This was originally titled “I miss when computers were fun”. But in the course of writing it, I discovered that there is a reason computers became less fun, a dark thread woven through a number of events in recent history. Let me back up a bit.

Evelyn Woods (aka eevee) has posted some venerable takes over the years (she also wrote my personal favourite rant of all time: “PHP: A Fractal of Bad Design”), but this one, where she connects industry’s generic idea of “content” to what she refers to as a “Whatever machine” is really quite excellent.