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See the original image at flickr.com

3D Design in 1975 [img]

flickr.com — Jef Raskin & Co. at work/play in pre-Apple days.

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  • itsgotyou, on 04/22/2008, -46/+195I sorely miss the times when you could smoke and drink at your workstation and nobody gives you ***** about it.
    • linagee, on 04/22/2008, -11/+47How many seconds per frame?
      • TheDowntownKing, on 04/22/2008, -15/+6You made a typ.....ohhhh i get it
    • sockpuppets, on 04/22/2008, -10/+145That's nothing, I had a dead hooker under my desk for like a week straight. Those were the days!
      • LongShlong, on 04/22/2008, -13/+4Smoking... Drinking... Dead hookers... LUCKY!
      • Mohanned, on 04/22/2008, -13/+4I had a live hooker under my desk in those days. Of course I was also not to be born for another 12 years, but that's besides the point.
    • MoneyShot, on 04/22/2008, -20/+2Smoking, yes. Drinking though?
      • ohmahgawd, on 04/22/2008, -9/+3He didn't mean alcoholic drinks, you analdouche.
      • Patori, on 04/22/2008, -0/+4Maybe he did? I can see working with a bit of drink being okay.
      • thomasprebble, on 04/22/2008, -0/+2Heh seems acceptable at my workplace. Smoking though, good thats gone.
    • irinotecan, on 04/22/2008, -19/+94As a non-smoker, I'm very grateful that smoke free workplaces had just come into full force as I entered the workforce (early '90s). Most places still let you drink at your desk, however.
      • antdude, on 04/22/2008, -2/+36Alcohol? Where?
        • tiffany98121, on 04/22/2008, -0/+9microsoft does
        • pw378, on 04/22/2008, -0/+12google does.. Hell, we have a fully stocked bar and even have a fridge for the beer.
        • JoeCool51, on 04/22/2008, -0/+4Digg does too apparently from those office snapshots that were on the site today. With a good selection I might add.
          • system7, on 04/22/2008, -0/+14Given the quality of their code, it's no surprise.
        • llurker, on 04/22/2008, -0/+1A commercial real estate firm I've done work has a vending machine in the break room that has a selection of beers, and coke too.
        • JagoX, on 04/22/2008, -0/+1We have alcohol (Jaegermeister dispenser & a keg fridge) at my company. ;-)
        • Charlesbian, on 04/22/2008, -0/+2i only smoke (tobacco and weed) and dont drink, so where is the perks for me! Im supposed to be apart of the 'spoiled' generation!
      • LongShlong, on 04/22/2008, -3/+10Yeah... Hydration is the work of the Devil in the workplace!
    • afx1, on 04/22/2008, -2/+14how many cores is that sweet setup running?
      • BossKey, on 04/22/2008, -1/+11It's powered by four smokin' hamster wheels.
    • DeathJux, on 04/22/2008, -10/+29Apparently you've never had the displeasure of trying to fix a smoker's machine. Inside the case, it's usually a gummy, sooty, horrible mess of nicotine stains and tar build-up.

      No thank you.
      • ELCad, on 04/22/2008, -5/+9Are you talking about a bong or a PC? I smoke cigarettes and none of my PCs are like that. My PCs are on the floor though.
        • Rizmaster, on 04/22/2008, -2/+8When was the last time you were in there?

          Smoke is heavier than the air it's in. Eventually the soot does come back down. It often gets sucked into the computer and eventually you'll have a fan die and have to pull the ***** out, caked in nasty, smelly *****.

