There’s a whole generation of people who don’t remember when the internet was exactly like this. I can still remember buying a 14.4k modem for something like $500 then having to download Trumpet Winsock to get net access under Windows 3.1. We’ve come a very long way. Imagine how todays startups and tech will look to people in 2017 or 2020.
(via CrunchGear)
Thanks for just regurgitating an Engadget post from yesterday.
hhahhahahahha that is so hillarious.
I for one don’t read engadget, so I’m glad it was posted here.
Mac
I don’t read Engadget either, I suspect something this good though will be on lots of sites. As per the ref at the bottom I read it on CrunchGear.
must be a slow news day
The best part is the collect phone call. Pretty hilarious when you think about it that a show like 24 basically couldn’t even exist 10+ years ago…
Back in 1994 my modem-equipped computer was so slow (a 386 with 16MB RAM, as far as I recall) with Windows 3.1 that I generally just dialed up using KA9Q under DOS. I could then telnet into a Lynx server supplied by Oxford University to view Web pages. I did e-mail in Pine locally (as far as I recall). I remember e-mailing Tucows around 1995 to complain their pages wouldn’t let me download files using Lynx and they e-mailed telling me I had to use a graphical browser!! Sadly for me, I’m probably still younger than almost everyone else here.
repost from engadget…..hmmm… i wonder if Duncan Riley drinks his own Kool-Aid (see post)
Anyways, I found this be HILARIOUS and nostaglic. These were the good ole days of overnight 2mb downloads!! I think a 28.8k modem had a higher launch price than the iPhone (must have been more cutting edge).
The AOL segment, the pager, the PAYPHONE (when was the last time you actually saw a working payphone… ha!). I love it!
lol. That was hilarious.
Ha ha, that was so funny. For me to POOP on.
Hey, at least they could access the Internet with a GUI. Does anyone remember Archie, Veronica…?
i liked the nancy kerrigan line.
That’s hilarious!!! I remember getting the AOL disk with free internet. Had to keep changing name to get new account with free time.
What?
http://fakestev...er.blogspot.com
Kind of like my internet connection here in China
You guys know it’s fake? Wasn’t shot in 1994, shot last year as a joke on 24… haven’t seen anyone mention it.
Trumpet Winsock. Wow, I haven’t heard that in a long time. I was so cool, I had an amber monitor.
James, that’s the highest praise we could have received — but no, it was shot by the CHTV staff (www.collegehumor.com/CHTV). We write and produce CollegeHumor.com’s original comedy videos.
DUH, of course it was not shot in 94
Very funny. Thank you for posting.
Few folks know that the very first public internet access for email only (later PPP), way before the Mosaic browser (which required many separate downloads), we provided by Barry Shein’s Software Tool and Die, called, “the World”.
1989.
Wow! What a blast to the past. I still remember being happy going from 2400 to 14.4, thought it was blazing fast at the time! I remember buying a computer with Win95 installed, thought it was so fast/modern. hahahah..
Rex
That was funny Duncan. Nice post. Fuck Mac, the first comment. I’m sick of people attacking your posts. I think you do a good job of mixing it up, and are not afraid to formulate your own opinions on big issues knowing that half the assholes that read this blog will try and rip you for it. Keep up the good work.
Also, in response to Steve Gibson: It’s fucking Saturday!
We all thought that stuff was pretty high tech at the time. I like his grudge look too.
It’s funny this video is from college humor TV. Most college age kids probably are too young to get the irony if this video.
I thought it was amusing that almost all the technology is no longer used, except the desk telephone used at the Washington HQ – Nortel still uses those. Yeah, they’re about 20 years behind.
was hilarious. very humorous.
You’re talking about technology horizon (btw, I remember the early internet days of 1994…).
Now, on individual level, if one keeps track of detailed things/data of what he/she does for a quite long span, say, 5 or even 10 years, then, use a supercomputer to crunch the data to come up with some “educated guess”, would it help him/her for “tomorrow”?
Imagine how todays startups and tech will look to people in 2017 or 2020, indeed.
“Welcome to the Web 2.0 Exhibit here at the Museum of Business History. Here we will take a journey through the 201st decade, and learn about the people that lived in those times.”
“The people of the 201st decade were a primitive and superstitious race, who lacked the knowledge of how the world worked that we take for granted. They filled this void with religion, and in this time the dominant religion was Web 2.0. Here we see a waxwork of one of its chief deities, the Zuckerberg. No sir, the wax isn’t melting, the gods of that time were particularly greasy. And if you’ll walk on a bit, you’ll see a recreation of the Shrine of Zuckerberg… Sorry sir? Yes you’re right, to us it is just a big hole in the ground, but to the people of the 201st decade it was a monument of great spiritual significance. People queued up for days to throw their money in the pit, millions and millions of it, in the expectation that Zuckerberg would reward their faith at a later date.”
“Moving on we see one of Zuckerberg’s shamans, the man known to the people as Arrington. The shaman’s job was to bolster the faith of the pilgrims and convince them to keep throwing money in the pit. There were many shamans at that time but Arrington was one of the greatest. Daily he would stand on high and proclaim to the people of new visions of new deities that the people should honour. Occasionally he would announce the fall of a god, along with a reminder that he had predicted their downfall several months ago. This endeared him to the people even more.”
“Here we see the dark side of the religion – the execution of a heretic. Those who committed heresy by speaking the “words of blasphemy” would be condemned to death by virtual stoning, deluged by a barrage of nasty comments about how they “didn’t get it”. Taboo words included “profitability”, “price/earnings multiple” and “rate of return”. Woe betide the man who spoke them in the presence of the faithful.”
“And as we come to the end of the exhibit, we see the downfall of the faith. The people became disillusioned with pouring money into the many shrines that had sprung up, and began to ask when their faith would be rewarded. The shamans tried to persuade them that their reward was coming, but the people had lost patience. They pulled down the shrines, filled in the pits and chased out the shamans, who were forced to get real jobs.”
“And the lesson of this exhibit? Well, those of us who remember last week’s 200th Decade Dot-Com Famine Exhibit may appreciate a line from Marx: “Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.” “
I remember using Procomm Plus (1.0b) to dial a BBS with my 1200 baud modem to download the shareware version of Commander Keen using xmodem (which took a few hours).
I also remember when I got my Zoom 28.8 for like $250 and wondering wtf I was going to do with all that speed. It sure made MUDding on my shell account a lot faster.
LOL
I think that Columbus and Magellan had easier times than this stone-age stuff.
Oooh, I just loved my Atari 800 with the monochrome monitor and the cassette deck for storage. My first floppy drive (5.25) was SO high tech! Modem? Who could afford a modem?