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I would say before '95 or so, mostly hobbyists and computer programmer types knew about the Internet. Some large universities were online already, so probably the people who knew about it the most were people associated with colleges, parts of the government and computer geeks. The commercial part of the web was mostly used by computer hobbyists at that time. I don't think most people would have called it the "web" at the time, I think that term caught on a bit later, but I could be wrong. They either would call it the "Internet" or "being online", "World-wide Web", or something like that.
By late '95, after Windows '95 was released, the Internet was definitely going mainstream with tons of AOL, Prodigy and a few other ads on TV. The average person under the age of 30 or even 40 might have known about the Internet at the time, but I am sure there were still quite a few in the general public who did not really know much about it yet or know how to describe it well.
My older brother had a summer job in 1995 to build a website for the college he was attending. Apparently, the college thought that having one was something special but didn't want any of their actual staff to "waste their time" on it. At the time, he could only find the existence of about 17 other college or university websites.
Was it basically common knowledge by 1989 or so that the Internet existed, or did people who weren't "Geeks" or in academia basically have no idea what it was until the public started to suddenly use it en masse circa 1995-96?
From what I understand in the early 90s the Internet was very much available to people who wanted it, but the Web which only debuted in 1990/91, was still so small. The Internet infrastructure was also too complicated for the average person to understand until the Mosaic browser came out in 1993.
If you asked the average person in 1993 what the Internet or Web was, would they be likely to say yes?
The Internet dates back to the creation of Arpanet in 1969 and TCP/IP in the 1970s. Though the 1980s, the majority of the people who had access to it were in government and higher education. I was involved with the computer and telecommunciations industry so I was very aware of it but didn't have access.
I was on Prodigy, AOL and Compuserve starting in 1990. I think Compuserve cost $14.50/hour in those days. These three private networks later added Internet gateways around 1995. The Web started to take off with the creation of the Mosaic web browser in 1993. Most average people's first experience with online services was not the Internet but Prodigy, AOL and Compuserve. I would say that 1995 was the year that most people started hearing about the Internet and many got dial-up access soon after that.
The Internet dates back to the creation of Arpanet in 1969 and TCP/IP in the 1970s. Though the 1980s, the majority of the people who had access to it were in government and higher education. I was involved with the computer and telecommunciations industry so I was very aware of it but didn't have access.
I was on Prodigy, AOL and Compuserve starting in 1990. I think Compuserve cost $14.50/hour in those days. These three private networks later added Internet gateways around 1995. The Web started to take off with the creation of the Mosaic web browser in 1993. Most average people's first experience with online services was not the Internet but Prodigy, AOL and Compuserve. I would say that 1995 was the year that most people started hearing about the Internet and many got dial-up access soon after that.
Yes, you're right, that online services were *not* the true internet, well not in the early 90s anyways. Wasn't Prodigy etc during that time essentially a glorified national BBS?
The Internet dates back to the creation of Arpanet in 1969 and TCP/IP in the 1970s. Though the 1980s, the majority of the people who had access to it were in government and higher education. I was involved with the computer and telecommunciations industry so I was very aware of it but didn't have access.
I was on Prodigy, AOL and Compuserve starting in 1990. I think Compuserve cost $14.50/hour in those days. These three private networks later added Internet gateways around 1995. The Web started to take off with the creation of the Mosaic web browser in 1993. Most average people's first experience with online services was not the Internet but Prodigy, AOL and Compuserve. I would say that 1995 was the year that most people started hearing about the Internet and many got dial-up access soon after that.
And a lot of parents got a big surprise in their phone bills. Charges by the hour added up quick.
Had an Everex 286 in 87, 486 in 1990, and was dialing into bbs then, in 1994 I built my first pc myself paying $1300 for the P5, and intel motherboard. I had AOL when it first came out. I'll never forget putting that pc on the curb on garbage day. I'm on an I Pad right now, but my desktop is a P933 with Ultra SCSI 160, and Rambus memory I built in 2000 that is still fast.
Funny part, I'm just an old carpenter, but my hobby is programming fuel injection.
I am 41, born in 1971, for perspective on my post.
In 1991, I think, I was using CompuServe to talk to others on my then boyfriend's home computer, but he was a "computer geek" (his term) and worked as systems analyst. I didn't know anyone else at the time that had access to BBSs and such. Or computers at home, really. I only had one because a wealthy friend of the family had personal computers, upgraded, and gave me his old one.
I started using AOL around 1993 or 1994 and met my 1st husband there. I remember how it took an hour to download someone's shared photo. LOL. At that time I was living in a smallish town in Texas and most people did not know what AOL was when I mentioned it but perhaps that was just reflective of the people I was in contact with at the time.
Was it basically common knowledge by 1989 or so that the Internet existed, or did people who weren't "Geeks" or in academia basically have no idea what it was until the public started to suddenly use it en masse circa 1995-96?
From what I understand in the early 90s the Internet was very much available to people who wanted it, but the Web which only debuted in 1990/91, was still so small. The Internet infrastructure was also too complicated for the average person to understand until the Mosaic browser came out in 1993.
If you asked the average person in 1993 what the Internet or Web was, would they be likely to say yes?
In 1993 I believe most would have said yes. Here is where I first became aware of the concept of dial-up modems, and computer hacking in 1983. As soon as I saw it, I thought someday I'm going to do that. It was about another 12 years before I got my first Mac computer, and got online.
Yes, you're right, that online services were *not* the true internet, well not in the early 90s anyways. Wasn't Prodigy etc during that time essentially a glorified national BBS?
It was more than a glorified national BBS. It had a lot of different services such as news, weather, stock market and other financial information, games, expert columns, etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kafkaesque
And a lot of parents got a big surprise in their phone bills. Charges by the hour added up quick.
You only got a surprise on your phone bill if you had to make a long distance call to access the service. Medium size and larger cities had local numbers to dial. Compuserve and AOL had hourly service rates for connect time. Prodigy was a set fee per month for unlimited usage, if I remember correctly.
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