          Trust me, I sell fans. Half the people who come in looking for them are in that boat.
        • bradleyland, on 04/22/2008, -4/+8You must be an occasional smoker. I charge customers a smoker surcharge when I take their computers to my shop. I have to take them outside and blow them out so my house doesn't end up smelling like an ashtray. Of course, as a smoker, your sense of smell is all but destroyed, so I wouldn't expect you to empathize.
      • lucutus, on 04/22/2008, -0/+1We banned smoking near a PC back in the late 70s - early 80s mainly because the tar would gum up floppy drives and cooling fans. Once you get tar deposits in a floppy drive every disk you put in gets ruined. That was a rather expensive issue in 1980. I've been a pack a day smoker for 30 years but I do not smoke near a PC. For the most part I don't even smoke inside.
      • celticchrys, on 04/22/2008, -0/+2I totally agree! I've worked on cigarette smokers' machines who sit next to the computer and smoke every day... ELCad: you would think you were working on the insides of a bong all right. Last time, the video card had gotten so tarry the fan croaked and it fried itself. My hands were covered in brown goo from the job.
    • GXPlatinum, on 04/22/2008, -1/+8You should see my boss's ashtray, it's as big as a dinner plate and his keyboard/mouse has this yellow-beige hue. I think you're just working at too large a company.
    • riomx, on 04/22/2008, -8/+26and I'm so glad that I DON'T have to work next to someone that smokes. hooray for smoke-free workplaces
    • hellosaysme, on 04/22/2008, -9/+45you smoke? that is sooo...1975. Wanna see a 3D model of your lung? It nasty.
    • fandyboy, on 04/22/2008, -14/+3I bet it can't run Crysis on high.
    • qwertydvorak, on 04/22/2008, -0/+18"I sorely miss the times when you could smoke and drink at your workstation and nobody gives you ***** about it."
      you can still do coke.
    • smoothlikeice7, on 04/22/2008, -5/+0Snake at 1 frame per hour
    • nonrate, on 04/22/2008, -1/+9***** missing it, let's take it back
      • GliTCH82, on 04/22/2008, -1/+5A smoker's revolution? ***** yeah, I'm in.
        • lucutus, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1All we need is a new scapegoat. Let's attack bottled water drinkers or consumers of beverages in plastic containers. They ruin the environment and poison themselves and their offspring. Scientific studies show that the disposed plastic ends up back in the food chain poisoning all of us. Life would be much better without them! We would have beer and wine considered safe for consumption. They go good with a smoke! ;)
    • cydlys, on 04/22/2008, -1/+1The less obvious difference from 1975 would be the computer.
  • skmice2, on 04/22/2008, -4/+71I wasn't on this world at the time when this image was taken, but I have deep respect for everybody who worked with computers in that era. You could say that 'they were living on the edge' - utilizing their resources to the limit, kept them optimized on the task they were designed for ... no fancy UI, no eye candy.
    I would love to see a reaction of somebody from that era to the technology we have today (Linux, Leopard/Vista).
    • Ionworm, on 04/22/2008, -4/+8I fully agree with you. In comparison to 1975 programs are so user-friendly now, even those designed for professional people.
      I feel also respect for people in that time - even thought I wasn't born yet - they could understand and work with programs such as the one represented in the image, while today I, and others, sometimes fail to understand programs written to appeal the mainstream, with a "fancy UI" and "eye candy" as you say.

      Still, technology just got at the same time so complicated with it's own evolution: just compare the "window" (well there's actually no window :P) in the 1975 image and the window of the actual 3ds Max.
      • lucasmaximus, on 04/22/2008, -0/+3Having my first experience with older computer (BBC Micro/c64) I find the new Fancy GUI more difficult to use and confusing. Thankgod for using unix and windows powershell, otherwise I would never get any work done.

        The way older computers worked IMO, was more suited to those of a mathematical, scientific mindset. Now it is all business orientated.
    • isunktheship, on 04/22/2008, -2/+12PUSH IT TO THE LIMIT
      • joebaloney, on 04/22/2008, -1/+4EVERYBODY TO THE LIMIT
      • Sophistifunk, on 04/22/2008, -0/+3Why do I have the urge to steal a car and blow up some cop cars with a rocket launcher?

        Lousy Pavlov....
    • LomasLou, on 04/22/2008, -7/+5
      "I would love to see a reaction of somebody from that era to the technology we have today (Linux, Leopard/Vista)."

