Spot on. I polled my 16 year-old daughter while watching the vid. She thinks she will be nostalgic for the switch for sure. She said "probably not" for the Chromebook. But I think she will eat her words. That is a very good idea to keep around tech that your kids might be nostalgic for in the future. I think I might just do that. Fantastic video!
When I was a kid my elementary school had a lab of Apple IIe computers. When I got older and got a job in that school district there was one left in a recycle pile and I took it home. It was probably one of the ones that I used in that lab! As for the Chromebook thing...I think you are 100% right about people being nostalgic about them, the real question is if any of them will still work in any capacity!
It will be interesting to see if “retro tech” remains anything ~25 years old, moving into the 2010s and 2020s over time, or if the retro tech era will always be tech from the ‘80s-‘90s like how “modern art” ranged from the late 1800s to the 1970s. With phones and tablets just becoming slabs of glass, Gen Z/Gen Alpha may be more drawn to the nostalgia of the apps, games and TH-camrs that took up their time when they were younger and not the devices.
I technologically grew up in a school district that went nearly all-in on Apple computers in the 90s, up until they switched to PCs in 1998. (OK, there was that one computer lab in middle school that was full of PCjrs, I can’t explain that one.) I remember that first computer experience on the Apple IIgs with Oregon Trail. Then the next year where we had three computers (a IIe, IIgs, and Mac LC) in the classroom, and I got to learn BASIC on my own on that IIe. And then in middle school where we had a lab full of Mac LCs (good times with HyperCard). Only recently have I begun to experience some of the platforms that my peers grew up with at home. I can see that each of these platforms had their quirks and features. And I can see the power of being able to re-experience our childhood, and share the passion with the next generation.
I also think today’s youth will be enamored with their phone hardware more than with the “computers” they used in school. Phones have more of a personal connection.
That's a great point! Maybe I should stock up on Amazon Kids Fire tablets to resell in 20 years! "L@@K Vintage tablet" "no low balls, I know what I got"
It’s interesting because your 2nd act here proves your first. “I think we’d all agree the Apple 2 is nostalgic”. Well yes, but only on a conceptional level because I’ve never used one. They just didn’t and don’t really exist in the UK. But you ask any Brit about the elementary school story if they’re our age and it’s the bbc micro for literally all the reasons you describe. Granny’s garden is our Oregon Trail. So I take that point absolutely 100% while sharing absolutely none of the memory. But the bbc is really equally remarkable, outside the schools it wasn’t that successful, the spectrum owned the uk with the cpc and c64 backing it up. But most people encountered their first computer in school and it was the beeb for us as it was the apple for you. And I think the one in 20 years might surprise us. It might be an Amazon fire tablet, it might be one of those games machines, it might be the laptop dad was working from home on. It could be almost everything. Except a chromebook. Obv.
It's not only nostalgia mate, if it was only nostalgia there wouldn't be a rise on the retro games, from 80s, 90s and even 2000s. Sure in some cases it is but nowadays with how corpos have become, greedy as hell etc. many people yearn for shit that won't be controlled and they're free to do what they wish with them
I don't think modern PCs will have the same retro following as we see now. I think modern PCs are no different than forks and spoons and our silverware drawer personally. There will be some standout models that are unique but otherwise everything's just the same from one to the next. The reason why current retro PCs have the value in following they do is they weren't as widespread and easily available as a modern PC is.
I'm of the opinion that today's tech is not gonna be in the future like yesterday's tech is today. I feel like technology has become very ubiquitous and the market is highly saturated. Nothing feels special anymore. As an example, think back in the 90s and eary 2000s, there weren't all that many laptop manufacturers and you didn't get literally hundreds of laptop models to choose from. Or think about GPUs. There is no GPU today that will be looked upon 25 years from now, the same way we look at a voodoo card or a Geforce 256. Ever!
Spot on. I polled my 16 year-old daughter while watching the vid. She thinks she will be nostalgic for the switch for sure. She said "probably not" for the Chromebook. But I think she will eat her words. That is a very good idea to keep around tech that your kids might be nostalgic for in the future. I think I might just do that. Fantastic video!
