Anyone Miss The Old Internet and Tech?

[___-]

Anyone miss the old internet and tech? Back when Skype was decentralized and the hot new shit? When Windows XP was cutting edge and your friends played Runescape together with you? Flip phones, Gameboys, CRTs, laptops that didn't have chiclet keyboards and non-replaceable batteries, carrying an iPod with you as well as a phone, etc...

 

[AnOminous]

I miss amber monochrome monitors and the sound of a 2400 baud modem connecting.

 

[Y2K Baby]

I miss when memes were actual jokes and people made them to be funny instead of thinking it's some kind of ironic, edgy counterculture.

 

[___-]

I miss amber monochrome monitors and the sound of a 2400 baud modem connecting.

Shut the fuck up grandpa this a millennial only thread.

 

[Sergeant Politeness]

I never saw it, but I kinda wish I did. By the time I knew what I was doing on the internet, YouTube had HD video. I feel like I missed something.

 

[m0rnutz]

I miss when memes were actual jokes and people made them to be funny instead of thinking it's some kind of ironic, edgy counterculture.

You're speaking my language.

I miss when knowing your way around the limited world of the internet meant you were a computer genius.

That, and when keygens were a thing and actually worked.

 

[___-]

You're speaking my language.

I miss when knowing your way around the limited world of the internet meant you were a computer genius.

That, and when keygens were a thing and actually worked.

Don't forget the music.

 

[m0rnutz]

Don't forget the music.

Technically that was Amiga tracks. But you're right.

 

[NIGGO KILLA]

i miss not be able to say niggo and getting away with it on the internet

 

[Todesfurcht]

I miss when memes were just memes.
Not easy to sale merchandise, or engulfed in media.
Just things that made us laugh...

 

[Ti-99/4A]

I miss when the only thing that was behind a paywall was the porn. Now porn is mostly free and everything else is behind a paywall or plastered with ads.

 

[AnOminous]

I never saw it, but I kinda wish I did. By the time I knew what I was doing on the internet, YouTube had HD video. I feel like I missed something.

Something I don't miss: RealAudio and RealVideo. Those fucking blew.

 

[Sergeant Politeness]

One thing I will say is websites, as awful and garish as they looked, were a hell of a lot more simple. They had to be, but in an age where sites are stupidly complicated, even if they don't do some fancy web app shit, it's refreshing.

I was looking at some old Quake mapping guides the other day, and I like how this just gets to the point. It's just the text. It's not fancy, it's not overdone, it's not some half-finished wiki with three editors. The images could be bigger, but I get the point. Not being stuffed full of ads also helps.

 

[Ti-99/4A]

Something I don't miss: RealAudio and RealVideo. Those fucking blew.

Ah those postage stamp sized videos that never stopped buffering for more than a few seconds at a time. I had forgotten all about them until now.

 

[Tartarus Sauce]

The internet used to be so much more of an escape. I remember having a contact list of maybe 10 people on AIM, and always being happy to see them. Now everyone and their grandma's on facebook messenger and i cant set foot online without being bombarded by my distant acquaintances trying to sell me yoga pants or my relatives trying to tag me in minion memes.

 

[BurningPewter]

i miss checking Ebaums world every day for funny stuff.

 

[LongtimeLurker]

carrying an iPod with you as well as a phone

iPod? Psshhh, portable CD players all the way.

Actually I was just talking about that recently. How we all had stacks upon stacks of custom-burned CDs, because we had to burn a new one every time we got a new song we liked off Napster or Kazaa. Or listening to staticky-ass radio off our boom boxes so we could record our favourite songs onto cassette. Those were simpler times...

ngl part of me does miss flip phones though. My nails scratch the hell out of smartphone screen protectors in no time

 

[Leveilleur]

I was one of those shitty neopets kids, and any other virtual pet sites that I could find. Always get a little nostalgic looking back on that really bad early art. Something a bit charming to it.

 

[Un Platano]

Mobile appstores have pretty much replaced flash aggregator websites as a source for free entertainment. As much as I think the model that games on iOS/Android use is trash though, saying that flash games back in the day were any better is a huge lie. Most flash games were bullshit.

 

[Hen in a tie]

I missed playing those flash games. Simple but fun