Things that didn't exist 25 years ago

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
59,927
10,415
126
Not quite what I want, but that's getting a lot closer. I'd be pretty happy to use that for some things.
 

manly

Lifer
Jan 25, 2000
13,237
4,012
136
I mean, technically it is:




Android's watch OS is a closed-source Android distro:


All of Apple's products, including their phones & watches, are Linux-adjacent as well. I got waaaay to well-versed with their forks back in my Hackintosh days. The basic lineage is:

1. UNIX (1969)
2. BSD (1977)
3a. NeXTSTEP (1989 = Mach + BSD) > OpenStep; 3b. FreeBSD (1993 from 386BSD)
4. Darwin (Apple's previously open-source OS core, currently on v24 for the latest Apple operating systems))
5. XNU kernel (hybrid kernel = Mach + NeXTSTEP + OpenStep)
6. AppleOS family (macOS, iOS, watchOS, bridgeOS, tvOS, & iPadOS)

The OSx86 community still exists, but everything is ARM SoC M-chips now (fast, runs cool, and surprisingly affordable for Apple) so it's kind of a dying art. They've been working on a Linux variant for Apple Silicone:


View attachment 117753

Android is way more than just the Linux kernel. So no, technically Android isn't just a flavor of Linux.

Calling Apple's products "Linux-adjacent" is incorrect. Darwin and Linux are both in the Unix family, but otherwise are not really related.

Android is used daily on something like 2B devices worldwide? For many in developing countries, an Android phone is their only computing device. Bringing that many people online on meager incomes is quite a game changer.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kaido

Greenman

Lifer
Oct 15, 1999
22,210
6,422
136
Crazy how much society has changed due to technology after the turn of the century. In 1999, we were all worried about the Y2K bug. In 2006, no one would know what "use your iPhone to call an Uber to get to your AirBnB" meant lol. My grandma was born in the Great Depression & went from being dirt-poor to living through the Jet Age to seeing man walk on the moon to being the first person in our family to have a robot vacuum & flat-screen TV.

Now you can buy a CGM without a subscription, your Apple Watch has a sleep apnea test built-in, the Apple AirPods Pro 2 earbuds act as hearing aids & have a built-in hearing test, you can monitor your health 24/7 with magic rings, a 100" flat-screen TV is under two grand, you can cook with artificial intelligence, etc. Wikipedia & ChatGPT will tell you anything you want to know. We live in crazy times!!
And not a single one of those has improved our quality of life.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: sandorski

bbhaag

Diamond Member
Jul 2, 2011
7,323
2,879
146
What if we looked at things that existed 25 years ago but don't today?

Things like paper road maps, public telephones, fax machines, or floppy disks.
 

manly

Lifer
Jan 25, 2000
13,237
4,012
136
What if we looked at things that existed 25 years ago but don't today?

Things like paper road maps, public telephones, fax machines, or floppy disks.
Japan retired the floppy disk in 2024, but fax machines are still in common use.

 
  • Like
Reactions: DAPUNISHER

Chaotic42

Lifer
Jun 15, 2001
34,733
1,911
126
Google Maps, Wikipedia, and most of all YouTube have definitely improved my life. I have learned more from all three (mostly YouTube) than I can possibly recount. I probably spend too much time watching educational stuff on YouTube, even if it's just having something like Modern Marvels on in the background. Wikipedia is pretty great for technical stuff, though their begging for money is getting absurd.
 
  • Like
Reactions: nakedfrog

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
59,927
10,415
126
Archive.org is a treasure. I give them money cause I think they need it more than wikipedia. I wouldn't have a problem donating to wikipedia, but they have enough money at this time, and I'm not rich. Wikipedia is a fantastic resource though. If money got tight for them, I could come up with some cash.
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
70,512
13,766
126
www.anyf.ca
Archive.org is a treasure. I give them money cause I think they need it more than wikipedia. I wouldn't have a problem donating to wikipedia, but they have enough money at this time, and I'm not rich. Wikipedia is a fantastic resource though. If money got tight for them, I could come up with some cash.

I imagine archive.org cost a lot more to keep running too. It's actually cool that even small sites like my old websites are on there. So it's not like they only focus on well known sites they really did scrape most of the internet which is pretty crazy. They must have PB worth of storage, if perhaps even EB.

Actually kinda crazy to think my first domain is almost 25 years old. Now it's just a redirect to my forum that is dead. How times have changed.

 
  • Like
Reactions: Kaido and lxskllr

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
70,512
13,766
126
www.anyf.ca
What if we looked at things that existed 25 years ago but don't today?

Things like paper road maps, public telephones, fax machines, or floppy disks.

Smoking section in restaurants or just the idea of smoking in public places. I still remember that how the waiter would ask if you want to sit in smoking or non smoking section. It was just normal then that people smoked indoors. My dad even has a picture of himself at the hospital, having a smoke, inside the hospital! Used to be able to smoke on airplanes too.

Imagine if someone tried to light up a cigarette today in a public place lol, probably get arrested.
 

sandorski

No Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
70,766
6,333
126
Smoking section in restaurants or just the idea of smoking in public places. I still remember that how the waiter would ask if you want to sit in smoking or non smoking section. It was just normal then that people smoked indoors. My dad even has a picture of himself at the hospital, having a smoke, inside the hospital! Used to be able to smoke on airplanes too.

Imagine if someone tried to light up a cigarette today in a public place lol, probably get arrested.
I remember when there were not any Smoking Sections. In a restaurant, somebody somewhere was always smoking.
 

manly

Lifer
Jan 25, 2000
13,237
4,012
136
Never heard a peep until 2nd Hand Smoke studies started.
You're probably referring to well before our times. Smoking was glamorized in old Hollywood movies, and it was very socially acceptable in the mid- 20th Century.