Top Ten ANCIENT Computer Tech from the 90s! Part 2

Phased out and for good, or not? (Part II)

by COMMANDER ENTERPRISE

(part 1 here)

It’s easy to just take for granted all the awesome technology and everyday gadgets that we have today, with smartphones, broadband internet, fibre internet, NBN and the like already considered as national standards.

Kids and young adults today are lucky or unlucky to have not gone through the 80’s and 90’s when there were larger, less technical and more simple stuff that would baffle and alienate them to no end.

But hey, those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it, but only theoretically. The past can be downloaded, copied or bought on Ebay anyway, and past nostalgia and knowhow with help and guidance from Google and many others. But unless needed or really wanted, it’s not necessary.

There are definitely numerous traces of these long deleted, confusing tools stacked somewhere in unused bins and drawers with memories of simple and limited capabilities considered top shelf in those days, compared to the advanced accessories and computer parts we have today that people nonchalantly regard as the norm. These were the rough origins of the present, like looking at cavemen tools and culture, or not, depending on how it is looked.

Before the current state of computer and gadget revolutions that we have today, these seemingly archaic prototypes are what we had, what we were at back in those simpler times. A rather fitting tribute is in order for these things that used to help subscribers and users. They were just slowly fading into past obscurity from the previous decade, actually.

IRC or MiRC – along with dial-up is the still going strong but seemingly non-existent iRC or Internet Relay Chat. This app was responsible for most trades, mail, internet dating and meeting people via chat along with maybe ICQ, AOL Instant Messenger and many other (now defunct?) formats. Yes it still exists and is operational (as if a decade ago wasn’t really that recent). If people can remember those minimalist chatrooms, and mainly recognise and use hashtags not for social media but for chatrooms and topic headers, then those people lived and breathed during that special age.

The Oldschool Mobile Phone – With the exception of the Motorola Razr (which by the way has been updated and is pretty much a smartphone all along) and a very few others still available, pretty much most of the “mobile” phones of old with small and primitive LCD screens and limited space and functions have faded into obscurity at the early 2000 era, slowly ushering the age of the smartphone. While a great many still exist (and hang on for dear life) these phones are for those who truly want to stay oldschool, including those who are not limited by its very limited nature.

And these phones are often the best for staying incognito, the older, the better.

The Discman and Walkman – Evolved from the then-considered-portable boombox and cassette tape stereo sets of old, the first two were portable music players that look completely different from THE portable music players that we have. The discman needs an actual CD and the Walkman needs a cassette TO PLAY MUSIC, plus limited life batteries that can’t be charged sometimes.

The portable music players we use just need to be loaded with music FILES. These files can’t even be held by hands and have no sleeves, jackets or jewel cases. The music (and artwork and packaging) is invisible and only exists as information.

But the cool digital players like the revered iPod and other late 90s to early 2000s digital units deserve the mention for being both cool & classic.

The Minidisc – and its inseparable (i.e. it’s the only portable player that plays the thing) minidisc player holds the distinction of recording digital audio in a compact and portable player, like an updated cassette recorder combo but with a digital disc, but that went straight to nostalgia lane as well for some reason. The term portable (super portable and lightweight and fits the pocket right) music player is already synonymous with tablets and smartphones that already do that as just part of many, many other functions. And although uncompressed and analog sound from those older devices may be a wide and different topic altogether, it isn’t a huge concern for those who use and enjoy the more compact and modern equivalents.

The Pager – these days the pager is either part of someone’s awesome past or a similarly named app but one for informing and notifying doctors directly by their patients. Why have a pager and pager service when the simplest smartphone, mobile, tablet or even a smart watch already does that, and more, with several other main personal features in one cool device? The Smartphone was kind of a career ender for many older gadgets, and bitter as they may feel, they’re no longer powerful enough to make a difference and stand up to the universally loved (and loathed) smartphone.

For more oldschool cool ancientry (or not) check out the top five tech abominations from the 1980s AD!