in other news

[judywatt]

So the local news is full of stories about how Yahoo just turned 15.

I remember being online before that - before there was a web, there was just a net and it moved very slooooowwwwly.  

There was no DSL, there was only dial up - remember what modems sounded like if you didn't know how to turn the sound of them OFF so that your loved ones would not hear you dialing up 1000 times a day to get your emails and forum messages?   That was one of the first things I learned when I got a modem - how to make it dial up SILENTLY.

Remember how different the demographics were of who was online and who didn't even know what "online" meant?  Like, before there was AOL and then it all went to hell?  

LOL... anyway seeing Yahoo on the news all happy to be turning 15 made me remember what the internet was like before AOL and Yahoo existed.  

In some ways better, in some ways not.

 Life is like that as things keep moving right along. :)

Comments

[only-taciturn.livejournal.com]

It is amazing to imagine kids just a few years younger than me, having grown up with the internet their whole lives.

I'm sure there are some people my age who had techy parents that grew up with it this whole time too, but that must be so rare.

[judywatt.livejournal.com]

the internet was invented by boomers, so our parents didn't grow up with it for sure :)

[fionnabhar.livejournal.com]

I have very fond memories of the Prodigy Bulletin Boards.

[judywatt.livejournal.com]

oh yeah, usenet and then prodigy! i was on the well way back in the olden days, but hated their interface so much. then i was addicted to compuserve for several years - cs was great until aol bought it an ruined it. that was very sad. but i still know people online from the early 90s on cs.

[sweetmadnes.livejournal.com]

i remember too. and you're right. it all changed after aol. a sudden burst of newbies who didn't know how to RTFM. it's funny to think of how amazon started off too. i wonder how old they are?

[judywatt.livejournal.com]

i think amazon began in the late 90s. i was an early shopper there, and think i should get free shipping for life, but no, i have to pay for prime membership like everyone else :)