[chrisduesing]

"This means that somewhere, this instance needs to be connected to a proxy server, which assigns a 10.x.x.x address to the “Windows” machine, and then forwards the connections through. Basically, world’s weirdest, most hipster ISP on the face of the earth."

I wonder if there will ever be a business case for things like this. I sit across the hall from a startup that sells mp3 gramaphones, etsy is a huge success, there are strange Kickstarter projects every day. Is nostalgia a permanent long tail phenomenon, or a fad from which people will move on?

[stinkytaco]

There's no doubt in my mind that nostalgia is a permanent phenomenon. Spencer wrote The Faerie Queene in deliberately antique english to appeal to people's nostalgia. And that was more that 400 years ago. There's been a market for classic cars almost as long as there's been cars.

How many businesses will carve out a niche in long tail tech is harder to tell. I expect it will be like many things, many enter, few leave.

[slg]

Nostalgia might be a consistent phenomenon, but surely what we are nostalgia about changes. A 20 year old likely never experienced Windows 3.11 in the first place. That would likely make them view emulating it more of a novelty exercise than a nostalgic one, which anecdotally is a weaker and shorter lived motivator.

[ANTSANTS]

Ever been on a video game emulation forum? A lot of the users come across as about 10 years old. Windows 3.11 may not have the same appeal, but I bet you there are kids learning DOS today to play System Shock.

[RyanMcGreal]

On the other hand, a 20-year-old probably didn't grow up with a record player but suddenly vinyl is in a huge renaissance.

[noobermin]

As a 25 year old who did manage to experience Windows 3.1 (although I wasn't allowed on the Internet back then) but also once had turntable[0], I think it's far to say that "nostalgia" isn't really the word for it. I guess it's sort of like for gen-Xer's who like to swing dance, they find a certain quality in it although it certainly is much before their time.

May be it is rather superficial, but you can say that about fashion, art, music, choice of programming paradigm (in some cases at least).

[0]I should note the records I bought were recorded by people about my age, and they played psychedelic rock that emulated 60's rock and claimed to use "vintage" equipment from their effects pedals to their recording equipment...and they certainly weren't alive in the 60's.

[lione]

On the other other hand, Vinyl at least has some upsides. Listening to a Vinyl is an experience, plus it's lossless, and physically owning a record is cool/makes good art/conversation pieces. Windows3.11 would be interesting to check out, but it'd be more like something you'd check out for 20 minutes to see how it used to be done, then you'd go back to your modern OS. Vinyl is an experience, most older software is a novelty.

[cbd1984]

> plus it's lossless

Only if you define the vinyl copy to be the primary one, in which case vinyl is lossless by definition. However, if you take a live performance to be primary, vinyl is lossy because it has a reduced dynamic range compared to both live performances and digital technologies.

http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Myths_(Vinyl%29

http://www.npr.org/2012/02/10/146697658/why-vinyl-sounds-bet...

http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/software/the-future-of-mu...

[tedks]

On the other other hand, Windows 3.1 has some upsides. Running Windows 3.1 is an experience, plus it's on DOS, and having a Windows 3.1 install on your laptop is cool/makes good art/conversations pieces. Vinyl would be interesting to listen to once or twice to show off to your friends, but it'd be more like something you'd set up once to see how it used to be done, then you'd go back to an iPod. Windows 3.1 is an experience, vinyl is a novelty.

[jerf]

I think the closest equivalent to the claim that vinyl is lossless would be that Windows 3.1 is efficient. Well... sure... if you squint hard enough and tune the definition of lossless/efficient properly, sure... but not in an actually relevant manner.

[PhasmaFelis]

It doesn't actually make any sense your way, though.

[wuliwong]

While you are obviously exceedingly clever, you're funny inversion is BS. Vinyl isn't a novelty. It is a small but non-negligible market. In my anecdotal experience, myself and my friends have had record players and have been listening to and buying records for years. The "market" for Windows 3.1 machines in 2015 is microscopic and completely negligible.

[jff]

> Listening to a Vinyl is an experience, plus it's lossless

Nope, your record loses information every time you play it, because you're literally rubbing a needle over those tiny little grooves.

[lione]

Not lossless then. High quality? IDK. I thought there was something.

[GFK_of_xmaspast]

Vinyl is absolutely not lossless, there's the crackle and hiss, not to mention the fact that the needle digs into the surface as it's played.

[wuliwong]

I would argue that the vinyl "revolution" is more about the actual qualities of the sound produced vs. digital media than simple nostalgia.

[beeworker]

Huge may be an overstatement... http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/v...

[bai0]

Actually, PPP over Websockets has some really interesting implications. Raw TCP/UDP in your browser is a potentially powerful thing. It's like a VPN client in your browser - once you're connected, you can bridge private networks, or establish pure TCP connections to any server on the internet, without special-case wrappers or browser-imposed WebSocket restrictions.

[db48x]

Hopefully it won't ever be used for a serious VPN; tunnelling TCP inside of TCP (or UDP inside of TCP) leads to well-known stability problems.

[bai0]

There's always the possibility of using WebRTC data as a transport instead of WebSockets.

It's like a 7-layer burrito with extra helpings of sour cream and guac - a bit mushy, but still a burrito.

[db48x]

Yes, I'd forgotten about that! Use a data channel with no retransmissions and it should work perfectly.

[8ig8]

> Is nostalgia a permanent long tail phenomenon, or a fad from which people will move on?

I think you can count on it as long as the 'retro gap' [1] holds at the current level.

[1] http://www.theonion.com/articles/us-dept-of-retro-warns-we-m...

[textfiles]

Well, the bespoke vintage internet experience is kind of what we're up to at the Internet Archive, so you'll see us move into that more, I guess.

[mark-r]

They don't make nostalgia like they used to.

[dean]

Ah yes, the good old days.

[iso8859-1]

A similar feature exists in the Javascript OpenRISC emulator: http://www.benjamincburns.com/2013/11/10/jor1k-ethmac-suppor...