dg comments

please empty your brain below

I had a mobile phone, email and satellite tv in 1996. Internet explorer was launched in 1995. I think you fear a time before 1996.

ian | Homepage | 09.01.08 - 12:30 a.m. | #

You may have had all those things in 1996.
I had none of them.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 09.01.08 - 12:33 a.m. | #

I miss Ceefax-and Teletext...

hippykid | 09.01.08 - 3:13 a.m. | #

I miss Park Avenue - the soap opera on Teletext!

Who remembers faxing jokes?

Elaine | 09.01.08 - 8:02 a.m. | #

I often get the feeling that the future hasn't arrived yet though, even in 2008.

A lot of the interfaces we deal with daily, such as the transport (tube, trains) feel like they belong in a different bygone age.

Also despite improvements in technology, I seem to be tied to my desk at work longer than ever, rather than having machines and computers do the work for me. Where is the leisure age provided by technology?

And where are the domestic robots aound the home?

I'm still waiting for the glossy silver technologically advanced atmosphere of the 21st Century.

gwplf | 09.01.08 - 8:05 a.m. | #

In 1996, one computer in our office was connected to the web to access email. But we had 2 fax machines...

flashgordonnz | 09.01.08 - 8:07 a.m. | #

Your memory may be short.
Yes, only a handful of terrestrial TV channels (4) in 1996, but Sky TV started in 1989 and by 1996 you had many non-terrestrial TV channels to choose from, and several million viewers with a dish!
The newspapers came out in the morning and in the evening. (Evening Standard)
London News Talk Radio, started a news station on the radio on 1152 am in 1994, (now called LBC News 1152). Of course there was also Sky News on TV 24 hours a day, it started broadcasting in 1989.
The first mobile telephones started to appear during the late 1980’s and by the 1990’s the 2G system was rolling out.
The Internet was available via a slow dial up modems. 14K, first, then 28K and wow, 56K speeds!
Yahoo and Lycos search engines were both around in 1996.
I moved into a new house in 1995 and it had 4 double 13a sockets in most rooms.

John | 09.01.08 - 8:15 a.m. | #

I want my jetpack, dinner in pill form, hydrogen fueled car, etc etc

via http://www.threadless.com/
produc...Damn\\_Scientists

Gordon | Homepage | 09.01.08 - 8:42 a.m. | #

Twelve years ago, I was halfway through an Information & Library Management degree at Manchester Met. For at least a year, we had all been feeling pretty aggrieved that we didn't yet have email, as pretty much every other student I knew already had it, and were enjoying the fruits of the New Age.

I don't remember much about what the internet offered, but obviously my only interest back then was its educational application. Apparently though, there was something called "porn" available. Whatever became of that outdated concept?

Wayne | 09.01.08 - 9:01 a.m. | #

"And if you want to publish your thoughts and make friends online then sorry, you can't, because the internet just isn't ready for that yet."

Butbutbut I was already doing both of these things in 1996! In my case, via homepages, Usenet and a subscription-only mailing list. Others were using IRC, Compuserve forums, etc. I was already "meeting people off the internet", and also went to my first mass meet-up in 1996.

mike | Homepage | 09.01.08 - 10:22 a.m. | #

A lot of the commenters have missed the point, ignore the year mentioned and think about the actual point of the post - very poignant I think.

embo | 09.01.08 - 10:40 a.m. | #

does that mean you were allowed to stop worrying about your carbon footprint for two minutes?

tim | 09.01.08 - 11:27 a.m. | #

Its strange.. I can barely remember a time we didn't have a computer in the house, and I remember basic email being used by my family atleast in the earlier end of the 80's.. I had a mobile phone at 16 (so, um, 1991.. and no, we weren't rich or posh or anything, I just got a few perks for working for BT!)..

It scares me, the thought of being without all this technology!! I'd never cope!

fimb | Homepage | 09.01.08 - 11:31 a.m. | #

The geekier amongst you may have been e-messaging one another via the interwebs before 1996, but I wasn't.

1996 was my pre-interaction year.
So I fear 1996.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 09.01.08 - 12:36 p.m. | #

Back in 1996 I used a mainframe-based email system based on one of our huge servers. I also used to dial into various BBS's regularly (that funnily enough had ceefax like graphics at the time)

All good fun

Pete | Homepage | 09.01.08 - 1:05 p.m. | #

I often have feelings like this when our power goes out. What do I do? How do I pass the time? It's getting cold in the house, I can't boil a kettle for a cup of tea or hot water bottle. I can't write my assignment because I do it on the computer. It's quite a strange feeling.

