The discussion on Hacker News revolves around several interconnected themes, primarily focusing on the historical performance and design philosophies of operating systems, the business decisions that led to the dominance of certain platforms, and the perceived decline in user experience and responsiveness in modern software.
The Enduring Performance and Responsiveness of BeOS and NeXTSTEP
A significant portion of the conversation is dedicated to the perceived superior performance and responsiveness of BeOS and NeXTSTEP compared to modern operating systems, including macOS. Users recall these older systems feeling "instantaneous" and fluid, even on significantly less powerful hardware.
- One user, leakycap, reminisces about booting BeOS on a Performa and being "amazed how different the same hardware felt." They also highlight that even cursor movement on current macOS feels slow by comparison.
- orangecat echoes this sentiment, stating, "No kidding. It took until the M1 to make macOS feel anything close to the responsiveness of BeOS on a 150MHz PowerPC."
- ksec further elaborates on this theme, suggesting that macOS still lags behind BeOS in responsiveness and latency, drawing a parallel to the perceived immediacy of early Windows and DOS.
- The performance of NeXTSTEP is also lauded. WillAdams notes that NeXTSTEP ran acceptably on a 25MHz 68040, contrasting this with the performance trade-offs Apple made in recreating features like transparency and drop shadows in Quartz.
- acdha provides a vivid anecdote: "The one which got me was the time I had music playing, a large C++ build going, and transferring video from a FireWire card with a tiny buffer simultaneously … and everything not only worked but the UI responsiveness didn’t change at all." This is starkly contrasted with their experience on Windows 98, which "bluescreened when I plugged in a Microsoft USB mouse."
- JohnDeHope offers a qualitative assessment: "I think it has the prettiest UI of the era, including Apple’s."
The Impact of Business Decisions on Technological Advancement
The discussion frequently touches upon how business strategies and corporate decisions have stifled technological innovation and led to the adoption of less optimal solutions. The classic "VHS vs. Beta" analogy is invoked to illustrate this phenomenon.
- johnea laments, "So much great tech has been lost to aggressive business practices of entrenched companies it would have disrupted." They explicitly mention the VHS vs. Beta archetype.
- C: criticizes persistent, seemingly outdated design choices like drive letters in file systems, attributing their continued existence to a lack of innovation driven by business interests rather than technical merit. They express frustration that "Business triumphs over technology."
- This user also critiques the constant churn of desktop environments in Linux, seeing it as mirroring the "too much like windows" approach, and values the stability of long-term chosen tools like fluxbox.
- The overarching idea is that "This veto power of equity over technical possibility is the story of modern tech development." This is linked to the notion that corporate decisions are driven by benefits to "equity" rather than user experience or technological progress.
The Evolution and Perceived Decline in User Experience
Several comments reflect a dissatisfaction with the current state of operating systems and user interfaces, with a longing for the simplicity and directness of older systems. This includes a critique of modern OS bloat and features that detract from performance.
- retric suggests that "Pre USB peripherals + CRT monitors could have really low input latency by modern standards," implying that some aspects of modern convenience have come at the cost of responsiveness.
- The persistence of drive letters in Windows is seen as an example of Microsoft's "no taste" and a failure to adapt, even though the underlying technology (Windows NT) allowed for their removal. selimnairb points out that "Microsoft doesn’t care enough to prioritize migrating away from drive letters."
- II2II provides a counterpoint on drive letters, explaining their historical utility in floppy-only systems and the continued relevance for media management. However, they acknowledge that Windows has implemented features to mitigate the issues, though they "aren't used often."
- The concept of personal customization and performance tuning, like compiling one's own kernel, is idealized as a more rewarding and effective approach to achieving speed, as seen in the contrast between early hobbyist kernel compilation and more complex modern systems. II2II recalls, "The speedup was dramatic. Of course, that was back in the days when an interested hobbiest could compile a lean kernel without fear of breaking dozens of things."
- bombcar relates a similar experience with Gentoo, where the build time was long but the resulting optimized system was rewarding, contrasting it with the "self-configuring things" that consume time.
The Legacy and Niche Status of BeOS/Haiku
While BeOS and its successor Haiku are praised for their technical merits, the discussion also acknowledges their limited success and the challenges they face in finding a modern relevance.
- leakycap expresses uncertainty about the current direction and purpose of BeOS/Haiku, noting that its primary known "killer app/feature" is a radio station automation program that itself faces hardware reliability issues.
- LargoLasskhyfv highlights the niche nature of the "interesting site" being discussed, focusing exclusively on Haiku and Beos, and wonders about the lack of coverage for other niche OS projects.
- desktopninja fondly remembers using BeOS 5 PE and its multimedia capabilities, including specific ports of popular software and excellent hardware support.
The Role of AI in Content Generation
A separate, but prominent, theme that emerges in the latter part of the discussion is the suspicion that the article itself may have been generated by AI, with users commenting on its style and content.
- deadbabe states directly, "This article is pure ChatGPT. Hits all the same beats and too many frequent uses of headings and text formatting."
- ndiddy concurs, calling it an "obvious AI SEO spam site" and noting the AI's capability to "make SEO spam sites about extremely niche topics."
- egypturnash questions, "Is this entire post just an AI summary of a popular HN thread?"
- paradox460 responds optimistically, "I hope so, because if an actual human wrote that, yeesh."
The AT&T and iPhone Connection
A historical anecdote about NeXTSTEP's role at AT&T and its potential influence on the iPhone's development also sparks discussion.
- leakycap recounts working on a backend team at AT&T where "ALL of it was in NeXTStep being streamed from centralized servers out to basic PCs running Citrix." They speculate this led to Steve Jobs' relationship with AT&T for the iPhone.
- betamaxthetape expresses keen interest in these details and asks for more information.
- ksec corrects a detail about the iPhone's launch partner, noting it was Cingular, not "old" AT&T at the time, though leakycap clarifies the subsequent acquisition history.
- diskzero, a former Be employee, contrasts BeOS with NeXTSTEP, stating BeOS was "way, way behind NeXTStep in so many ways" and that Apple's acquisition of NeXT was a "smartest 400 million dollars." They also note that many Be employees eventually joined Apple, often after other ventures.