The Computer Chronicles - Software Secrets (1998)

Special thanks to archive.org for hosting these episodes. Downloads of all these episodes and more can be found at: archive.org/details/computerch...

[@ww21943]

I remember an Easter egg on Word 97 that brought up a pinball game and I think developer names scrolled while you played.

[@captainkeyboard1007]

I wish that The Computer Chronicles would be alive and living today just as before.

[@hpalvz]

Easter Eggs Archive is still up! (november 2020) 😲

[@medes5597]

It's actually really popular, it's never left the top 1000 sites according to Alexa.

[@magnum333]

I like the way Stewart says "cool" all the time.

[@WalnutSpice]

g o t t a b e /~ h i p ~/

[@magnum333]

Hahaha, totally kewl dude

[@FoundationsofPause]

Stewart was mouthing off in this episode. Wouldn't let anyone talk.

[@rogehmarbi]

On the older episodes he would say "neat" instead, new era, new vocabulary I see

[@johnnylongfeather3086]

Autocorrect, I will NEVER type DUCKING . Leave it how I typed it!!!!

[@joojoojeejee6058]

Kind of interesting how much this 18 year old Photoshop version looks like the modern version...

[@lrrrruleroftheplanetomicro6881]

aver seen avid ;)

[@kaitlyn__L]

Adobe never changes it too much so as not to alienate people who learned it back on v1! The learning curve is their main way of retaining customers, especially now in the CC days. If they change the layout too much and you need to relearn all your workflows anyway, that’s a chance for the customer to consider switching and just learning a competitor’s software. They don’t want that! So they keep it all familiar. Of course, that’s part of why it’s so complex to begin using nowadays, and this is also the case with lots of other pro softwares like Pro Tools as well. But these companies have chosen to keep old pros as a priority. New customers often end up going with simpler options, like a paint program (eg Clip Studio, Krita) if you just want to draw, but if you need to work in the industry with other people you still need to learn PS anyway. (Same with, say, Reaper or Ableton only to have to learn Pro Tools because that’s what your boss used since the ‘90s.)

[@raven4k998]

just lip stick on a pig basically

[@medes5597]

​@@kaitlyn__L also because photoshop is really customisable in terms of tool bars and tools. You can set up your preferred working environment in seconds on any version of photoshop from 2.1 onwards.

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@medes5597 very true! The other software I mentioned is almost as good in that regard, but Adobe’s Workspace support is still top notch. In my own CS6 install (which is what I still use daily) I have 3 custom panes for animation, photography touch up, and digital paint. Trying to use someone else’s install can be painful! Though at least the default layout is still the same after all these years so I can start on a new default workspace.

[@joannalewis5279]

I didn't know you could double click the format painter

[@voop]

I didn't either. Just last week I was cursing Microsoft for making me re-select it every time. Wish I had seen this 22 years ago.

[@berthold64]

That trick still works even on latest microsoft office, wth?

[@youfube-]

I'm still trying to help my co-worker to learn about, how tabs (after years) work in our proprietary software and he's still clueless... But the article about cheats was somewhat old news in the release. As they were around a decade before you made the show and games in the 80's had plenty of cheats.

[@installtekzdotcom9777]

Once you hear the "alright.. alright.. ah hum.. yeah.." you can't unhear it

[@JaredConnell]

Mm hmm, yup, ok, sure, right, ok, mm hmm, ok, sure, right, mm hmm, right, mm hmm, right, ok, yeah, ok, right, yup, right, yeah, ok, sure, yup, right, mm hmm, right, got it, ok, yup, ok, yeah, right, mm hmm, ok, right, ok, thanks we're out of time.

[@oldtwinsna8347]

Oddly this episode doesn't seem that distant and unrelatable to current applications.

[@christineayres5339]

Autocorrect the bane of my existence since 1998 LOL

[@Blackadder75]

my problem with excel etc always has been that as soon as I mastered a version (using them since '97) they changed it. One of the reasons is that I never had a job that made me use it every day. Just once a week or so on average, so my learning curve was much slower.

[@JaredConnell]

Ya but you never need to upgrade right away, if ever. You can probably still use the versions of excel and word from 1997 for 99% of tasks and be totally fine. Why fix what isn't broken?

[@jgood005]

@@JaredConnell So Microsoft can make money, of course! Microsoft Word has essentially been perfected for years, yet they'll still make regular updates to it, always cramming in new bells and whistles

[@coolworx]

Back when to be a geek took effort, and thus was exclusionary.

[@GouShin1]

lol no, this shit was known over a decade prior... It just became mainstream knowledge

[@JaredConnell]

Being a geek is nothing new. Gate keeping, like you are exemplifying, was not so common.

[@jaytee5692]

Surfing that net!

