Do you remember the programs you wererunning in the 1990s?
And boy, what a life it was.
One word of warning: there is a lot ofnostalgia waiting up ahead!
Long story short, they brought Internet access to the masses.
Who can forget theiconic sound of a dial-up modem?
Or the heart-warming “You’ve Got Mail!”
welcome jingle that signified an unread inbox?
Or the TV commercials that ended with an AOL keyword for quick direction to a relevant website?
Where would we be without America Online?
It’s hard to say.
They weren’t theonlyISPs at the time – does anyone remember alternatives like EarthLink, Netzero, and Juno?
The early 1990s were agreat time for PC gaming.
Not long after Wolfenstein 3D, we got the masterpiece known asMyst(1993).
But if we’re going to talk about this era, we can’t leave outDescent(1994).
The graphics and gameplay weren’t anything to sneeze at, either.
Encartawas an annually-updated digital encyclopedia that was published on CDs and DVDs.
Wikipedia is such an integral part of the modern web.
We’d bescrewed without it.
Can you imagine going back to a pre-2001 world where your best alternatives were either Encarta or the library?
My absolute favorite game?
If it weren’t for Chip and his challenges, I might have had toplay Solitaireinstead.
Its main rival, Macromedia Dreamweaver, wouldn’t hit the scene until a year later in 1997.
It’s funny to think how much web development has changed since theFrontPagedays.
While FrontPage no longer exists, it does have two spiritual successors that people still use today.
(And before you crucify me, remember that there are plenty oflegal uses for BitTorrent.)
Without peer-to-peer technology, the Internet would certainly be worse off.
Image Credits:obsolete computerVia Shutterstock
