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]
46 Responses to “The unrecognizable Internet of 1996?”
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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.
Karl Foxley says:
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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?
Jeet says:
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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.
Owen says:
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Interesting to read some of the earlier days of the Internet. It always seems like good times looking back.
Earl says:
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You post some neat stuff, i’ve been reading for a while, but recently you have not posted…..
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i believe the op basically made farhad manjoo look stupid on many levels lol
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Wow… You are doing it for last more than 15 years… Compared to today, internet must have been very silly at that time… Good job… Keep it up…
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In 1996 the internet is so slow to work, like today we are using internet connection up to 100 Mbps, but in 1996 its just in kbps.
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I have to say that this article let me know some Internet history in that time.People now are really luck can know everying from internet.
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I couldn’t keep track of all of them. By contrast, when I launched the site in 1994,
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All the art is the world have a very good price. Especially if the expert consider that a qualified art. Such as, monet and da vinci. All the painting that they made is really expensive.
Dog Run says:
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I agree! 1996 was really the starting point of it all. I can’t believe how much time has passed since then and how much (or how little?) the web has changed since.
Jennifer Lawrence says:
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I think one of your advertisements caused my internet browser to resize, you might want to set that on your blacklist.
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And now the internet is overcrowded. It do not take much effort to lost.
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I am the author of my life. Unfortunately I’m writing in pen and I can’t erase my mistakes…
david says:
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yes,you are right,the interent is developed so fast.
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