Screenshots of Old Desktop OSes

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Additional Resources and Collections

  • Commenters share similar GUI screenshot archives (ToastyTech, GUIdebook, Codexpanse UI history, HUDs & GUIs, deskto.ps).
  • Some lament missing systems (Plan 9, Desqview, Counterpoint, more Amiga/Workbench variants, GeOS/GS‑OS, Enlightenment, early Linux desktops).

Nostalgia and Personal Memories

  • Many recount first GUIs (Amiga, GEM on Atari ST, HP‑UX, OS/2, BeOS, RISC OS, NeXTStep, early Mac, Windows 3.x/9x/2000).
  • Strong emotional reactions to specific games, apps, and machines (Ventura, GeoPublish, SGI Indigo/IRIX, NeXT, DEC/VAXstations).
  • Several recall buying high‑end workstations as students, or using old boxes for years due to stability and timing (e.g., Atari ST for music).

Perceived Losses in Modern UI/UX

  • Widely expressed feeling that desktop UI innovation has stagnated or regressed for ~20–30 years.
  • Complaints: tiny or hidden scrollbars, 1‑px resize borders, flat indistinguishable windows, loss of clear affordances, vanishing status bars, clutter‑driven hiding of basic actions under “•••”.
  • Frustration that muscle memory is undermined by constant redesigns and mobile‑first patterns, making it harder for non‑experts and elderly users.
  • Many miss clear active‑window highlighting, stable menus, OK/Apply/Cancel dialogs, visible file systems, and keyboard‑centric power‑use patterns.

What Has Improved

  • Some note gains: tabs, auto‑recovery of unsaved documents, better syncing, custom URL schemes, map widgets, app stores, Ctrl‑P / command palettes.
  • Others argue these improvements are largely independent of the OS look; older GUIs could have supported them.

Design Philosophy, Research, and “Fashion”

  • Older systems seen as grounded in real UX research and user studies.
  • Modern designs perceived as driven by aesthetics, branding, and managerial taste rather than usability.
  • Debate over whether current A/B testing and analytics compensate for the loss of deep HCI work; several think they do not.

Hardware, Performance, and Resolution

  • Screenshots trigger discussion of CRT vs LCD, low resolutions, pixel fonts, and how “snappy” older systems felt despite weak hardware.
  • Aspect ratio shift (4:3 / 5:4 → 16:9) seen as a step back for productivity; some advocate portrait monitors.

Archival, Licensing, and Rarity

  • Interest in rare systems like NeWS, Parallax p/NeWS, OpenWindows tapes, and IBM’s Academic Operating System.
  • Archival work is described as ethically important but legally risky; copyright uncertainty blocks some releases.

Customization, Tiling, and “Ricing”

  • Enthusiasm for retro‑themed Linux/KDE/XFCE setups, tiling window managers, X11 niceties (middle‑click paste, focus‑follows‑mouse), and modern tiling DEs like COSMIC.
  • Ricing competitions cited as one of the few remaining spaces for real desktop‑UI experimentation.