Tech you miss/ new tech trends you hate - ok boomers

[Ginger Piglet]

Speaking of interfaces, and I know it's been about for years now, but I can't stand Microsoft's ribbon interface. What was wrong with drop down menus? They came about first on Digital Research's GEM and the original Mac and they stayed in place for not one, not two, but three decades. Why change what works.

 

[AnOminous]

Speaking of interfaces, and I know it's been about for years now, but I can't stand Microsoft's ribbon interface. What was wrong with drop down menus? They came about first on Digital Research's GEM and the original Mac and they stayed in place for not one, not two, but three decades. Why change what works.

Hurr durr let's "innovate" for the sheer sake of it.

 

[Pickle Dick]

Smoking is for dumb people.

just say no

 

[AnOminous]

Smoking is for dumb people.

Smoking is awesome. Smoking rules.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

Blender started as an internal tool by an animation studio. So they didn't care about how "intuitive" it was.
I used blender before they made the UI friendlier, and it was actually very efficient and nice to use once you got the hang of it and understood how you are meant to use it. It was actually well thought-out and internally consistent for the most part.

That was how it worked, 3d programs were intended to be used by people with computer science degrees so fuck "intuitive".

This was what I think is SoftImage 3.8, one of the Big Two at the time.

Released in 1998 on both Irix and NT. State of the art. Mental Ray. UI is trash but what you know and memorize from that interface and the controls(and vice versa) can be somewhat applied to learning most everything at the time. Despite the inconsistencies of all those programs(proprietary moon-logic) there is something they share that you can recognize and use to get a head start. Blender always felt like it resisted your muscle memory and I only first used it after 2000. Like I said, it's way better now and it's a real resource but nothing I know in how 3d programs are used translates smoothly to Blender. GIMP used to be like that but it's good now.

 

[Ginger Piglet]

Back to music and audio gear, sorry.

The rise of the 128 kbps MP3 / AAC as the predominant format for digital music. So much so that Youtube compresses all its audio to that bitrate unless you have a certain number of follows when it generously allows you 160kbps MP3. I mean, I can understand why they do it. Save on server space and because most people will be playing it through shitty laptop speakers or a tinny phone speaker or crap Bluetooth earbuds (looking at you Apple) they won't notice because their choice of speakers or cans has gimped the quality even further.

This is why zoomers think that vinyl just sounds better even on their shit-tier Crosley Cruiser turntables. Because as shit as the Crosley might be with its Chinese knockoff of a budget Chuo Denshi stylus and plastic turntable that is literally a cost downed version of a Chinese knockoff of a 1984 compact turntable mechanism, tinny speakers, and similar, it at least doesn't cripple the source material by compressing it so heavily.

It wasn't until I started taping with my Brixton Briefcase (a Sharp VZ-2000, which has a good tape deck for a boombox but it's no Revox or Nakamichi Dragon or Tandberg 3014, but does have very good quality speakers) that I really realised the difference. I have a tape in my hand right now which has Crucified Barbara's 2014 album "In the Red" recorded from FLAC on one side and 128kbps MP3 from Youtube on the other. It's the same tape and taped on the same machine so nobody can claim differences in the formulation or batch or anything like that. The 128kbps MP3 sounds strained and horrible, while the FLAC sounds pretty much as good as the original. Oh, of course, there's the usual imperfections associated with an analog format, but once you have heard it, you can't unhear it.

Since then, I've decided that I'm going to go through all my most played songs and albums in my library and re-download them or re-rip them in FLAC or 320kbps MP3 if they are in 128kbps MP3. (In my student days I ripped in VBR for reasons of space and still have those but it's acceptable frankly; the bits that need to be in 320kbps are and the bits that can get away with lesser bitrates are also.)

Come on, people. We all have high speed internet now, in the first world at least, and hard drives are cheap and reliable - you can get a quality Seagate or WD 4TB drive for under £80 - enough to allow for the extra usage of disk space to store it. Why are we still listening to music in 128kbps MP3 in 2021.

 

[Jones McCann]

Why are we still listening to music in 128kbps MP3 in 2021.

Most people don't even own the music anymore, they're just listening to whatevers out there, 128kbps or not. It's amazing how fast things move, a few years ago everyone was pirating everything, now most people don't even know how to torrent something (or that it's possible). Everything is locked to "platforms" like Spotify, Apple Music, all this other shit where you'll own nothing and be happy. Do they even let you buy music and download it to your pc? I use to have Spotify and the quality was okay, but I decided to pirate everything in FLAC because it just sounds better (plus it's free). It's not like the artists are missing by 0.004c, plus I can just buy CDs from the artist's website if I want.

 

[AnOminous]

The rise of the 128 kbps MP3 / AAC as the predominant format for digital music.

So much music only exists in digital format as this absolute shit that the future is irreparably damaged. FLAC ftw.

