OK, my example was simplistic. I want to find the best chicken tacos in San Francisco. I can't call directory enquiries for that - I have go find reviews. Then call to make a reservation at the place, then find driving directions of how to get there, somehow. In a paper road atlas? Am I having to advocate for the benefits of the internet on Hacker News?
> Realplayer sucked but it was about a thousand times more reliable than the current compatibility crapshoot
Well of course it was, it only had to run on one platform. Compatibility is a lot easier when that's the case. Today we have HD video being played on mobile devices in your pocket. I can't remember the last time I ran into a compatibility problem with online video.
> I used to be able to take a supersonic flight across the country, without having my body inspected via millimeter-wave radar.
That's a political decision, not a technical regression.
> Has anyone set foot on the moon in your lifetime?
No. Can I load, on demand, stunning satellite photography of planets orders of magnitude further away than the moon, on my phone, on the bus to work? You bet.
It's both. Private supersonic flights are no longer available, and it is more of a pain in the ass to get on the inferior flights that are available.
I could go on, but it's moot -- the only point I'm here to make is that progress always been paired with regression, and it's always going to be a personal decision as to whether the tradeoffs were good ones.
I have no idea and Yelp is not going to help. So, the fallback is I can ask some friends for advice and directions or use some companies best of list. But, again the internet did almost nothing in this space.
PS: I also had the internet on my phone in 2006 and yes they had maps. EX: http://www.forbes.com/2006/12/08/phones-music-internet-tech-...
> Realplayer sucked but it was about a thousand times more reliable than the current compatibility crapshoot.
So Vorbis/MP3 and WebM/H.264 is not good enough for compatibility over all the browsers?
Bad example. I didn't need a smartphone for this task because there was a real live human being, who brought to the task all of the adaptability and intuition that modern systems lack. I didn't need Yelp, or Google Maps, or even the entire name of the business I was looking for. "I need the number to the printing company on the east side" was enough to get me a name, an address, and the call routed, without paying monthly bandwidth fees or spending seven hundred dollars on a pocket supercomputer.
Realplayer sucked but it was about a thousand times more reliable than the current compatibility crapshoot (sans bandwidth issues).
Worth the price? Sure, but to quote Pulp Fictoin, let's not start beating each other off just yet. There is plenty of room for improvement, and we've lost a lot of ground.
I used to be able to take a supersonic flight across the country, without having my body inspected via millimeter-wave radar.
Has anyone set foot on the moon in your lifetime?