NodeBB

@d1 I'd argue it's only awesome.

@12thRITS Thank the illustrator, John Cospito!

@slyborg this is what I would say about BlueSky.

From the same issue, this illustration could be used in an article tomorrow about #LLM overreliance.

OBEY.

BYTE Magazine, October 1983.

When someone asks me what the #Fediverse, #Mastodon or #ActivityPub is I'll use this illustration from UNIX Review, April 1985.

#UNIX

These article illustrations are truly something.

UNIX Review, April 1985.

#UNIX #unix_surrealism

@foxy Found it: https://archive.org/details/Unix_Review_1985_Sep.pdf

Oh my, it's his father!

Hey @prahou is your computer sad or happy?

Is this Mr. Computo?

From the May 1985 issue of UNIX WORLD magazine.

#UNIX

@foxy Sorry, I forgot! You can search the issues on Archive.org.

@lydiaconwell Right? I mean, it’s wild to me that they were like “we need a photo shoot for UNIX magazine, please help.”

Art Director: Sure, just get out of my way.

@hellomiakoda Well, that’s one way to interpret it. I don’t see it through such a pessimistic lens.

@bobdvb I wish we still did.

@RealGene Fixed

@bjorndown https://merveilles.town/@ritualdust/115516238498864678

@burnitdown for sure. I mean, it was a choice and it represented color graphics, but it sure hits differently in 2026!

There are lots of examples in these old magazines like this. We lost this kind of original, experimental advertising. This was all in an otherwise stuffy UNIX magazine with articles about relational databases and reports from the front lines on C standardization committees.

Compared to what we see today, it's very refreshing.

@llewelly I'd argue there’s plenty of rainbows around the Fediverse!

@mhoye @Haste I don’t know! I agree, it looks intentional.

@wyatt @Haste I believe so! I’ve seen a lot of that subtle but seemingly intentional imagery in the various ads.