The Computer Chronicles - Java Tools (1997)

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[@BimBims]

this man is a legend, he follow all pc technology, from just a green font to a windows 95, what an experience he got back then

[@superscatboy]

"This is the 90s, the world of objects"

[@mokopa]

Was writing in Java then, am writing in Java now, 23 years later.

[@sassymenses]

My apologies...

[@superscatboy]

My condolences

[@justandhans]

This guy is really living in the 90’s

[@MalamIbnMalam]

The internet (and it's application) have come a long way in a matter of decades. As an older millennial (33 years old) I am happy to be able to remember the internet as it was in the mid 1990s. I am very grateful to God for being able to see the development of all these things in a matter of decades.

[@RetroFett]

Hard to believe this was 25 years ago now! (2022) Stewart Cheifet was THE man back in the day for keeping us UTD on the latest advancements in computer and web technology

[@psychowsky]

2:00 Oh man! Life before Flash .... I was there 3000 years ago!!!

[@OhFishyFish]

"jiff files"... argh!

[@danwat1234]

no instant coffee or webknight.com, no online magazine called Dream Catcher is available that I can see, which may be javascript rather than Java (not sure), Novita live letter can't be found anywher on the web, c.u. chat is dead. Yeah Maskddingo I think they are talking about Javascript at 18:45, along with First Auction at 19 minutes.

[@InAndOutLand]

This is from 1997.

[@jimmcconville]

Someone in the 90's must have realised filling a website with java applets was a terrible idea, surely? Hindsight is a wonderful thing I suppose.

[@jimmcconville]

Holy crap, I hadn't even gotten to the java in email... What fresh hell is this?!

[@JaredConnell]

In the 90s, websites were packed with as much crap as possible, from java applets to animated gifs, funky colors to background midi tracks. Restraint was not practiced by web designers back then.

[@Maskddingo]

Gawd.. that stupid water-ripple effect was all over the net back then...

[@OhFishyFish]

Add some MIDI background music and some stars or some other crap following the mouse cursor. "Welcome to my home page". :-)

[@matthewstone9360]

It was a cheap, fast, way to add what felt like texture and depth to what had been a very flat, 1 dimensional experience to that point.

[@superscatboy]

Manipulating scanlines is cheap and easy 🤷‍♂️ lol

[@FandyME]

I have been looking around the web for the Webknight Instant Coffee program and it doesn't exist! If anyone has any info or download link please reply!

[@yellowblanka6058]

Ah yes, the age of every other web page having ugly embossed buttons and navigation bars.

[@JaredConnell]

Don't forget about visitor counters and web rings

[@yellowblanka6058]

@@JaredConnell Oh yeah, I’m guilty of that as well - my first personal web page was an abomination.

[@gosha_x86]

13:56 That puppy nearly gave me a heart attack ) Also, what is with the laptops with screens open flat? I guess the LCDs were so bad, that you have to look at it with that angle to be able to actually see something in bright light. Or maybe they just weren't used to laptops in the nineties... )

[@infinitecanadian]

They were using the laptop with an external monitor so that they could bring the laptop loaded with whatever programs they wanted to showcase and show them on the big screen. In this case, the laptop's monitor would sorta be in the way, so they just laid it down flat for the time being.

[@MadMaxBLD]

Let’s not forget that Java had glaring security issues. It just took us a while to recognise the problem at which point Java, like Flash now, was on a downward spiral to extinction. Edit: I‘m talking about web based Java and the browser plugins, not the standalone runtime.

[@hypercube33]

I'm still trying to figure out why everyone opened their laptops up 100% like that - is it so it is OPEN and thus not sleeping and not blocking them from talking to eachother? I'm fairly sure you could just tell it to not sleep when the lid closed even in 1997

[@MadMaxBLD]

hypercube33 They were using the keyboard though. Can’t do that when closed

[@DanEllis]

I wondered if there was a camera above, but from the moving line on the screen it looks like they're filming the CRT (no time to set up genlock!)

[@medes5597]

They're connected to the CRT monitor that's right next to them that everyone is looking at, and using the keyboard - hence it's folded back out the way because the screen isn't in use. They don't need the screen so why have it in the way at a viewing angle? This wasn't uncommon back in the day either. Some thinkpad laptops folded flat to the desk so you could just make use of the laptop keyboard with a screen at work, then use the screen when you took it home. I don't know why people are so fascinated with the idea of an open laptop.

[@paulfrancis8836]

sound is stuffed !

[@Maskddingo]

@18:45 Whoops! This guy is confused between JAVA and Javascript! Stay on topic, we are talking about JAVA here buddy.

[@derekw6811]

Java ran like trash back then but it was particularly horrendous on a Mac especially OS 7

[@hypercube33]

What I thought was amazing is that I saved some java game that was like a modern take on Asteroids (Asteroids 96) that ran just fine on a 386 or 486 tablet laptop...tried it on a AMD X2 and it ran like garbage on new java. Nice!

[@medes5597]

​@@hypercube33 it used to be a thing in graphic design circles to run simple java games on incredibly expensive NeXT computers because Java on NeXT ran like it crap. You could tank the entire system for half an hour by loading a single screen of a java port of space invaders.