Sad to see Silicon Graphics so far down this list.
IRIX Indigo Magic Desktop was the Rolls Royce of user interfaces in an era when Apple computers couldn't even do multi-tasking and PC's still had an interface (Windows) that sat on MS-DOS. Linux was a 'toy' with a GUI that was positively 'off-brand' and the Sun version of X-Window was just plain awkward, clunky and slow. Meanwhile, on SGI computers, you could have a 'CPU eater' 3D rendered desktop background with real-time video compositing in 3D scenes going on in your programs.
SGI computers were also 'useless' at things normal people used PCs for. So no spreadsheets and certainly no word-processors. Games were also lacking, yet so many games were built with SGI machines.
Regarding the design of the boxes, nothing exuded power and awe in quite the same way. Racks of SGI hardware made a place 'mission control', other stuff is just data centre plumbing that just does not project a futuristic vision of cool. To take an automotive analogy a gaggle of SGI machines was more like a Formula 1 grid of cars whereas any other computers en-masse just looked like a supermarket car park.
There was something accessible about video and 3D on the SGI machines that has not been seen since. Hardware may be better today but it does not compel you to want to play with it.
I blame Microsoft for destroying SGI even though there were problems with the wider SGI management and business model. We ended up with a 2D flat web whereas had SGI been around then I am sure that things would have been 3D, in the browser, as per the awesome demos that came with the machines back then.
I wish more tech businesses were about the greatest common factor, and not the least common denominator. If I could find a place like SGI to work, I would camp on their doorstep until they let me in.
The thing about SGI back in the day was that it was more fun to work in TV, movies, geology, weather forecasting, serious computing at a respectable university and so on. I never aspired to work for SGI but knowing how to turn the behemoths on and type a few commands kind of got me working in disciplines that normally required extraordinary levels of study and professional dedication, e.g. meteorology.
I am glad that Open Inventor lives on!
However, IRIS Explorer, remember that one? That was awesome and I wish it existed today. My peak time for playing with IRIS Explorer was when I had my first SGI box, an early purple box Indigo. I think I had the super-deluxe 'Elan' model, but that was still under-powered for Iris Explorer. In latter times when I had a small fleet of Onyxii and O2s at my disposal I didn't have access to IRIS Explorer.
NAG in the UK bought IRIS Explorer and didn't port it to more modern computers. At least this was a better fate than what happened to CosmoWorlds, this was sold to Computer Associates who killed it.
In an odd way I think that the world was better when it cost $100000 to have a decent computer on your desk. You valued your time more.
I think that what you're experiencing is pretty common. Internet itself has changed but perhaps more crucially people with whom you've interacted with changed their habits or simply lack the time they used to have (their age groups are different so there's insufficient critical mass to maintain the old community).
There's an added problem of general noise on the Internet which limits the 90s early 00s type of 'signal'. Another aspect is that services used to be quite often hosted by or aimed at the technical/enthusiastic audience, nowadays it is predominantly aimed towards commercial general public.
The internet suffers from centralisation which for the early(ish) adopters creates overall noise.
I'd also like to add that abundance of bandwidth and endless content easily take the aim and focus on doing the cherry picked and well curated things that you used to do. Bandwith has also contributed to ease of bloat, for example today I can't imagine surfing the net without an adblocker, back then ads were fine and served their purpose without impacting the client side.
More generally I believe that larger populations, whether they be large cities or large online communities, will paradoxically make it harder to find others with very specific non-majority interests.
From the mobile marketplace ecosystem point of view this isn't good for the consumer. That being said the entry barrier is quite high for anyone, even essential...
I forgot all about Netvibes.com! I remember setting up a personal dashboard with my emails, news, Digg, etc way back in ~2006. It may very well have been my first foray into RSS, now that I think about it...
It is time for green web design and green application design (eg. lite versions of applications which are otherwise bloated like Skype with large emoticon animations).
So far I've used Chrome extension "HN current page search" which finds both HN and Reddit discussions regarding the page you happen to be on (only if you click the extension does it check).
On the other hand once Delicious closed down I've settled in for https://raindrop.io/
One of my desktops keeps failing to update Windows 10 for 2 years now, the recent v1803 doesn't fix it either. Too ineffective to do a fresh install and just about tried everything out there to fix it. Complete waste of time.
On the other hand the desktop which always worked flawlessly now cannot even get past the initial installation boot screen from a freshly made v1803 DVD/USB (within 5sec of booting) likewise the update from inside Windows itself fails. Waiting to see if MS address this issue before I waste any more time trying to fix it myself.
https://totl.net/Spud/