Thank you, I look forward to what’s in the future…..and maybe rebranding to “Vintage Tech or Die”
When I was a kid my elementary school had a lab of Apple IIe computers. When I got older and got a job in that school district there was one left in a recycle pile and I took it home. It was probably one of the ones that I used in that lab! As for the Chromebook thing...I think you are 100% right about people being nostalgic about them, the real question is if any of them will still work in any capacity!
I would be shocked if we cant recreate the Google Ecosystem to recreate the Chromebook experience (assuming Google drops support).
The NABU home-brew effort is a good example of reviving old tech support infrastructure as well as GlobalTalk.
I would add that you have a connection to the software as much as the hardware.
I had an '81 LTD Wagon as my second car, which was the one I took to college. Canary yellow with woodgrain panels. So fun.
It will be interesting to see if “retro tech” remains anything ~25 years old, moving into the 2010s and 2020s over time, or if the retro tech era will always be tech from the ‘80s-‘90s like how “modern art” ranged from the late 1800s to the 1970s. With phones and tablets just becoming slabs of glass, Gen Z/Gen Alpha may be more drawn to the nostalgia of the apps, games and TH-camrs that took up their time when they were younger and not the devices.
That’s an interesting point, maybe Chromebooks, Tablets, and Smart Phones will be the Contemporary era of computing.
I technologically grew up in a school district that went nearly all-in on Apple computers in the 90s, up until they switched to PCs in 1998. (OK, there was that one computer lab in middle school that was full of PCjrs, I can’t explain that one.)
I remember that first computer experience on the Apple IIgs with Oregon Trail. Then the next year where we had three computers (a IIe, IIgs, and Mac LC) in the classroom, and I got to learn BASIC on my own on that IIe. And then in middle school where we had a lab full of Mac LCs (good times with HyperCard).
Only recently have I begun to experience some of the platforms that my peers grew up with at home. I can see that each of these platforms had their quirks and features. And I can see the power of being able to re-experience our childhood, and share the passion with the next generation.
Now I want to hear about those PCjrs!
I also think today’s youth will be enamored with their phone hardware more than with the “computers” they used in school. Phones have more of a personal connection.
That's a great point! Maybe I should stock up on Amazon Kids Fire tablets to resell in 20 years!
"L@@K Vintage tablet" "no low balls, I know what I got"
@@RetroTechorDie LOL!
It’s interesting because your 2nd act here proves your first. “I think we’d all agree the Apple 2 is nostalgic”. Well yes, but only on a conceptional level because I’ve never used one. They just didn’t and don’t really exist in the UK. But you ask any Brit about the elementary school story if they’re our age and it’s the bbc micro for literally all the reasons you describe. Granny’s garden is our Oregon Trail. So I take that point absolutely 100% while sharing absolutely none of the memory. But the bbc is really equally remarkable, outside the schools it wasn’t that successful, the spectrum owned the uk with the cpc and c64 backing it up. But most people encountered their first computer in school and it was the beeb for us as it was the apple for you.
And I think the one in 20 years might surprise us. It might be an Amazon fire tablet, it might be one of those games machines, it might be the laptop dad was working from home on. It could be almost everything. Except a chromebook. Obv.
I was just talking to Retro Tech Chris about the Fire tablets!
You are spot on, I think I feel the same way about the BBC Micro as you the Apple II.
I can see people wanting to buy old school lcd panels for the raised blacks because it's what they grew up with lol.
It's not only nostalgia mate, if it was only nostalgia there wouldn't be a rise on the retro games, from 80s, 90s and even 2000s.
Sure in some cases it is but nowadays with how corpos have become, greedy as hell etc. many people yearn for shit that won't be controlled and they're free to do what they wish with them
I don't think modern PCs will have the same retro following as we see now. I think modern PCs are no different than forks and spoons and our silverware drawer personally. There will be some standout models that are unique but otherwise everything's just the same from one to the next. The reason why current retro PCs have the value in following they do is they weren't as widespread and easily available as a modern PC is.
I'm of the opinion that today's tech is not gonna be in the future like yesterday's tech is today. I feel like technology has become very ubiquitous and the market is highly saturated. Nothing feels special anymore. As an example, think back in the 90s and eary 2000s, there weren't all that many laptop manufacturers and you didn't get literally hundreds of laptop models to choose from. Or think about GPUs. There is no GPU today that will be looked upon 25 years from now, the same way we look at a voodoo card or a Geforce 256. Ever!