What did I do before…. ?!?!
By Dave Adamson in Reader
Posted in Uncategorized on May 12, 2008 at 4:39 pm
I’ve been using Firefox for about 2 years now and one thing that struck me quite recently was “What did I do before tabbed browsing?” I mean, I know what I did… I opened lots of different IE windows for each website I wanted to browse. I even remember being told “You’ve got too many things open” by an ex-manager who didn’t understand that I can manage my time in such a way that I don’t have to do just one discrete task.
I guess the point I’m trying to make is how easily we become accustomed to specific features of the applications we use and can’t really envisage a time when they weren’t there… would Youtube be the same had without Flash (can you imagine a Youtube running using RealVideo, Quicktime or WMP as its player?) Standardised menu options across applications? The SDI that some Microsoft Office applications use that I thought I’d never get used to having grown accustomed to clicking on, I think, “Window” then choosing the file that I wanted to work on of the ten I had open? How about a concept as simple sounding as the universal driver model that Windows uses - can you remember the days of having to install a printer driver for each application? Or taking a year and a day to figure out the right settings to get that DOS game to run?
Okay, maybe the last two examples are a bit too far back, but I’m thinking of things like tabbed browsing, VLC and its ability to play anything I throw at it, “Add or Remove Program” (instead of hunting for the uninstall), plug and play hardware (do you remember when it was plug and pray?)… even that Start button - oh how I remember people saying that that wouldn’t catch on. Even Internet Explorer, offering an almost out-of-the-box Internet experience right there, for Windows users, whether they liked it or not.
You see, sometimes I do think that I take software for granted - knowing that if I click on “File” in any application there’s a chance that “Save” is going to be there somewhere, for example - and I know that I just accept these innovations. I’ll probably feel the same about BBC iPlayer/4oD in a few years - just how did I used to catch up on TV without em?
Rated: 30% (2 votes)
Loading ...Make a comment
Tag cloud
Most commented posts
- Samsung D900 - the fun and games of a new mobile
3 comments
- Kicking off the pirates - A UK Green Paper
- Philips X55 Laptop - A Mystery of Marple Proportions
- Moduslink - Could have been better on both sides of the equation
- Google Docs and a paperless office ... I know, I'm late the party
- Google and Viacom - And the point would be?
- The HDTV Nightmare
- Embrace the Technology - Are TV channels missing a trick with torrents?
- That Skype Mobile Phone Thang
- Wifi - Not as big a danger as they thought!
Highest Rated Blog Posts
- Should Sony fear the Asus Eee? (90%)
- iPlayer and 4oD (90%)
- Walking on (Macbook) Air (80%)
- Google Docs and a paperless office ... I know, I'm late the party (80%)
- I love reading, but not e-reading! (60%)
- Stupid Filter - What a wonderful idea! - (and watch how I move onto the Eee PC 701 in the blog!) (60%)
- Who won the sales war? (60%)
- Bad Phorm (60%)
- Has the "death" of HD-DVD made the choice easier? (46.6%)
- Could Mesh be Microsoft's Internet Killer App? (40%)