For that little while I am totally isolated from the outside world, and because we get lengthy power cuts quite often, I have learnt to enjoy them and hark back to times when I was a child in the late 1980s, early 1990s. I used to read a lot back then, and enjoy not being able to communicate with other people outside of the house. I don my head lamp and start reading. However, it still does feel strange to be totally cut off from the brave new world.

Laura-Ann | 09.01.08 - 1:39 p.m. | #

A lot of the commenters have missed the point, ignore the year mentioned and think about the actual point of the post - very poignant I think.

Spot on, Embo.

Inspector Sands | Homepage | 09.01.08 - 1:41 p.m. | #

I think that some people here would find this interesting. It's a short piece from Canada's CBC ten o'clock newscast "The National" from 1993 documenting the then-current state of the internet.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=LwQYyUoOA7w

Watershed moments...

Oliver | 09.01.08 - 1:56 p.m. | #

I had internet at work from as early as 1993, but I didn't get a modem and connectivity at home until 1996. The same year I first got a mobile phone, yes. Take it back just ONE or maybe two years to '94 and we had none of these - so '96 isn't that far out.

Good points DG. What will we have in 2020 that will make us sit round going "Do you remember when we only had 8Mb/s broadband, ha ha ha!"

Geofftech | Homepage | 09.01.08 - 2:01 p.m. | #

Totally agree with the sentiment. I can't wait to see what the next few decades will bring, and I'm only sorry I'm unlikely to see what 2100 has to offer us.

PS to all those who were so web-happy in 1996 - let's tweak the number and make that 1986, do you now detect a difference from the world as we live it today ?

Steve Roberts | 09.01.08 - 4:08 p.m. | #

"A time I call 1996".

"In this alternate 1996 reality"

Ah, I get it now. As you were!

mike | Homepage | 09.01.08 - 5:42 p.m. | #

OK, I've tweaked today's post by changing paragraphs 3 and 4 to be about "I", not "you".

I hope that makes the point better.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 09.01.08 - 5:59 p.m. | #

I'm glad you've made it back to 2008 DG. Otherwise, how would we all have coped without our fix today?

THC | 09.01.08 - 7:02 p.m. | #

You had no internet in 1996!? I was only 11, one of the first people brought up with the net methinks. It scares me now that teenagers actually don't know a time before the internet existed. They rely on it so heavily (coming from a former teacher!)

missbliss | Homepage | 09.01.08 - 8:03 p.m. | #

As Laura-Ann points out, the whole darn merry-go-round depends on having a reliable electricity supply 24/7.

trad or anon | 09.01.08 - 8:42 p.m. | #

I worked for an American computer co. in the early 90's in the U.K. and we had an email system called 'all-in-one' it was a DOS based system, and all our P.C.'s were linked to the U.S.'s main server, either by cable or satellite. No internet tho. Oliver, loved the video.

Surrey Girl | 09.01.08 - 10:52 p.m. | #

I arrived in the UK in August 1999. Amongst the biggest items of news, in terms of constant reference to these issues over a prolonged period of time: "the internet" and "rip-off Britain".

On a near-daily basis the wonders of the internet were being reported. Likewise, another example of rip-off Britain was presented every other day: prices of goods and services in the UK were being compared to those on the continent.

After a while, the first issue sort-of fixed the second: Ryanair, Easyjet, Travelocity, Lastminute, needahotel, kelkoo, Multimap, Upmystreet, Comet, Dixons, Tesco, etc.

So by the time I bought my first computer (and did it online) which was delivered the day my 512kb broadband went live early in 2001, the net had more than just email and p0rn.

flashgordonnz | 10.01.08 - 12:41 a.m. | #

I know the feeling DG, I only got the internet at home 2 months ago - now my computer isn't working and the evenings until I take it to the service centre (next week!) are stretching out before me...

I'm amazed at how quickly I've become dependent on the internet. I'm back to surreptitiously surfing at work.

PS. It's 42 degrees (Celsius) in Melbourne today, so if the power fails and my airconditioner doesn't work it will really seem like the dark (& hot) ages.

Carolyn | 10.01.08 - 6:11 a.m. | #

I completely agree-the 90's seem so long ago, and it seems that all this technology has been around forever!