 

[Ginger Piglet]

Most people don't even own the music anymore, they're just listening to whatevers out there, 128kbps or not. It's amazing how fast things move, a few years ago everyone was pirating everything, now most people don't even know how to torrent something (or that it's possible). Everything is locked to "platforms" like Spotify, Apple Music, all this other shit where you'll own nothing and be happy. Do they even let you buy music and download it to your pc? I use to have Spotify and the quality was okay, but I decided to pirate everything in FLAC because it just sounds better (plus it's free). It's not like the artists are missing by 0.004c, plus I can just buy CDs from the artist's website if I want.

And here's the other thing. You know how following the BLM protests last summer there were all of a sudden bowdlerisations of media and music and films disappearing from services in general for being problematic? Well. If you have physical copies, or downloaded non-DRM'd digital copies, the powers that be can't memory hole them when they become politically incorrect. So you can still have Fairytale of New York with the verse about "you cheap lousy faggot," you can still have Money for Nothing with the verse about the "faggot with the earring and the makeup," you can still have the episode of Only Fools & Horses where "the Paki shop won't let me have nothing on tick." Because these were all products of their time and should be allowed to show it because you cannot just memory hole things when it becomes inconvenient to remember that they existed.

I bet you can't on streaming.

 

[Thiletonomics]

I just remembered of two other car technologies that are becoming more and more common-place, that I loathe. Electric parking brakes, and various gimmick gearshifters. (i.e. gearshift knobs, push-button gearshifters)

Regarding electric parking brakes, those were implemented to free-up more space on the center console, and for aesthetics. However, what happens if you can't release the electric parking brake because either the battery is dead (to have your car towed), or it just won't release for some other reason (i.e. to drive your car in the first place)?

In regards to gimmick gearshifters, they also were implemented to save space on the center console, but again, there's the issue of what happens if it decides not to work? There's also the lack of physical feel with those gearshifters, compared to how with typical gearshift levers, you know which gear you are shifting to, just by the physical feel, without having to look at it. And some push-button gearshift setups, i.e. in Hondas and Acuras, take up just as much enough space as a typical gearshift lever would. As for gearshift knobs, there's the fear of accidentally destroying your transmission by turning the knob while driving, thinking it's an A/C or volume knob. I'm sure that there's some sort of failsafe mechanism so you don't accidentally brick your transmission this way, but what if that said failsafe doesn't work? And one form of electronic gearshifter that was used in FCA cars was responsible for at least notable fatality.

 

[Andy Bandy Man]

The electric parking break isn't the worst thing in the world, just know what you own, and how to override it, but yeah, it's annoying.

As for the dial, yeah man WTF where they thinking, I think the good advice is to not drive those cars.

 

[stupidpieceofshit]

I just remembered of two other car technologies that are becoming more and more common-place, that I loathe. Electric parking brakes, and various gimmick gearshifters. (i.e. gearshift knobs, push-button gearshifters)

Regarding electric parking brakes, those were implemented to free-up more space on the center console, and for aesthetics. However, what happens if you can't release the electric parking brake because either the battery is dead (to have your car towed), or it just won't release for some other reason (i.e. to drive your car in the first place)?

In regards to gimmick gearshifters, they also were implemented to save space on the center console, but again, there's the issue of what happens if it decides not to work? There's also the lack of physical feel with those gearshifters, compared to how with typical gearshift levers, you know which gear you are shifting to, just by the physical feel, without having to look at it. And some push-button gearshift setups, i.e. in Hondas and Acuras, take up just as much enough space as a typical gearshift lever would. As for gearshift knobs, there's the fear of accidentally destroying your transmission by turning the knob while driving, thinking it's an A/C or volume knob. I'm sure that there's some sort of failsafe mechanism so you don't accidentally brick your transmission this way, but what if that said failsafe doesn't work? And one form of electronic gearshifter that was used in FCA cars was responsible for at least notable fatality.

In that vain, I miss the 4 wheel drive lever (or what ever its called) from my 2000 Jeep, the car I have now is just a knob/button and is placed so far out of the way if I needed to activate it for some reason while driving (i.e. road goes to shit which is common in winter in my area, i.e. plowed road -> unplowed) I basically need to take my eyes off the road and bend over a bit to get to it.

Sure its nice to put it in snow made and start in 2nd gear for extra traction, but since it has one of those fake manual-auto tranmissions Id just rather put it in 2nd on my own then need to move around to get in to 4wd.

 

[Blini Cat]

Most people don't even own the music anymore, they're just listening to whatevers out there, 128kbps or not. It's amazing how fast things move, a few years ago everyone was pirating everything, now most people don't even know how to torrent something (or that it's possible). Everything is locked to "platforms" like Spotify, Apple Music, all this other shit where you'll own nothing and be happy. Do they even let you buy music and download it to your pc? I use to have Spotify and the quality was okay, but I decided to pirate everything in FLAC because it just sounds better (plus it's free). It's not like the artists are missing by 0.004c, plus I can just buy CDs from the artist's website if I want.

