Newsletter
  • Get a newsletter digest every Friday:
Contact

Send me feedback, tips, bug reports, and anything else:

About me and the blog

My name is Marcin Wichary (he/him). I’ve worked as a UX designer, typographer, front-end person, and manager at Google, Medium, and Figma. I’ve also written a book about keyboards and typing, gave talks, and published essays about design, typography, and technology.

Unsung is my blog about software craft and quality.

More info about Unsung

Send me feedback, tips, bug reports, and anything else:

More info about Unsung

“More or less turned Windows into a carnival”

Wes Fenlon at PC Gamer:

Every so often, a wonderful thing happens: someone young enough to have missed out on using computers in the early 1990s is introduced to the Windows 3.1 “Hot Dog Stand” color scheme.

I can’t figure out whether Gruber’s take (“That’s Microsoft.”) is also a subtle jab at Apple in the year of Liquid Glass.

Also, great first comment under the original post:

I assume “Plasma Power Saver” served an actual purpose - it was intended for users of “portable” machines having a gas plasma display. Early ones were monochrome (orange) and I guess the actual color hue didn’t matter so much as the intensity.

Early plasma displays were genuinely fascinating.