      Wishful thinking. Too bad anyone that was old enough to use a computer in 1975 is long dead and buried ... hey wait just a minute, Bill Gates was 20 years old in 1975, is he still alive and able to communicate with others?
      • jamesdew, on 04/22/2008, -2/+4long dead and buried? it was only 33 years ago!
    • abadonn, on 04/22/2008, -0/+15My dad was a Russian military airplane engineer, he did design calculation using PUNCH CARD programs. He brings that up every time I show him a new version of Solidworks or Ansys.
      • inbred, on 04/22/2008, -0/+4Does he also bring up the UFOs that he stole the designs from?

        Seriously, that'd be awesome.
    • flatpick, on 04/22/2008, -0/+7Computers were just as cool back then as they are now (I have been using them since 1980). A few lines and dots moving around on a monochrome screen and a couple of mechanical beeps were just as amazing to us as fire was to the cavemen. It took a lot more effort to make those rickety boxes do any tricks; so, in some sense, they were even cooler than today's desktop supercomputers usually tasked with little more than IM and gaming.
    • novask, on 04/22/2008, -1/+6I'm sure kids in 30-40 years when holodecks are available (hopefully) will be thinking the same about us.
      • mateusap, on 04/22/2008, -0/+1i sure do hope, i don't want to feel as the young, i want admiration, i want those barely legal titties begging to be banged.
    • S1ngular1ty1, on 04/22/2008, -5/+3The guy I sit with at work has been doing 3D design since that time period. He is now one of the best people with in my work place with new design programs like Pro/E Wildfire 3.0. You have to adapt in the work place to new technology or you get left behind.

