Comment by trollbridge
8 hours ago
Perhaps because we grew up with it. The VGA 8x16 font reminds me of growing up when I had my first computer that was all mine, with a plasma display where the pixels were clearly visible, yet quite restful on the eyes.
the nostalgia doesn't check all the boxes, even though yeah it's hard to deny, but it embodies a different mindset, a strange limited visual form that promised the future. it was also its own kind of design and aesthetic, today we have infinitely capable machines and all possible fonts but we lost that difference.
ps: i have the same relationship to vintage desktop computer form factor, something about an old blocky box, an hdd led, a cd drive
One odd thing I have noticed is that my young children think a COMPAQ Portable III (not the machine I had as a youngster, but similar) is far more interesting to them than a modern, sleek MacBook. I think it's because they can touch it and turn it on and off, it simply occupies more physical space, and it makes more "interesting" noises.