I've seen people criticize paying for spotify and get met with the "what are you poor? It's $5 a month bro" response. Same thing with streaming. People bitch all the time about the selection and dealing with netflix, hulu, and several other services, but never move to pirating for some reason. Half the people on Netflix just use it to watch The Office or whatever anyway. You could just download it once and not worry about the contract expiring. I feel old when I think about how the ethos used to be "why pay for something if you can get it for free," because it seems like that attitude is totally gone.

 

[AnOminous]

Fairytale of New York with the verse about "you cheap lousy faggot,"

Imagine a beautiful love song where this is one of the best lines. Oh, you don't have to imagine it if you still have a copy.

 

[Tour of Italy]

The Switch doesn’t have a Virtual Console. For millions of dollars that Nintendo shells out annually to shut down copyright infringement, you’d think they’d have more to show for it than a trickle of rereleases.

Then again maybe that’s the point. Maybe they want to milk old games as much as possible and not cannibalize sales of their current main line and indie lineups.

My Wii U has its issues, but at least I can play GBA games on the tablet.

It’s not really a tech trend, but it’s something I wanted to complain about. I guess the greater trend would be the sinister implication that game companies seem more eager now to hide their older libraries so people don’t remember the days where conveniences like day one functionality, easy plug and play, and less reliance on hype and more on the merits of the game were a thing.

 

[AmpleApricots]

I've seen people criticize paying for spotify and get met with the "what are you poor? It's $5 a month bro" response. Same thing with streaming. People bitch all the time about the selection and dealing with netflix, hulu, and several other services, but never move to pirating for some reason. Half the people on Netflix just use it to watch The Office or whatever anyway. You could just download it once and not worry about the contract expiring. I feel old when I think about how the ethos used to be "why pay for something if you can get it for free," because it seems like that attitude is totally gone.

Hits me mostly with games. "Oh god this game sucks so much I'm glad I paid only $30 instead of $60 at that steam sales thing" wtf dude. Why didn't you just download it? It's amazing to me how some people just don't seem to value money at all and in my experience it's never people who have much money, either. It's usually the well-off people who are the cheapest bastards.

I blame general computer illiteracy. Everything that isn't an app where you press a button to instantly receive gratification is too much to bother with for most millenials and zoomers. Digital Nomads my ass. You don't really exactly need to be a computer scientist to torrent stuff safely but even that bar is too high to pass for most. Pirating also never has been easier. If you used to pirate "in-person" in the 80s or on the early internet of the 90s, you know what I'm talking about. That shit was a pain in the ass. Now from getting the torrent magnet link to having the full thing downloaded it's often barely ten minutes, sometimes easier than to deal with some online store who might or might not lose/sell your private data to some chinese hackers or invade your privacy in some other ways. You get really quality stuff too! I was one of the first digital video pirates and the general quality and dealing with dedicated hardware mpeg decoder cards (even had one for the Amiga for VideoCDs) was less than fun, especially if you lived in a region of the world which somehow skipped the whole s-video thing.

The only problem is if you smoked a lot this would turn yellow after a few years.

When I still picked up old hardware I used to love stuff of heavy smokers. When you get all that smoking gunk off a lot of stuff was pristine underneath. It's a superb protection layer.

 

[Ginger Piglet]

If you used to pirate "in-person" in the 80s or on the early internet of the 90s, you know what I'm talking about. That shit was a pain in the ass. Now from getting the torrent magnet link to having the full thing downloaded it's often barely ten minutes, sometimes easier than to deal with some online store who might or might not lose/sell your private data to some chinese hackers or invade your privacy in some other ways. You get really quality stuff too! I was one of the first digital video pirates and the general quality and dealing with dedicated hardware mpeg decoder cards (even had one for the Amiga for VideoCDs) was less than fun, especially if you lived in a region of the world which somehow skipped the whole s-video thing.

Yeah, pirate videotapes were generally variable in quality. But music piracy was something everyone did IIRC. Anyone with a decent quality tape deck would go and rent some CDs or vinyls from their local music library, tape them, and then give them back.

In the early 2000s we started to see DRM'd music files. That was also trivial to bypass. Simply connect your headphone socket to the microphone socket with a double-ended audio cable and hit record. Or burn them to a dogsbody CD-RW and rip it back off them.

 

[The Bovinian Derivative]

pirate videotapes were generally variable in quality.

My mother used to work in a flea market back in the day and she'd bring home some extreme-bootleg videotapes she got where every single voice line in the movie, regardless of age or gender, was re-dubbed by a single bored, monotone sounding guy with questionable audio quality. Shit was surreal.

 

[Cupronickel]

Death of RISC-powered Unix workstations. Apple might make them cool again, but I'm still not confident in ARM.

 

[ShortBusDriver]

Speaking of interfaces, and I know it's been about for years now, but I can't stand Microsoft's ribbon interface. What was wrong with drop down menus? They came about first on Digital Research's GEM and the original Mac and they stayed in place for not one, not two, but three decades. Why change what works.

Apple happened