ScuzzBlog: Diaries February 2018
Entry 25th February 2018: Post: 2
The way we were ... No pressure
I guess it really is no surprise that I have little love for the
mobile telephone world of internet downloads. To me we have given
up way too much to social media and digital information as a
primary driver in the way we communicate. I am, as you would expect,
a great lover of things. Things that you can hold, touch, experience
and more importantly own. I also read so much from that which I
can feel and see. I do know that there are many that enjoy old
computers that use emulators and download all that they have and
probably have very little, if any, older kit. That is their choice
and I do not criticise anyone for doing as such. I am most aware
of the fraelty of the kit anyway, and in time emulation and stored
data will most likely be the only way to maintain the archive.
However, while I live and breath and can switch on the little
electrical marvels I will continue to do so.
And so to the subject under review here. Back in the hectic busy
frantic days of the Amiga in the late eighties and early nineties
if you wanted to buy something it would need first and foremost
some means of being able to peruse items for sale. Magazines were
the obvious first point of contact between community and kit and
software, but also the houses themselves did make a big effort
to keep in touch with their customers.
For me the loss to society of simply downloading software and the
like has been the severing of physical communication between a
product maker and or seller and the end user. The whole process
now is anonymous and faceless. There appears to be little need for
the end user to interact in any meaningful way with the supplier
who is generally seen as a faceless automated dispenser anyway.
And yet time was that in delivering your much needed utilities
the supplier felt obliged to advise of other wonderful goodies
and to educate and provide guidance. Documents were not simply
adverts they were there to enrich our experiences of the world in
which we some how felt a part of. For this was our community.
Sadly today, not only are the sellers across the internet scheming
to snag our details so that advertising can be targeted through
other vendors, but worse there is always the fear that we are
giving away our identity to less than trustworthy sources.
The world as it was way back then was tangible and very real. The
things you acquired were were much under your control. The content
of that which you received was often useful and informative albeit
at times much like the spam we get today. But, it was never a
threat to your world. It was never disguised as anything other than
what it was. And most important when thrown in the bin you knew
that that the end of that annoyance.
I say all this because in searching for the HiSoft boxes I came
across a little collection of boxes that always bring me great joy.
Not only are the software utilities a very valuable asset in what
I do, but the boxes hold a little snapshot of a world long since
gone. For no longer are we prone to making communication with
vendors through responses to adverts in magazines. And probably we
are unlikely to communicate by mail and then receive correspondence
from suppliers in the mail who then provide such rich and interesting
promotions and sales items relating specifically to our interest.
These communications were very specifically related to our community.
No internet social media as such, not emailing with requests, and
no barrage of telephone sales spam. Just a box or envelope in the
mail which was the whole communication entity. It hid nothing and
did not disguise its purpose in the hope of trickery. For you to
read or discard and that was your choice.
I am very glad that the owner of these items chose to keep full
record of the communication because it does really serve to enrich
the items and reveal processes that although are not totally lost
are becoming less and less relevant in today's social media internet
driven world. For me it is a sad loss... for others unimportant.
You decide.... cus all that you see here could easily be just one
or two clicks from an internet download site and that would be the
total sum of the interaction. Food without taste.
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