stone knives and bearskins
(From the Star Trek Classic episode "The City on the Edge of Forever") A term traditionally used to describe (and deprecate) computing environments that are grotesquely primitive in light of what is known about good ways to design things. As in "Don't get too used to the facilities here. Once you leave SAIL it's stone knives and bearskins as far as the eye can see".
Compare steam-powered.
[The Jargon File]
(1995-01-24)