      Oh and by the way, most real companies use Microsoft. Linux is used on our supercomputer cluster but all other desktop machines run Microsoft XP.
      • jartur, on 04/22/2008, -3/+1Sure. Only fake companies use Linux.
        Ah and btw to actually USE Microsoft you'd have to be a rather "real" company.
        • jprdd, on 04/22/2008, -0/+2Haha, nobody but nerds use linux for their workstations. Get real.
          • jartur, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1I work for a little company with about 20000 employees & it uses Linux. Not everywhere of course. Most of workstations are of course Windows, build servers are on Solaris, but there is Linux machines for some projects.
            It's always better to use a tool that fits a job, I think. Sometimes it's Linux, even for "real" companies whatever "real" means.
    • bbart3d, on 04/22/2008, -0/+3I started college in 1975. Programming was done with paper and pencil and lots of eraser, to be transcribed onto punched cards. A fancy graphics terminal like the one in the picture was probably used by grad students or in specialized industries. Notice there is no mouse, wireframe only, no color, and no shading. In some ways things are the same. You use the tools you have and you try to create something to impress your friends. You want them to say, "How DID you do that?" In other ways things are different. You own your own equipment. You can work anywhere, not just in the computer center. You have immense resources for help at your fingertips via the web.
      • mateusap, on 04/22/2008, -0/+1it's awesome to read your post and realize a sort of amazement and nostalgy, great experience there buddy :)
  • blacksteve0, on 04/22/2008, -6/+23I remember doing 3d in a program very similar to that back in '85. I miss those days.
    • Soulbow2, on 04/22/2008, -3/+16Why?
      • Wargasmic, on 04/22/2008, -2/+3That's what I'm wondering...how the hell could you miss those days?!
        • joebaloney, on 04/22/2008, -0/+16From a programmer perspecive it was awesome. Everything was simple, easy to understand and you didn't need to ask the OS for permission to do anything. If you wanted a line on the screen, by god you locate the address of video ram and start setting pixels. Anything else that's on the screen be damned.
          • bradleyland, on 04/22/2008, -2/+2IMO, the hassles you mentioned weren't yet around in the very late eighties and very early nineties, but we weren't stuck doing anything with video ram addresses. To be honest, I don't know anyone who did anything productive in the manner you mention. The old school CAD I used was more command line operated than it was mouse/digitizer/tablet/etc, but we were far, far from editing video ram.
          • joebaloney, on 04/22/2008, -0/+2I'm talking about from a programmers perspective, not a CAD users perspective. Anytime you drew anything with your CAD program, the program was at some level "editing video ram" and my point is that the programs were much easier to write back then, or at least much simpler to understand.
          • SkippyDoorknob, on 04/22/2008, -0/+110 PRINT "WOO HOO! EASY PROGRAMMING!"
            20 GOTO 10
          • SpeedSteamBoat, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1Eh, I don't know about simpler. There's a reason modern day programming languages were created and are referred to as "high level" languages. When you are writing in assembly and similar low level languages, trying to write full scale (or at least useful) applications gets complicated and confusing to read in a real hurry. There as no such thing as a "workspace" or a "project" file to manage things for you. Hell, most software was either on a punch-card or occupying a single file back then. The programs may have been smaller, but they had to be both because the systems weren't as capable and the programmer had to do everything essentially "by hand." It's kind of like the difference between driving a car with the steering wheel, gas, and brake pedal or manually turning each tire when you want to turn, pressurizing the individual brake lines when you want to brake, and carefully balancing the air/fuel mixture by hand so the engine doesn't stale and maintainers the proper RPM. The second way might be more interesting and even fun if the subject matter interests you, but you sure as hell aren't going to get very far very fast. It's obviously more efficient if the car handles the basic stuff for you so you can focus where you actually want to go and how you plan on getting there.
  • bootle, on 04/22/2008, -29/+6The most disconcerting object is the ash tray, sitting right on the desk...
    • jesuswuzanalien, on 04/22/2008, -0/+11Yeah you smoke too much ***** as it is.
    • Calcheesmo, on 04/22/2008, -2/+2smoke em if you got em!
  • Calcheesmo, on 04/22/2008, -2/+81in 20 years we're going to look back at pictures of our computers today and laugh...into space.
    • sonicon, on 04/22/2008, -0/+49in 2008 people had to input data with hands, listen to speakers, use heavy LCDs, even their computers were outside their brains.
      • watcht, on 04/22/2008, -2/+10Hmm computers in my brain, ***** im crashed enough i dont need a computer ***** me up even more.
    • shadeOfGrey, on 04/22/2008, -0/+13In space, no one can hear you laugh.
      • gummih, on 04/22/2008, -0/+1Speaking of which, do you remember tha AMAZING 3D on the spaceships navigation system!
      • DarkDx, on 04/22/2008, -1/+1Except when you have a space suit and a micrphone d'uh. (Or inside a spaceship for that matter)
    • OneLess, on 04/22/2008, -0/+6In space, no one can hear you scream (in frustration at your CAD software).
      • S1ngular1ty1, on 04/22/2008, -1/+2I hate Pro/E sometimes. It can be so stupid.
  • IanPR, on 04/22/2008, -8/+2High tech!!
    • fxu1989, on 04/22/2008, -0/+1That's an advanced etch-a-sketch.

      See those knobs next to the screen ? ...
  • sruffelman, on 04/22/2008, -1/+273I want knobs on the side of my monitor -- I don't care what they do.
    • ajchavar, on 04/22/2008, -2/+65ditto to that one, even better if they're knurled metal, with indecipherable numerals and greek symbols as their markings.

