3w ago

If those devs didn't have the extra time to be creative, we might not have gotten this classic.

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Reminds me of the graphing calculator on Macs. Guy wanted it in system 7 so bad he ignored getting fired, broke into the office, and snuck it into the master build.
- Incredible
  
  What a fantastic read.
  Dozens of people collaborated spontaneously, motivated by loyalty, friendship, or the love of craftsmanship. We were hackers, creating something for the sheer joy of making it work.
  I'm moved by this. I feel that this is what HN used to be maybe 10 years ago. Now its just VC crap and making money as quickly as possible with lock-in market-corning crapware.
  
  Yeah, that fucking rocked.
  
  I worked in video games in the 2000, same feeling, good memories and shenanigans (in Ghost Force, we hid a level with pigs and exploding penguins for example), and I call most of the coworkers my friends still.
  Now it's just crap it seems.
  Maybe it was the raw new stuff getting thrown at you all the time. Today it's just "a PC", slightly faster. Same engine.
  Or I'm getting old :-D
  
  Great read, thanks!
  
  Whoa that was so good.
  Do you know where I could find more stuff like that? I read "In the beginning was the command line" not too long ago and loved that.
- I cut my teeth on system 7 (well, 7.5) and this is news to me. Did it get quickly nuked?
  
  Nope, it’s been part of Mac OS ever since, partly because math teachers loved how it let kids play with math.
  Now it’s called Grapher.
  
  I think I found the gap in my knowledge: it looks like it only shipped with PPC versions. I had a 68k Performa as a teenager. By the time I got a PPC box it was well into system 8's lifespan and I had stopped opening every little thing, probably due to internet providing those dopamine hits lol.
  Thank you, TIL!
- http://www.pacifict.com/story/
  For anyone wanting a read.
  "Broke in" is a bit of an exaggeration. Their cards simply weren't turned off and they managed to fake it until the project was finished.
  
  If you read the whole thing you'll learn that for some time their cards were in fact deactivated and they had to sneak in behind other people.
  
  It's been decades since the last time I read it in full.
  
  Their cards were turned off eventually, leading them to sneak in for awhile. Great story, although somewhat insane
- Dude that graphing calculator was awesome—way ahead of anything at the time.

147 comments