Today I was cleaning out an old keyboard from my old HP Media Center computer from 2003 that I own, and it got me thinking about the times when we had to do this with those dumb ball mice. I was wondering for those who remember using a computer from the era what they miss about it. Here is what I have to say...
- PS/2 ports, they look so cool with their purple and green scheme and free up USB space
- The overall look and feel of Windows XP. Especially the games like Minesweeper, Pinball, and the online games they had back then.
- Putting in game CDs and getting an expansion pack or two. I remember my brother and I grinding hard on Age of Empires II.
IDK about you, but I miss that 2000s feel of computers. Of course, some things have improved in recent times, especially the noise of computers. I remember running away from the computer when I pressed the power button, and the fans got all loud as a child. Now the fans of today's computers are ASMR-worthy.
Yatsufusa
I use something called the 'Classic Explorer' (Version 3.6.5) to have the 'classic look' from WinXP on my Win7. You know the one: All borders are gray and rigid... Clear lines, no opaque windows... The look of an OS for an 'adult'. ;)
As for Minesweeper and other games that came with Windows, I would expect that it's just a single .exe-file. You can probably fish them from the CD or take them from an installation you do on a secondary/virtual drive.
I miss PS/2 ports as well... It's not as if users would use a PC without keyboard and mouse, so a dedicated connector makes sense...
While ball mice were heavier to the touch, I'd still say they are easier for people who get their first computer (children and the elderly) to develop a feeling for how they move the cursor.
And I have a 3½-inch drive (with an USB-connector) for floppy disks. Although the main use that thing has seen is borrowing it to people who found their old floppies on the attic etc.
What I 'don't' miss are games that were designed for computer mice with a middle mouse button or a mouse with a vibrator-- I mean "haptic feedback". I think 'Black & White'* was the only game supporting the latter.
And I 'also' don't miss how loud the CD-ROM or fans were.
Oh, and CRT screens were so heavy to carry when visiting friends for a weekend. I like the 'video gamey' look, but I'm 100% certain that a flat-screen is straining my eyes less.
As a total aside (and because I'm feeling nerdy), I like your choice of tags you picked. You could also add #windows-xp & #2000s-nostalgia. (NG has no set rules for that, but when I look at the Art Portal I mostly see tags with hyphens.)
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_%26_White_(video_game)
histlebub (Updated )
Floppy discs in my opinion are little messed up. My old computer's floppy disk drive at least.
I remember the disks getting stuck quite easily in my drive and its design had an eject button where it is dependent on the case. One disk got stuck and when I had to pull it out with tweezers, the whole disk drive was destroyed and to this day I have no clue nor ambition to fix it.
I don't remember the loudness of CD-ROMS. I like my computers with an optical drive, but my computer whirs aggressively when playing certain games. That never happen before and the noise makes me uncomfortable, all of us in fact.
I have seen those mice with a weird middle button but never had first-hand experience with them. So, I can't relate to that part.
Thanks for appreciating my tags