      also, one of them would, by default, have to go to 11.
    • bsonline, on 04/22/2008, -2/+15http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/accessories/5ca ...
      • Mohanned, on 04/22/2008, -0/+6I'd assign it to play an mp3 of a 1960s computer tunning noise. It would be completely useless, hooray!
    • YodaJones, on 04/22/2008, -11/+2Poof ! ...You're a knob.
    • shakin, on 04/22/2008, -0/+15I actually miss the old vertical hold knob and slapping the side of the monitor to fix a flipping image. Today's technology usually gets worse when you smack it. It's a step in the wrong direction if you ask me.
    • skoober, on 04/22/2008, -5/+1Just get a couple of your buddies to stand either side
    • Lambretta, on 04/22/2008, -1/+2 I want a monitor on the side of my knob.
    • jtinz, on 04/22/2008, -0/+1The coolest thing about that monitor is that it looks like a vector display. Those displays did not have a pixel mask and the resolution was pretty much unlimited in theory.
  • jameswater2, on 04/22/2008, -6/+9Wow really makes you think how far we have come since then.
  • killbert24, on 04/22/2008, -19/+5This is what they used to make Toy Story
  • DeadFox1, on 04/22/2008, -1/+50That's pretty advanced for 1975...
  • aednichols, on 04/22/2008, -4/+14Looks like a Predator drone.
    • aednichols, on 04/22/2008, -2/+0It is upside-down.
      • GiggleStick, on 04/22/2008, -0/+7Everything was back then. Things did turn this way till '83 or so.
  • noahgelman, on 04/22/2008, -2/+92That was 33 years ago, and its going to be crazy the technology we have in another 33 years
    • Intamin, on 04/22/2008, -0/+13I hope we go back to knobs, but we can turn them with the force!
    • Arkz, on 04/22/2008, -0/+3Holodecks!
    • Mpwns, on 04/22/2008, -3/+1im sure in 33 years it wont be much differnt. on the home users front its been the same since gui came out we just got faster. i think the next step running pc's with speach but we will still have key board snd mouse for video games/programing on the pc but everything else will be done by speach.
      • fantasticFlan, on 04/22/2008, -0/+6With portable computing becoming even more prevalent, speech input will be the most annoying innovation ever.
        • SkippyDoorknob, on 04/22/2008, -0/+1Exactly! It's bad enough when one guy in the office is yapping away on a cell phone. Now imagine the entire office yapping away at their computers all day long.
    • flickr, on 04/22/2008, -0/+2I think you mean the robots will have crazy technology. We will all be dead by their metallic hands.
      • qwertydvorak, on 04/22/2008, -0/+2composite fiber hands. lighter weight and conserves power.
  • WestDC, on 04/22/2008, -3/+24Still better than anything I could do.
  • cl2yp71c, on 04/22/2008, -3/+13Wonder how much a system like that cost back then.
    o.O
    • davidwasman, on 04/22/2008, -0/+11about $10,000 US
      • OmegaNine, on 04/22/2008, -2/+6I vote you pulled that out of your a$$
        • davidwasman, on 04/22/2008, -0/+2I was alive then...I had a TRS-80 in 1978 that cost about 4 grand
      • doyoulikeworms, on 04/22/2008, -0/+4Either way, it's useless without knowing what year dollar he is talking about. $10k USD in 1975 != $10k USD in 2008.
        • ilapko, on 04/22/2008, -3/+3With the way the dollar is weakening, soon, they will be equal.
          • doyoulikeworms, on 04/23/2008, -0/+1What are you talking about? If $10k in 1975 = $10k in 2008, then the US dollar appreciated IMMENSELY.

            In even 2007 dollars, something that cost $10k in 1975 would've cost over $40k in 2007 dollars.
  • nicksource, on 04/22/2008, -0/+107Brown and Grey, the primary colors of 1975.
    • doshindude, on 04/22/2008, -0/+3they really were. almost 75% of pics/music videos I've ever seen from that era have those colors (The '80s must've borrowed them cuz that era had too many freakin colors)...It's kinda like video games of today.
    • Sashwan, on 04/22/2008, -0/+1ID Software must have been stuck in the 70's then when they released Doom and Quake :)
  • sruffelman, on 04/22/2008, -21/+7I want knobs on the side of my monitor -- I don't care what they do.
  • dullnation, on 04/22/2008, -4/+11I always wondered how they used to model stuff back in those days, I presume the models were actually created via programming them rather than manipulating polys with a gui?
    • supermanred, on 04/22/2008, -1/+9Punch in the numbers, brother. Boring as *****.
    • dullnation, on 04/22/2008, -12/+3WTF is with me constantly being buried now?! I Had my old account deleted to avoid me being googled, started a new account and now almost EVERY comment I make gets buried, I used to be on fire!
      • watcht, on 04/22/2008, -0/+7Eh it happens what goes up must come down.
        • dullnation, on 04/22/2008, -7/+2Look like I'm destined to three years of going down...
          • GiggleStick, on 04/22/2008, -0/+7It's because you care.
          • Gotar, on 04/22/2008, -6/+1Exactly.

