#tech-history — Public Fediverse posts

Genuine question I keep coming back to: if your favourite old OS had never been discontinued and just kept getting developed normally by their OG devs with proper modern hardware support, security patches and so on, which one would you actually want to daily drive today?

For me it's a tossup between Windows XP and Windows 7. I used both of them a lot when I was younger and honestly they felt basically the same to me at the time, but Windows 7 always seemed a bit easier to navigate.

#RetroComputing #OldTech #Fediverse #Mastodon #Windows #WindowsXP #Windows7 #Microsoft #Nostalgia #ComputerHistory #TechHistory #VintageComputing #OperatingSystems #Fediverse

A sentimental tour of late 1990s and early 2000s hacking tools

https://andreafortuna.org/2026/05/13/amarcord/

#HackerNews #sentimentalhacking #1990s #2000s #hackingtools #nostalgia #techhistory

The Boring Part of Bell Labs (2025)

https://acesounderglass.com/2025/11/15/the-boring-part-of-bell-labs/

#HackerNews #BoringTechnology #BellLabs #Innovation #Research #2025 #TechHistory

Just restored a Windows 98 VM! 🖥️ The desktop is packed with 54 classic app icons—a true time capsule of late 90s computing. From IE to Winamp, it tells the story of early internet, multimedia, and the rise of Chinese software. Can you name them all? Share your memories!

#Windows98 #RetroComputing #Nostalgia #TechHistory #OldSchool

Screenshots of Old Desktop OSes

http://www.typewritten.org/Media/

#HackerNews #Screenshots #OldDesktopOS #RetroComputing #Nostalgia #TechHistory #VintageSoftware

Nullsoft, 1997-2004 AOL kills off the last maverick tech company (2004)

https://slate.com/technology/2004/11/the-death-of-the-last-maverick-tech-company.html

#HackerNews #Nullsoft #AOL #TechHistory #MaverickCompanies #InternetCulture #2000sTech

I designed Microsoft's EA channel in 2001. It's being dismantled in 2026

https://www.brendanoconnor.net/case-studies/microsoft-enterprise-channel/

#HackerNews #Microsoft #EA #channel #Dismantling #2026 #TechHistory #CaseStudy #BrendanOConnor

🎉 Wow, who knew the history of #microcomputers was just a parade of unpronounceable names and numbers? 😴 Let's not pretend anyone's life changed with a 20-pound "micro" computer, probably better at launching a spaceship than solving a math problem. 🚀 #Calculators everywhere are shaking in their pocket protectors. 📟
https://www.righto.com/2024/02/the-first-microcomputer-transfluxor.html #techhistory #nostalgia #spacecomputing #HackerNews #ngated

The first microcomputer: The transfluxor-powered Arma Micro Computer from 1962

https://www.righto.com/2024/02/the-first-microcomputer-transfluxor.html

#HackerNews #microcomputer #transfluxor #Arma1962 #techhistory #retrocomputing #innovation

What We Lost the Last Time Code Got Cheap

https://www.poppastring.com/blog/what-we-lost-the-last-time-code-got-cheap

#HackerNews #WhatWeLost #CodeCheap #TechHistory #SoftwareDevelopment #Economics

PC Engine CPU

https://jsgroth.dev/blog/posts/pc-engine-cpu/

#HackerNews #PCEngine #CPU #RetroGaming #TechHistory #GameDevelopment

IBM didn't want Microsoft to use the Tab key to move between dialog fields

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20260505-00/?p=112298

#HackerNews #IBM #Microsoft #TabKey #DialogFields #TechHistory

Ask Jeeves Shut Down

https://www.ask.com/

#HackerNews #AskJeeves #Shutdown #AskJeeves #Nostalgia #TechHistory #InternetMemories #SearchEngines

Visual Studio 2026 still ships the form designer Alan Cooper drew in 1987

https://evilgeniuslabs.ca/blog/winforms-still-ships-in-visual-studio-2026

#HackerNews #VisualStudio2026 #AlanCooper #FormDesigner #WinForms #SoftwareDevelopment #TechHistory

Microsoft just turned 50! 🎂

Founded April 4, 1975 by Bill Gates & Paul Allen.
Started with Altair BASIC → MS-DOS → Windows → Xbox → AI.

From two high school friends coding in a garage to one of the biggest names in tech history.

Half a century of crashes, comebacks, and Ctrl+Alt+Del.

