I still say those cases were the spawn of modern cable management as we know it, with the sleeving and neatly routed cables.
I remember it took me like TWO FREGGIN days worth of effort to remove all the pins off my connectors, sleeve them and successfully re-pin every single couple... but it sure was schweet to have perfectly routed cables when most everyone else still had octopus cabling.
I think those types of cases taught me a lot about airflow and thermal zones as well..because you could see dust accumulations from every single angle with them when traditional cases only gave you peaks at particular angles as to what was actually going in and out.
Well.. I hope i'm not the only one that remembers these, I happened to come across one at a local used PC and parts store and fell in <3 with it, though the guy wanted to much for what its condition was so i had to pass it was still an awesome trip down memory lane lol