Do you remember when video recorders first appeared in the 1980s?

 

We had a JVC HR-7700EK. It bristled with buttons. There were 26 of them ranged across the front and, behind a little drop down flap, there were another 10 plus a couple of switches and two knobs that adjusted the tracking. The remote was even more complicated - it had 42 buttons.

 

This was typical of any emergent technology. They would give you all the controls you could ever want, and let you discover the myriad ways to adjust what your machine could do. It was fun. As time went by cost, and a drive to achieve a zen-like level of simplicity and calm, meant that most of the functionality was swept away. HiFi did the same. Bass and Treble (and, God preserve them, Mid Range) controls were eventually considered anathema by audiophiles. TVs lost their horizontal and vertical hold knobs that we all so enjoyed playing with.

 

Websites have gone the same way. In the heady days of Flash this website could do all sorts of things. But people with evil intent found back doors that made Flash insecure and nobody could be bothered to fix it anymore, so HTML5 came along and the functionality was reduced. Things that used to be taken for granted, like membership areas, automatic registration of new members and the ability to send emails disappeared. Forms and blogs and tables were simplified out of existence. Despite howls of complaint, the software designers headed down the road toward sites that are now a triumph of style over content.

 

Eventually you have to call it a day.

 

It is pointless building something while someone else is at the other end taking it apart.

 

So this site is no more, and we are in the process of building a new one.

 

Hopefully it will last a bit longer. So watch this space.

 

In the meantime anyone who doesn't consider it the work of the devil can find us on Facebook. Just type in Online Austin Seven Club and you will find us.