Large endeavours require some level of “megachurchness”. Linux back then was tiny in comparison with what it is today. So was Python. Nowadays we have much larger projects that encompass a much larger space than we had in the 1990s. You can’t make things consistent at these sizes without some governance in place.

There are still a lot of space for projects without much structure- if you have NSA codenames that aren’t public yet (and you are not subject to US laws) you can contribute with the nsaname tool and have cool names for your servers and containers. If you want to help adding glyphs to my 3278 font, you can. You can do that to millions of small projects that are small enough to not require much structure.

> you may be worried about which box you belong in. ;)

There’s also the risk someone very loud decides to put you in a box you don’t belong in. Eventually you are able to demonstrate it, but, in the meantime, you need to deal with the consequences.

I had a typewriter with this font. Thanks for the pointer.

This is awesome. Combine it with selectric-mode.

The Quaderno was a gorgeous little machine. I had the XT one, but later a 386 came out. I wish I had bought it from the company when I left.

My favorite is the M-20 though. Chunky and powerful.

AT&T also had very strong design in their product lines. The terminals that descended from the Blit, with their square (1:1, not 4:5) CRTs was a thing of beauty. It crushed me to know how few remain and were not responsibly recycled.

As a career, we need to be better at preserving our history.

There is a lot of Olivetti in Apple. I am sure Jobs was not oblivious to their history.

HN has some serious competitors for “coolest dad ever”.

Wasn’t it Olivetti that had smart badges that’d use IR to report to in-room receivers so you’d know where someone was and calls could be routed to the nearest phone? I remember they had a trivial do not disturb more - just place the badge face down and the receivers wouldn’t be able to find you.

Some were, but Olivetti moved into PC compatibles. I’ve used many PC desktops and servers with their brand (and design!).

I have a complaint however. One family of desktops seemed to demand blood sacrifice every time they were serviced. You’d open the machine, replace the failed drive, test, close it up, and a cut would appear in your hand. I don’t remember cutting my hand on the sharp edges inside, but there was always a cut afterwards.

And they don’t even design them anymore - most are just white box designs with their logo attached.

I will love to see the article. If you want reviewers, let me know.

This is also a warning sign.