[@SpinMChecker]

Excel opens faster than on my PC (nvme , ....) :(

[@Arbancks]

nothing has changed but the font, the pc industry decided to reinvent the stick more than the carrot

[@burntoutelectronics]

5:39 love the fact that people had problems with auto correct well before the iphone

[@angryshoebox]

Ah yes, back in the days of CRT monitors, and Windows 9.X, which could be really ornery at times, especially with USB devices, from what I remember.

[@houstonhelicoptertours1006]

I pity the fool who didn't use Windows NT

[@aniym21000]

I used the Microsoft Sidewinder gamepad via the dedicate game port to avoid the USB hassle

[@fliporflop7119]

7:15 how convenient a black island on a light background. Had he chosen anything else it would had sucked.

[@mrpieceofwork]

LOL mentions how to get rid of pop up ads,, then is followed by ads... good stuff

[@danwat1234]

None of those easter eggs work on Windows 8, Office 2013

[@danwat1234]

Jacob Wable The episode was made then but Windows 8 and Office 2013 weren't, imbecile :) Figures that code has been wiped out a long time ago with new versions of files

[@drygnfyre]

Microsoft stopped including easter eggs in their software around 2002 as part of their Trustworthy Computing Initiative. So a lot of the fun things that used to be found in Office and Windows aren't around anymore. (I remember the hidden flight sim in Word 97).

[@TheStevenWhiting]

EA talking bollocks back then as well then :)

[@JanJanJanJanJanJanJanJanJan2]

I'm from the future. EA calls those cheats "season pass" today and charges $30 for them. Stop them if you can. Good luck.

[@JanJanJanJanJanJanJanJanJan2]

Oh, and also: don't eat bats.

[@infinitecanadian]

And autocorrect being a pain in the assist.

[@raven4k998]

back when EA new how to make a game and still make a profit

[@TheStevenWhiting]

@@raven4k998 Now they just use underhanded gambling and market it to kids in the form of Ultimate Team.

[@mrpieceofwork]

AOL pop up ads are one thing, but what about all those DAMN CDs?! lol

[@infinitecanadian]

So secrets are things that may be out of place? Like Ms. Croft's shorts in a cold environment?

[@kevinhoward9593]

3:54 am I nuts or did that do absolutely nothing to the toolbars? Ive we back and forth on it for a minute. I see no difference in the toolbars. wtf makes a software "Powerful"?

[@SoftBreadSoftware]

The point wasnt to show a change but how to save settings. Features and speed make a software powerful.

[@Geforce2187]

10:37 Why... why are you playing the greatest racing game every made with a *joystick*?

[@Aranimda]

Back then PC steering wheels were not mainstream yet.

[@Achoohorsey]

I know Stewart addressed this in a episode around this time, but Jesus can he please stop interrupting the guests? He claimed it was so he could keep the guests moving since many of them are sales people and they would talk about their products all day if you let them, but like in this episode, these guests are just experts at software and they're earnestly trying to get information out quickly and Stewart keeps talking over them.

[@medes5597]

He also said in his newsletter that if you saw him do it frequently it was either because he had a very tight segment time or because they had started reading marketing copy they were specifically told not to. Like here, he's clearly rushing the easter egg guy by interrupting because the tomb raider segment overran. Its definitely not ideal but I don't know how else he could do it.

[@LangleyNA]

It had been a tight production broadcast, it seems. They had a few pre-recorded segments per episode, but most demonstrations were live in the presence of Stewart and Gary. It looks like 22 minute broadcasts, thereabout, and 2-4 minutes per demonstration. Like three demonstrations, maybe? They gotta' keep it tight and have good flow to the dialogue. This is effectively education and hobbyist content. :) To achieve 3-4 live demonstrations on a 22 minute schedule where half of that time is maybe scripted dialogue and pre-recorded segments, I guess they must MODERATE the flow of conversation with the live demonstrators. Walk through the tunnel; do not deviate.

[@user-dq2fi2vc5j]

I love USA 🇺🇸

[@Chief89Music]

OMG

[@chickenwing986]

Christ he is talking over that other woman so much. Clicking away.

[@justwatchinguboob]

iPhone auto correct, still terrible

[@timcat1004]

Who here watching this actually paid for windows 98?

[@I_stand_with_Israel.]

I did...

[@timcat1004]

@@I_stand_with_Israel. Idiot.

[@Blackadder75]

I used every windows since 3.1 I never paid for any, up to XP I used copies and from XP onwards my employer always gave me valid licence key(s)

[@dayrkflaugh]

Just got a copy from my buddy. I thought I would take a turn and be the one that bought the next version for the group. Windows ME. Yeah...

[@RonaldMcDonald519]

Tomb raider did not age well at all

[@houstonhelicoptertours1006]

"I have an opinion!" - literally who