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AOL will always be priceless in my opinion. It helped shape and spawn tens of thousands of IT people and programmers. Anyone from back in the days of AOL 2.5 or
by edm0nd 8y ago
AOL will always be priceless in my opinion. It helped shape and spawn tens of thousands of IT people and programmers. Anyone from back in the days of AOL 2.5 or 3.0 that used 1IM punters, cchats, <M><, scrolling on internals, etc. will know what I mean. The internet was a wild and amazing place back then.
- jjordan 8y agoRelive the good ole days in the AOL Proggies FB group :) https://www.facebook.com/groups/297526060414740/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/297526060414740/
- irishcoffee 8y agoThe AOL I remember predates fb
- jdwithit 8y agoI very distinctly remember downloading the AOL update that added a "browser" for "the world wide web". Up til that point, AOL was pretty much a walled garden where you could only access content created by AOL or other members. It may have had some level of Usenet access? I forget. I had no idea what this web nonsense even meant, but I was extremely excited to find out. Turned out to be a pretty good idea in the end.
- _Microft 8y agoYes, it got Usenet access at one point. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September
- mywittyname 8y agoI remember you could log into AOL, then open up a web browser to access the rest of the internet. Was that not always possible with AOL?
- mcbits 8y agoMy memories of AOL have faded, but I believe the early web access was only through their built-in browser and was very limited. ("Enter keyword: DEALS" etc.) At some point they started providing SLIP/PPP or whatever it was that normal ISPs used to enable IP over dialup.
- reaperducer 8y agoWas that not always possible with AOL? No. AOL was AOL, and the World Wide Web was another entity that you accessed with a GEnie, Delphi, or some other service. Eventually mail gateways were build so you could relay e-mail from one service to another. Then later came web browsing on AOL.
- cat199 8y ago> The internet was a wild and amazing place back then. was aol even connected to the internet at that point?
- irishcoffee 8y agoIirc you could dial into AOL and then pop open a browser. I may have a bad recollection though
- bdcravens 8y agoYes. When I'd stay with family or friends that had AOL dialup the first thing I did was install Netscape. However, this was the late 90s; I'm not sure if the client created a proper TCP/IP stack in prior versions.
- TarpitCarnivore 8y agoAol had a built in browser during that time.
- Tempest1981 8y agoYes, I think it wrapped the Microsoft IE control. (For convenience and compatibility?) Trident layout engine: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL_Explorer https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL_Explorer
- _jal 8y ago1993. For those of us who did not grow up on AOL, here's how the time when the hordes gained Usenet access was immortalized: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September
- paste1 8y agohttp://justinakapaste.com http://justinakapaste.com
- ConcernedCoder 8y agoI still have AOL install cds they sent in the snail mail...
- bovermyer 8y agoOr as I liked to call them, "free coasters."
- misiti3780 8y agoah ... punters ... those were fun. they are the reason im a software engineer today.
- jonathankoren 8y agoThia is literally the first good thing I've heard anyone say about AOL from back then. Even back in the day, it didn't have a good reputation. But yeah, undeniably influential. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug ;)