            Bury this comment. See if I give a damn.
          • GliTCH82, on 04/22/2008, -0/+2Usually, when you say that, you do.
    • FunkyWorm, on 04/22/2008, -0/+2I did a computer graphics degree in the early eighties and aside from some very primative APIs/programming libraries (anyone recall GAPE? under DOS v.2 & Pascal) we used to model objects in a package called FemGen (Finite Element Model Genarator) and render the models (as wireframes mostly) in PAFEC PIGS on Bosch vector terminals hanging off a Prime 500 mainframe. That is a few years ahead of what the photo shows but photo-realistic rendering was still not even dreamed about.
    • SkippyDoorknob, on 04/22/2008, -0/+2This story from a couple days ago: http://digg.com/movies/Making_of_the_Computer_Grap ...
      showed how the 3D wireframe graphics were done in the original Star Wars for the scene where they are planning the attack on the Death Star. It looks incredibly tedious and slow.
  • blacktriangle, on 04/22/2008, -5/+93d Studio DOS?
  • digitalArtform, on 04/22/2008, -7/+1Sculptor Frank Smullin used to do 3D design in the 70's
    http://www.digitalartform.com/archives/2005/11/fra ...
  • aflaks, on 04/22/2008, -2/+44im just amazed how the keyboard has remained fundamentally unchanged since the early days
    • doshindude, on 04/22/2008, -7/+9I dunno what keyboard YOU'RE using, but mine certainly doesn't look like that.
      • Rickler, on 04/22/2008, -1/+17He's using a QWERTY keyboard; just like YOURS, mine, and that guy in the image. So it certainly does look like that.
      • supermanred, on 04/22/2008, -3/+4Agreed. I haven't owned a keyboard with those 1970s keys in years. Spend more than 5 bucks on your keyboard, kid.
      • SkippyDoorknob, on 04/22/2008, -0/+2Where's the Windows key?
    • woofers07, on 04/22/2008, -4/+12Interesting fact: the QWERTY keyboard was actually de-engineered in order to slow down typing due to typewriters letter arms getting jammed when someone typed too fast. Another keyboard was designed where the letters were laid out in a much more ergonomic fashion and allowed users to type much much faster, but due to the fact everyone was already used to the QWERTY layout it stuck, and probably will till the end of keyboards.
    • frontporsche, on 04/22/2008, -0/+7But check out the number keys. 0123456789 instead of 1234567890
      • GliTCH82, on 04/22/2008, -0/+1Well, that actually makes more sense. 0 comes before 1, so, today's keyboards are actually a step backwards.
  • dangerousLEH, on 04/22/2008, -7/+8No, no, no... all wrong, there's way too much bloom
    • GliTCH82, on 04/22/2008, -0/+1The reflections are all...wait I don't see any reflections.
  • digitalArtform, on 04/22/2008, -8/+1http://www.digitalartform.com/archives/2005/11/fra ...
  • TypicalAfrican, on 04/22/2008, -16/+5Ah yes... the days of small government. I wonder how much progress could've been done within the gap of 30 or so years if government did not regulate the free market,
    • sambapati87, on 04/22/2008, -2/+1what?
    • Diderotten, on 04/22/2008, -1/+1Could he be talking about gun control?
    • cakerun, on 04/22/2008, -1/+2I think it has something to do with tinfoil hats.
    • supermanred, on 04/22/2008, -0/+7Wow, TypicalAfrican isn't making any sense. I bet you there's a post about a 1975 design computer somewhere in a topic about a regulated market.
    • ThePenrod, on 04/22/2008, -0/+1Have you honestly read one article you've commented on?
  • Shinobi326, on 04/22/2008, -2/+10I think I still see those machines around Boeing....
    • DubBucket, on 04/22/2008, -0/+5I think the guy in the pic still works for Boeing too...
      • RobotLeAwesome, on 04/22/2008, -1/+6yeah, and that model of airplane is still in use by Boeing.
      • bitspace, on 04/22/2008, -1/+1Only if Boeing has dead people on its payroll.
