum.
Sorry, poor joke I guess.
@nickdalzell1, Good news, the logo on M&Ms is being redesigned to be more modern, and fresh with the times. Less angry, insulted consumers and for sure the chocolate will taste better with an updated logo.
There are Platinum themes for Linux on gnome-look.org but you need an older Linux supporting GTK2. Newer versions using GTK3 that don't support themes with 'depth' effects.
Probably that's why all GNOME themes, especially dark ones have indistinguishable windows when on top of each other. Genius, really. And Linux folks are drooling over this "genius" design.
I hope you just forgot the '/s' tag as when I read 'more modern' I immediately think flat design. But coming from you it couldn't be, right?
I don't eat M&Ms since I'm vegan (they contain dairy) so I wouldn't even be aware of any logo changes. I did notice their classic Christmas ad was going again last December, been an oldie but goodie since the 1990s (Ah! he does exist! They DO exist!)
In 1999 I had just gotten a DreamCast and was using its 56K modem via NetZero to browse the Internet on my TV. It's kinda a joke thinking about it today but back then it was tops!
I remember many folks actually assuming the apocalypse would happen due to the whole Y2K hysteria, and ironically enough come New Years Day, our power DID go out, for a few seconds. I admit to being a tad taken aback at the time!
Tons of products unaffected by the "Y2K bug" were labeled 'Y2K compliant' and it became a joke since we had refrigerators and calculators stickered 'Y2K Compliant' at the K-mart
I remember many folks actually assuming the apocalypse would happen due to the whole Y2K hysteria, and ironically enough come New Years Day, our power DID go out, for a few seconds. I admit to being a tad taken aback at the time!
Tons of products unaffected by the "Y2K bug" were labeled 'Y2K compliant' and it became a joke since we had refrigerators and calculators stickered 'Y2K Compliant' at the K-mart
I’m willing to bet even most who do eat m&m’s wouldn't even be aware of any logo/font changes on the wrapper or the candy itself. Those types of changes mean way more to the Marketers than the consumers.
CFTSOT.
And in a time where any majorly noticeable packaging change is often to hide a smaller-sized container of ice cream, yogurt, or soda, I tend to distrust and be turned off when I see a radical design change for something that’s been the same for years and years.
The only noticeable change I can recall was them abandoning the word 'Plain' on the non-peanut M&Ms back when I was a senior in high school.
However, since we're on logo changes (many of which corresponded with the whole flat design movement) what about the current Pepsi logo? Once you see this meme, it's impossible to unsee:
