@Em0nM4stodon the internet before AI. When search worked.

@Em0nM4stodon Norton Commander

@Em0nM4stodon
Portable minidisc players 😔

@Em0nM4stodon like early Pandora. For some reason, some of the best music was introduced to me then (2002/3, maybe?).

@Em0nM4stodon MacOS that did not take up much RAM, followed Apple's Human Interface Guidelines, and was stable.

Second is MacSpeech Dictate.

@Em0nM4stodon IRC gaming and programming communities. There are still remnants, at least for the latter, but it's not the same as it used to be 🥲

@Em0nM4stodon Compuserve CB Simulator channels

@Em0nM4stodon usenet

@Em0nM4stodon Macromedia Fireworks.

It didn't quite disappear, I still have it on an old laptop, but I can't update the OS without losing use of the software. But it's been years since I've used it, just lamenting really.

@Em0nM4stodon Regardless of the search engine, I really miss the ability to get online and search for anything you want an answer to and actually get that answer. Instead, I generally get the opposite of what I'm looking for with sponsored links, ai crap and answers that simply don't match the search criteria. Using double negatives and reverse search criteria can be amusing sometimes but quite seriously, asking the question here and waiting a day or two is often quicker and more useful.

I also miss being able to talk to people in person without endless reasons not to use antisocial meeeja messaging apps first. However, when you do get to meet these people, they end up being over animated, hand waving, shoulder shrugging, face pulling, anger filled, clones of everything that's wrong with antisocial meeeja. Can we have real life respect and decency back please?

Okay I know these aren't technically on the list of stuff you asked about Em but I miss these more than almost anything.

@Em0nM4stodon The iPod and my hand-curated music library. Spotify was a revelation back then but at least for me it has destroyed much of what was deliberate and intentional about my music consumption.

I cancelled Spotify about a year ago and want to either do a small iPod refurbishing project and put Rockbox on it or just get into vinyl.

@Em0nM4stodon dumb TVs!

@Em0nM4stodon pretty nostalgic for my VCR honestly

I get an urge to rewind every time the end credits roll

@Em0nM4stodon grooveshark because I could create playlist on the fly and I dearly miss the feature.

@Em0nM4stodon
might be Zope.. or <Table>Art .. dunno (from my life)

@Em0nM4stodon

CD-ROM drives that can read and burn as standard in (most) computers.

@Em0nM4stodon open windows on SunOS with a sparc keyboard with cut,copy,paste,front keys

@Em0nM4stodon
I missed old Google so I subscribed to Kagi.

@Em0nM4stodon @ShaulaEvans Apple Newton

@Em0nM4stodon My Braille Notetaker I used in middle and high school. I did a lot of my schoolwork on it. I still have a notetaker, but never really need it since I have a laptop.

@Em0nM4stodon Firefox OS (#fxos)

@Em0nM4stodon wordstar word processor

@Em0nM4stodon A laptop with an exterior battery-level indicator.

@Em0nM4stodon Google Reader and Hypercard pop up immediately, I really did like using Dreamweaver once upon a time

@Em0nM4stodon I miss Urly Warning.

@Em0nM4stodon Google Reader.

@Em0nM4stodon The old Apple Mac "Graphing Calculator" app.

@Em0nM4stodon StumbleUpon.

@Em0nM4stodon I miss both my iPod 3rd gen and the Psion 5MX. Those two devices were almost physically attached to me for ages and I still think they’re both better than much of what we have today.

@Em0nM4stodon
Light switches.

(@m0rpk filled the house with smart bulbs & now I have to find my phone to make the lights do stuff)

@Em0nM4stodon the spear thrower

@Em0nM4stodon Netscape

@Em0nM4stodon Niche amateur radio tool ‘N1MM’. Like many specialist hobby programs, it only runs under Microsoft Windows. My switch to MacOS for unrelated reasons pretty much ended my involvement in amateur radio contesting. I’ve yet to find an adequate replacement.

@Em0nM4stodon

Google!

Back when they weren’t so piece-of-shitty, backstabbing, privacy-raping search experts.

@Em0nM4stodon The vertical day view widget in etar on android 4. At some point etar rebuilt all their widgets and we never got that one back and it's such a loss.

@Em0nM4stodon WordPerfect. Tons better than MS Word.

@Em0nM4stodon i really liked ICQ honestly. People are so impressed by touch typing 😅

@Em0nM4stodon mp3 player (that does nothing else)

@Em0nM4stodon i would give my right pinkie toe for irfanview to have a native linux port.

notepad++ too, for that matter.