    • GliTCH82, on 04/22/2008, -0/+1Aerospace companies are such dinosaurs now, they lost all the spark they had in the 60s and 70s. The best new airplane Boeing could come up with is the 787, which is great and all but it's still more of the same. It seemed like the Cold War was actually better for us, 2 superpowers competing really moves progress along but after the USSR collapsed we've been riding a pretty boring monopoly marked with the lack of innovation or drive for scientific discovery on a national scale. I wish the EU would taunt us or something so we could pick up the pace again.
  • xDecemberFlower, on 04/22/2008, -10/+2wow that's me in the picture!
  • CloseYetFar, on 04/22/2008, -14/+4How is he gonna play 3D games with no arrow keys on the keyboard?
    • stormgren, on 04/22/2008, -2/+18you've never heard of WASD and you claim to play video games....
      • CloseYetFar, on 04/22/2008, -5/+2It was a joke.....
        I never claimed to be a gamer, but it was probably more like HJKL, like in vi.
    • TremorX, on 04/22/2008, -0/+1WASD, the way god intended.
  • MattFromSeattle, on 04/22/2008, -17/+53And that machine is STILL more stable than Vista!
    • ekravchenko, on 04/22/2008, -2/+8that goes without saying.
    • flatpick, on 04/22/2008, -0/+7Operating systems of that era (actually, usually little more than an executive) were much simpler and more thoroughly tested than the bloated OS of today. The financial and reputation cost of bugs was also a lot higher back then.
    • GliTCH82, on 04/22/2008, -0/+1I don't think cost has as much to do with it as the complexity of the system. Microsoft is still working bugs out of XP today, it may be stable enough but when you're integrating programming projects on the massive scale that we do today, you always have to plan ahead of time that there will be bugs in the system and you won't be able to get them ironed out before you can deliver. The question is if that margin of error is within acceptable parameters for general use, and I'd have to say since it's been over 8 years or so since I can actually remember losing an entire document I hadn't saved in a word processor, we're doing fine.
      • SpeedSteamBoat, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1Eh, I get your point, but that's not what is wrong with Windows (well, not entirely anyways). Windows suffers from having over a decade of old code shuffled in with new code resulting in general compatibility issues and a consistency nightmare across the whole API.
  • Haz3rd, on 04/22/2008, -10/+1HOLY *****!
  • JoeLeo, on 04/22/2008, -9/+1It looks like he's designing a boat.
  • EvoPsy, on 04/22/2008, -4/+4first thought? that's not that bad.
  • scabbers, on 04/22/2008, -3/+7Enter 77, then run like hell.
  • likwidfuzion, on 04/22/2008, -6/+34I bet rendering that model is more demanding than running Crysis.
    • threemagic, on 04/22/2008, -5/+15If you used that machine to render Crysis, if you started in 1975, it might be done now.
    • Negyxo, on 04/22/2008, -0/+34I don't think either one of you knows wtf you're talking about.
    • solarwind24, on 04/22/2008, -0/+2No. No it's not.
    • smoothlikeice7, on 04/22/2008, -2/+0im not even going to start to say anything except for this comment itself therefore making me say nothing at all but w/e
  • TheJuggernaut, on 04/22/2008, -19/+25Wow. Those graphics are almost as good as the Wii's.
    • supermanred, on 04/22/2008, -14/+11***** off, the wii isn't even close to being that good. And the knobs and that picture tube box are probably more precise than the wiimote.
    • flashman2006, on 04/22/2008, -8/+3I'd bet it's better than PS3's graphics too. I wouldn't know though, that thing has been collecting dust.
    • akh4x0r, on 04/23/2008, -0/+1It's even got an interactive interface like the WiiMote! Just look at all those knobs.

