Online Then & Now

When I first went online on March 31st, 1998, I did so using a device called the Brother Geo Book NC80C, a notebook computer using the Graphical Environment Operating System. The computer was pre-configured to work with an internet service provider called Earthlink. Personally, at the time, I had never heard of Earthlink.

Mind you, this was in 1998. There were a whole load of online services and internet service providers, such as Prodigy, A T & T World Net, GEnie, CompuServe and the biggie, America Online(AOL), but, there I was with this unknown quality called Earthlink. DSL was starting but Cable Broadband was not in operation. Here I was working with this unknown service, Earthlink. Sprint also had internet access.

Upon switching to a Compaq with Windows 95, the rest of the web opened up to me. Mac did not appeal to me, the way Mac appeals to me today. When Earthlink went online in 1994, it was developed to work across several platforms. I used it in Windows 95 & 98SE, on GEOS 3.0 and later in Mac OS 9.2.2, which is the last of the Mac Classic Operating Systems, all the way into Mac OS X, 10.5.6.

Setting up the internet via broadband in Windows 98SE took awhile to do, whereas in Mac 9.2.2, it was plug and play without the need to rip out one’s hair. And Earthlink was and still is the Mac-Friendly way to connect to the web, whether via Broadband or Dial-Up.

Of that huge group of ISPs, only Earthlink offers dial up and broadband. AT & T has broadband only. As far as AOL is concerned, it’s bring your own access, as dial up is a thing of the past and AOL is like Yahoo or other portals.

Earthlink got online, 99% on the 1st dial in. AOL often required 10 dial ins and as many as twenty six two number dial ins. One wonders why sites like AOL Sucks used to flourish. It is true that AOL used to give out loads of floppy disks. People would try the service and then junk it, as getting online was a hassle.

Currently, I’m happy using Broadband, Mac OS X and Earthlink. The fact that AOL is free with BYOA makes me quite-content. The fact that I can type up this essay at a nice pace, using Mac Word Processor Bean, is comforting.

I have Earthlink & I have Bean and Mac. And I’m content to have three good things which work well.

The Pez Report.