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Login screen for the most vengeful America Online (AOL).
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In dial-up days, actually “Connecting to America Online” is the 5th step in the login process.
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Welcome to the graphical view.
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You have received an email! That catchphrase (voiced by Elwood Edwards in the United States) spawned 1998 romantic comedy.
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AOL added Usenet to its features in 1993, leading to “Eternal September”. But AOL hid “alt.aol-sucks” from its list of standard newsgroups.
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Remember the Gopher protocol? It is still used by some enthusiasts.
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Around 1996, AOL added Web Crawler to its toolkit.
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Looks like NASA is a great site to view in this demo.
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Add NASA to your favorite places!
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Access Microsoft files via FTP.
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It is always a good idea to scan for viruses before sending the files.
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A question for ages.
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The Comprehensive Library of the Internet Archive is a real treasure trove of digital content that aims to preserve our cultural heritage through media that come from formats such as VHS that are currently inactive. Case: 1996 Video, Everything you need to know … Internet Introduction (Listed as 95021 in what one considers to be a series), recently uploaded to the archive.
Even the minimum technical requirements for sign-in indicate how far we have come in terms of absolute computing power. Viewers need a Macintosh or IBM (or IBM compatible) personal computer loaded with Windows 3.11 or Windows 95; 14.4 Modem with transmission or higher capacity; “Minimum” 8MB RAM; And at least 500MB hard drive. .
It’s a good thing we did not get any term sound effects, because the classic sound of a dial modem — always so slow — no doubt evokes painful memories of those times, and one’s connection is declining, and one has to reconnect, to send a few emails. Dialup access is still used in rural or remote areas where broadband is not yet installed, but it is nearing extinction: a 2013 Pew survey found that just 3 percent of American adults relied on dialup at the time.
The video, which promises to take viewers into this mysterious world of the internet without resorting to techno techno, focuses on the three biggest service providers of the time: CompuServe, Prodigy and the most vengeful America Online (AOL). Visitors are introduced to the various welcome screens in each service, followed by a tour of the login process and the main tools available: in particular, sending files via e-mail, newsgroups / Usenet, web browsing, bookmarking features, chat features and FTP.
True, this is not a very heated debate, but despite the bitter story and raw, grain scenes, Everything you need to know … Internet Introduction Captures some of the key cultural elements of the early days of the widespread public use of the Internet. (I admit to nostalgia during Usenet demos: I made many good friends through rec.martial-Arts in the 1990s.) You can watch the full 30-minute video here, if you’re so inclined.
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Login screen for Prodigy, one of the other three largest Internet providers in the 1990s.
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Logging in for the first time does not always go smoothly.
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Prodigy boasted of being the first to use a graphical user interface, but it was not a very visual welcome screen.
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The basic email format has not changed much in essence.
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Choose your Usenet newsgroup!
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The parental control aspect was to protect children from all “adult content”.
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Browsing “W3” in Prodigy.
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“Hotlists” are a version of Prodigy’s bookmarking favorite sites.
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The grandfather of all of them: CompuServe dominated the industry in the 1980s and dominated the 1990s.
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Charles A. Putak wants to log in.
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Visit the Composer’s Web Center.
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Charles has mail!
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Usenet groups are easily accessible
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You can select NCSA Mosaic as your web browser in 1996 (it was discontinued in 1997).
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Menu of popular FTP sites to make things more user friendly.
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Lists the film presented by Diamond Entertainment Corp.