If Google's April Fools' Day reimagining of its Maps service for the Nintendo Entertainment System didn't provide you with enough retro absurdity for one week, check out Dutch Web editor Jo Luijten's take on an '80s-era Twitter.
The video, which appeared on YouTube recently, is just one of several such clips Luijten has posted that mash up iconic Web 2.0 products and services with outmoded OSes, interfaces, and other technologies. (We've embedded a few below.)
In addition to Twitter, Luijten -- who's also behind a "funny jokes and frivolities" Web site called Squirrel-Monkey.com and a very serious organization called the International Guild of DOS Users (the FAQ is good for a chuckle or two) -- has also conjured up an '80s version of Angry Birds and a '90s take on Facebook. And he beat Google to the punch by whipping up a look at an '80s incarnation of the company's search engine.
Luijten's loving enthusiasm for the dead tech of years past is apparent in the attention to detail in the videos. If you're an oldster, be prepared for long-forgotten memories to magically resurface when you hear the terrible screech of a dial-up modem connecting or see the impatiently blinking underscore character of a command-line interface. Youngsters will likely get the same sort of thrill they feel when thrift-store shopping for an '80s dance-party outfit.
And the videos reward attentive use of the pause button, with nuggets like "Saw a real portable telephone today! Only a couple of lbs."
Did technology and computing really used to look, sound, and behave like this? Yeah -- and not so long ago. Time flies when you're having fun.
P.S. The "Kinna McInroe" who's referenced in a couple of the clips is the actress who played Nina in the movie "Office Space." She's also Luijten's girlfriend, apparently.
(Via Laughing Squid)