      /Wii fan
  • crazysamz, on 04/22/2008, -16/+2I have to say this-
    Can it play Crysis???
  • RawCoyote, on 04/22/2008, -1/+5It was so much better then, just one color at a time and lot's more cowbell.
  • UnSuperSaid, on 04/22/2008, -1/+1Next Gen Graphics!
  • NapoleonGold, on 04/22/2008, -3/+2wonder how long that took to make in the day? love that he has a fresh ashtray, probly came with the computer. I just use an empty beer bottle.
  • bearcat8543, on 04/22/2008, -4/+1does it have a quad core?
  • replaysMike, on 04/22/2008, -5/+13Dugg for the ashtray :P
  • SenorCardgage74, on 04/22/2008, -1/+9So new things looked old even back then when they were new....
    • TRENT310, on 04/22/2008, -1/+6It's probably just your perception of 'old' by your modern standards.
      • SenorCardgage74, on 04/22/2008, -0/+4No I mean "old" old.
        Like theyve been puttin out cigarettes on it.

        That kind of old.
  • louiebaur, on 04/22/2008, -0/+2Dugg for Old School
  • brettruffenach, on 04/22/2008, -0/+17Dugg for [img] tag, not [PICS] tag
    • TRENT310, on 04/22/2008, -4/+1If it's a tag (in the HTML, bbcode, etc. sense) then it's missing a closing tag, and it doesn't seem to be self closing either.
  • craiger316, on 04/22/2008, -3/+5Dollars to doughnuts that was done in Logo! PENUP, RIGHT...
  • ShempRider, on 04/22/2008, -0/+5That image has vestiges of "Escape From New York" in it.

    Snake Plissken always gets a digg.
  • supermanred, on 04/22/2008, -0/+12So all you people complaining about design flaws in the Space Shuttle, please take a seat. I would like to see you design a better one on that thing.

    :)
  • BIOHazard87, on 04/22/2008, -2/+1Would be funny if the picture was photoshopped
  • Conras, on 04/22/2008, -0/+1He looks like Johnny Depp.
  • enumerate, on 04/22/2008, -0/+6THE WIZMOMETER ON THIS THING IS TOP NOTCH.
  • magiclava, on 04/22/2008, -5/+3hmm, dunno but that must be a static hand draw image IMHO. I'm pretty sure true 3D vector shapes where see through in those days. They either didn't have the knowledge or CPU power to render 3D images with 'hidden' faces. Look at something like Battlezone which came 5 years later to see what i mean...
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Atari_BattleZon ...
    • waltert, on 04/22/2008, -0/+2could just be a isometric which is a 2D object that looks 3D
    • atomicfireball, on 04/22/2008, -0/+11They knew how to do backface culling in 1975, they just didn't have the computing horsepower to animate it. Heck ray-casting algorithms date back to 1966, and MAGI was doing rendered 3D animation for commercials and films as far back as 1972. so to say they didn't have the knowledge to do simple backface culling on a wireframe model in 1975 is simply untrue.
      • magiclava, on 04/22/2008, -0/+1ok, cheers, consider me educated! :)
    • mazarax, on 04/22/2008, -0/+3In the 60s they were ray casting at IBM to do hidden surface removal.
      See Arthur Appel's work:
      http://graphics.stanford.edu/courses/Appel.pdf
    • Twee, on 04/22/2008, -0/+1Atari ≠ Workstation.
  • cave, on 04/22/2008, -2/+8It completely baffles me how people were able to design with their computers before the advent of mice/graphic tablets. Maybe that's what the knobs to the side of the monitor are for, an etch-a-sketch interface?
    • urgan, on 04/22/2008, -0/+2Practice. Besides that a cad system, all drawing operations can be made by keyboard only.
      • waltert, on 04/22/2008, -0/+2not in all cad systems most use mice/tablets just depends on the person... personally im old school and do everthing by keyboard its faster than looking for icons....this is a great post when i was in college our professor had a old computer set up so we could learn what it was like to design in the late 70's and early 80's... very intrersting
    • flatpick, on 04/22/2008, -0/+6Trigonometry and calculus, baby. Still necessary if you want the plane you design on the screen to actually fly in real-life.
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