The unrecognizable Internet of 1996?
In The unrecognizable Internet of 1996, Farhad Manjoo of Slate Magazine gives his impressions of the Web of 1996, although he admittedly wasn’t there. This is amusing in the same way as hearing a modern high-school student talk about the music and fashion of the 1970s, but I thought I should correct some of his misconceptions.
I started thinking about the Web of yesteryear after I got an e-mail from an idly curious Slate colleague: What did people do online back when Slate launched, he wondered? After plunging into the Internet Archive and talking to several people who were watching the Web closely back then, I’ve got an answer: not very much.
David Wertheimer says that’s bullshit, and I agree. In 1996 the web was already so busy that a single person couldn’t keep track of the whole thing, or hope to read everything online. My quotations site was two years old by then, and even in the narrow field of sites about famous quotations it was one of about 200. I couldn’t keep track of all of them. By contrast, when I launched the site in 1994, it was the only one in the category. In early 1995 it was one of three sites in the category, and I regularly talked with the owners of the other two.
Some of Yahoo’s 1996-era front pages have been saved in the Internet Archive. What’s interesting about them is what they lack. First, no e-mail: The first webmail site, Hotmail, launched in July of 1996.
But webmail is not email. People were emailing each other long before Hotmail, using desktop clients like Pegasus and Eudora. They looked pretty much exactly like today’s desktop email clients, except for one thing: there was no spam.
In 1994, a Swarthmore College student named Justin Hall began links.net, one of the very first personal Web sites.
This seems wrong – I set up a personal site in 1994, and I’m pretty sure I wasn’t “one of the very first”. I doubt I was one of the first 500.
I’m sure I could find a few other mistakes in this shoddy article, but my point is this: 1996 was when the Web really started to get big. Real media companies like Time Magazine and the New York Times were seeing its potential for the first time, regular people who weren’t computer-obsessed were beginning to outnumber the geeks, and businesses like Amazon.com were just starting to make money online. The dot-com boom had begun, and advertising-powered sites like Slate were starting to make real money. Saying this was “not very much” going on online is like saying that, since there was no TV, no SUVs, and no Wal-mart, there wasn’t much going on during the industrial revolution.
[via Kottke]
It’s amazing to think of the internet back then and see how things started to take shape. I also like looking at sites using the ‘way-back’ sites on the web… it’s interesting to see the development of the big names online today like Amazon and how their site designs have changed with the times.
Thanks for posting.
I first started using internet in 1997 and I had 24/7 access from day 1. You have a good point about emails. I also used yahoo directory to find sites, unlike today where I simply ‘google’ things. Search engines were lame in 1996.
Even in 1997 I had bookmarked a lot of sites and regularly followed some ‘bookmark lists’ my college seniors had made.
At that time there was plenty of activity on internet using usenet groups (I used tin and slrn and later used deja).
IIRC livejournal started in 1996 as well. Didn’t it?
Fascinating to know that you were one one of the only quote sites back in the day. Good times eh? @Jeet: I’m pretty sure that’s right.
Interesting to read some of the earlier days of the Internet. It always seems like good times looking back.
Interesting to read some of the earlier days of the Internet. It always seems like good times looking back.
Hey, it’s nice to know some important things happen on early years especially when we talk internet because it’s really interesting.
Thanks for a good read, I have signed up to your RSS feed to keep myself and my friends updated. Keep up the good work, oh and Merru Christmas!
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Yes, very interesting to monitor developments and changing sites. And for the development of the Internet in general.
Ah, dial-up. I kinda miss the sound it makes. Well maybe not. It’s good to reminisce though.
Thanks for The unrecognizable Internet of 1996. I read the blog and found very nice. thanks
Those days were great, I bough a computer in 1995, a commodore with no hard drive and a big floppy to Boot in Dos.
Then a friend suggested me to use internet, I still remember how excited I was when I connected to net for the 1st time in my life.
It is really a interesting post, I like it worth reading, but personally i have no idea about The unrecognizable Internet of 1996.
You can still find the caches of old websites. Its interesting to see how sites like ebay, amazon and yahoo have evolved over the years.
Really interesting stuff! It’s amazing how much things have moved on since then
What a great post… it is really amazing how the Internet has changed over the last decade and especially how it has changed our lifes. What is interesting also is to realize that most of the main players in the internet world have not participated of the internet really beggining…
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Many thanks for the post. Such observations are really interesting. I think that the true potential of the World Wide Web, has not yet discovered. Therefore, there is a great opportunity to go back and do more good step in the future.
Many thanks for the post. Such observations are really interesting. I think that the true potential of the World Wide Web, has not yet discovered. Therefore, there is a great opportunity to go back and do more good step in the future.
Thanks for the information. i like the post. thanks
I began working in IT in 1997 and its amazing how things have changed. We built an eCommerce leasing application in 1998 an were recognized by Computer World Magazine. We then started building apps for the handheld devices. What was once cutting edge is now commonplace / assumed.
Thanks. it is really amazing how the Internet has changed over the last decade
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I think slowly the internet will grow tired of this whole “web 2.0″ phase that its currently in. It will start to reflect the internet days of yore with directories etc.
Nice post.Thanks for sharing with us.
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Ah the old desktop email clients bring back memories! I remember using this including Eudora
yes it’s true !!
I got a kick out of this post. Speaking as someone who was a highschooler back in 1996 I can tell you that by that time I was already surfing the net to do research for my homework assignments and there was definitely a lot going on. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
You have to wonder where it is all going to go. I mean like musicians, itunes took over for the $1 song. Now books will all become downloadable. So, you are right, writers will have to find a way to be more business like to make money.
Much like the first telegraph or phone call, the first email marked an historic moment in the evolution of communication. Unfortunately, the message itself was less than earth shattering. The text of that first electronic missive consisted of “something like QWERTYUIOP.”
Sent by computer engineer Ray Tomlinson in 1971, the email was simply a test message to himself. The email was sent from one computer to another computer sitting right beside it in Cambridge, Massachusetts, but it traveled via ARPANET, a network of computers that was the precursor to the Internet.
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Thanks for this great post. I started studying IT in 1998 and I can sure say that the internet has really changed a lot. What I studied for is useless today, hehe.
But knowledge never goes useless. I’m sure that your studies will help you in IT sometimes in your career.
Nice trip down memory lane
I saw on waybackmachine, you allways use same mice icon LOL
nice..
I love to go look at sites on waybackmachine, it’s really fun. I gasp at some of the sites I designed back then all tables, poor javascipt.
Internet changed my life and I appreciated very much. Nice post.
Thank you for the work. These comments are really interesting. I think the real potential has not yet discovered the World Wide Web. Therefore, it is an excellent opportunity to go back and no longer in the future.