#Microsoft50 #TechHistory #MSDOS #BillGates #AltairBASIC #Founded1975 #RetroComputing #microsoft

👴🔍 Ah, a riveting transcription of #DOS printouts from three prehistoric epochs ago, now on GitHub! Because what the modern developer truly craves is a nostalgic stroll down memory lane, deciphering ancient papyrus for code secrets. 🚀💾
https://github.com/DOS-History/Paterson-Listings #Nostalgia #AncientCode #GitHub #RetroComputing #TechHistory #HackerNews #ngated

Ah yes, the "Mystery CPUID Bit," because what the world really needed was another dive into the arcane annals of obsolete tech 🤔🔍. With all the charm of a dusty library and the excitement of a paint-drying marathon, this article is a love letter to irrelevance. Bravo! 🎉📚
http://www.os2museum.com/wp/mystery-cpuid-bit/ #MysteryCPUIDBit #ObsoleteTech #TechHistory #TechEnthusiasts #IrrelevantInsights #HackerNews #ngated

Artificial Intelligence didn’t start with modern tools.

The term itself was coined back in 1956 by John McCarthy, who is widely known as the Father of AI.

I wrote a simple breakdown of his role and why it still matters today:
https://techputs.com/father-of-artificial-intelligence/

#ArtificialIntelligence #AI #TechHistory #tech #technology

Oh la la! 🇫🇷 A riveting tale of French TV's encryption from the '80s, where you'll learn...absolutely nothing! 🙈 #ModSecurity swoops in like a hero, protecting us from whatever ancient secrets this article might have held. Merci, firewall! 🎉
https://fabiensanglard.net/discret11/ #FrenchTVEncryption #CyberSecurity #TechHistory #FirewallProtection #HackerNews #ngated

Discret 11, the French TV encryption of the 80s

https://fabiensanglard.net/discret11/

#HackerNews #Discret11 #FrenchTV #80s #Encryption #Nostalgia #TechHistory

Only One Side Will Be the True Successor to MS-DOS – Windows 2.x

https://blisscast.wordpress.com/2026/04/21/windows-2-gui-wonderland-12a/

#HackerNews #MSDOS #Windows2x #TechHistory #GUI

Happy Birthday, Apple //c.

4/24/1984 -- 42 years

#AppleIIc #AppleII #Apple2forever #Apple #applehistory #techhistory #tech #technology #retrocomputing #vintagecomputing #retrocomputers #CRT #photo #dither #Atkinsondithering #officespace #desk #vintage

I logged into my very first @protonprivacy account today - the one I created way back on November 19, 2014, during the closed beta. The Proton Drive section had been deleted due to inactivity, so I had to initialize it again from scratch.

When I did, I noticed a really unusual onboarding feature - they give you a 10-minute countdown timer, and any files you upload during this window simply do not count toward your storage quota.

I have never seen another cloud provider do something quite like this. It is a really clever way to encourage users to migrate their data right away.

#Proton #History #ProtonDrive #ProtonMail #CloudStorage #TechHistory #DataPrivacy #Fediverse #Blog

Spaßiger Fakt für heute Abend: Das Wort "Bug" in der Programmierung geht auf 1947 zurück, als Grace Hopper eine echte Motte aus einem Relais des Harvard Mark II zog. 🦟

Seither kämpfen wir alle gegen Bugs – nur dass unsere meistens nicht mit einer Pinzette zu entfernen sind. 😅

#OpenSource #Programmierung #TechHistory #GraceHopper #Coding

Running a Minecraft Server and More on a 1960s Univac Computer

https://farlow.dev/2026/04/17/running-a-minecraft-server-and-more-on-a-1960s-univac-computer

#HackerNews #Minecraft #Univac #RetroComputing #TechHistory #Gaming

As usual, the time zone difference made me miss the big news. John Ternus is officially replacing Tim Cook as the CEO of Apple.

I am curious to see what this brings, but I highly doubt we will witness any radical revolutions. When Cook took over, Apple's market cap was around $350 billion. Today, it is a $3.5 trillion behemoth. You simply do not make sudden, wild experiments with a ship that massive. If there are noticeable changes, they will be gradual shifts in their development vector (I think).

I have been with Apple since the iPhone 4S (the last one released while Steve Jobs was alive). Yes, they are Big Tech, but I genuinely like their hardware. I deeply respect their commitment to accessibility in every device, and I appreciate that they at least actively advocate for user privacy.

An Apple Watch actually saved my life once, and I even wrote a thank-you email to Tim Cook about it (yeah, I know, sorry).

It is the end of a massive era.
Let's see where Ternus steers the ship.

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/04/tim-cook-to-become-apple-executive-chairman-john-ternus-to-become-apple-ceo

#Apple #TimCook #JohnTernus #TechNews #Accessibility #Privacy #BigTech #TechHistory #Blog

Stripe's Payment APIs: the first 10 years (2020)

https://stripe.dev/blog/payment-api-design

#HackerNews #Stripe #Payment #APIs #PaymentProcessing #FinTech #DeveloperTools #TechHistory #PaymentSolutions