A few days ago, I ran into a blog post with the author’s thoughts on why retro computing is becoming so popular amongst computer enthusiasts. Essentially, he waxes poetic about how computers used to have a fairly high entry barrier despite their relative simplicity when compared to today’s technology. This barrier made for a sort of exclusive club that anyone who enjoyed computers was automatically a member of.
Modern smartphones, tablets, laptops and even desktops have become so easy to use and their ubiquity means that it’s rare to meet anyone who has never used a computer in any form. By extension, that “exclusive club” no longer exists. However, the rise of retro computing has, to an extent, recreated this nostalgic club.
Otherwise, he presents some points that I can fully relate to:
There’s a lot of discussion about why retro computing has become so popular and why – or even if – things where more fun in the golden era of home computers. Those of us who subscribe to the notion that things were indeed better before usually give a few standard reasons as to why, all of them true in their own right:
Old hardware was simpler. This meant that a single person could learn all, or at least most, of its features by heart.
Old hardware was limited. Slow processors, low resolutions and cheap sound chips impose restrictions that are fun to overcome with creative problem solving.
Old computers were offline. No attention economy, no SaaS subscription models. You could learn a piece of software and keep using it for as long as a decade without experiencing any major overhauls.
The Internet was mostly text-based. Things were comparably snappy and focused on human-to-human communication rather than passive content consumption and bloated advertising.
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datagubbe
I have to admit that I was also bitten by the bug and bought myself a PowerMac G3 Blue and White that I recently worked on. I already owned an old blue G3 iMac from around 2000 that I bought about ten years ago. Both of them are fun to use because of the first three points above. It’s crazy to think that such slow, limited computers were state-of-the-art, even though I lived through the era and remember it very clearly.
I can recommend reading through the original article here: https://www.datagubbe.se/aficion. It’s good food for thought for anyone who is interested in retro computing.
