I had access to the early internet prior to the web, when I attended university. After graduating, I started to subscribe to the online service Delphi which in

I had access to the early internet prior to the web, when I attended university. After graduating, I started to subscribe to the online service Delphi which in the USA was similar to CompuServe or AOL. But at the time, Delphi was the only such service to provide a gateway to the Internet. It was mostly useful for FTP and NNTP. Within a year or so, the the web became the focus. Still entirely text based, but so obviously the way forward.