It's my Daughter's 13th birthday today. When she was born we had sky (but nowhere near as many channels), and my Husband had bought a pager so I could let him know once I was in labour. We had a computer (a very basic PC which cost us over £1000) and a hideously slow dial up interenet connection, to not much of an internet!! Now, even our Daughter has a mobile, an ipod, a laptop with wireless broadband etc

Netastrophe | 10.01.08 - 7:40 a.m. | #

I gave a talk on "Life On Sram" (Mars) based on the notion of a Web developer who is transported back to 1996. He thinks he'll be rich and he has so much knowledge that others don't have. But he fails to get a job ("What's AJAX? We want someone who knows how to crearted animated GIFs"

A summary is available here.

This contains a link to a video clip in which I give the presentation.

Brian Kelly, UKOLN

Brian Kelly | Homepage | 10.01.08 - 9:09 a.m. | #

As Laura-Ann points out, the whole darn merry-go-round depends on having a reliable electricity supply 24/7.

Microgeneration or a generator needed then.

I loved 1996. Well, in my case it would be 1992, but.

There are huge dangers inherent in being totally dependent on technology. Just watch China take over the world when we've outsourced and/or need to source everything to there and lost all the manual skills we once had. Not for nothing are (some) economists saying that China will be the richest country in the world by 2050.

Blue Witch | Homepage | 10.01.08 - 11:16 a.m. | #

Nailed it!

Anonymous | 10.01.08 - 2:19 p.m. | #

so happy we've got to where we've got to now... what would i do if i couldn't text dominoes for my pepperoni passion...?

Steve Cater | Homepage | 10.01.08 - 3:48 p.m. | #

"We want someone who knows how to create animated GIFs"

I spoke to a web developer recently. A client of his had read something about the wonderful MARQUEE tag, and wanted to use it.

That took me back!

Mark | 10.01.08 - 6:54 p.m. | #

Too too true....

Mind you, I have sort of been online since 1994, though that goes with my line of work!

Roy Penfold | Homepage | 10.01.08 - 7:46 p.m. | #

It makes me feel old just reading thiese things. And I'm not old, just old-fashioned. I remember the time my boss pointed the mouse at the screen as if it was a remote - not a mistake you encounter these days! Unlike all the nerds, I do have a life that is not electricity dependent (apart from money - I have emergency funds of £30, which won't get me far in the event of major disaster). I like to think of the technology as added on top as a bonus, not the substance of it.

Worrals | 10.01.08 - 8:25 p.m. | #

Just another thought - who else out there remembers Windows 95, Windows for Workgroups, or even (showing my age here), the Sinclair ZX80/ZX81!!

Roy Penfold | Homepage | 10.01.08 - 8:26 p.m. | #

Yes Roy, I remember Windows 95. I also remember Windows 3.1. I even remember when we first tried to coax our family 386 into running Windows 3.0, we had to rearrange the icons into "these will run", "these will run s-l-o-w-l-y", and "don't open these if you want to use the computer again this weekend".

I had this detachment at the end of 2007, staying in a Travelodge type place at the arse end of nowhere while visiting people over Christmas. The TV in the room had 4 working channels (although channel 5 isn't a great loss). There was wifi, but at about £30 for a 24-hour pass per computer, it wasn't viable. There was no phone in the room. There was no mobile reception either, so as well as no phone calls, there were no texts and no mobile internet.

If it hadn't been Christmas, with us spending most of the time Being Sociable at other people's houses (and possibly using their wifi and a bit of Avant Go), I would have gone nuts.

Mary | Homepage | 11.01.08 - 10:58 a.m. | #

The year I fear is 1994. 1994 was working in a small bedroom with walls that seemed to be moving slowly inwards. At the end of 1994 I connected my Apple Mac to CompuServe and thought "yeah...but?". Three months later I corrected my mistake and signed up for a real internet connection through Atlas in London. Dial-up was through an 01 number and my next quarterly BT bill was over £300. Wife was not happy.

Mike Roberts | Homepage | 16.01.08 - 6:35 p.m. | #

Who else came back to read this post in 2016?! ;)

Grumpy Anon | 09.06.16 - 2:06 a.m. | #

Grumpy Anon: yup. Wasn't following DG back then. The original post has worn well, less so the comments.

Old Buccaneer | 09.06.16 - 6:53 a.m. | #

me, ovs.

| 10.06.16 - 4:33 p.m. | #

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