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[TheBoy]

Although some of the "educational videos" that were rife before the internet was invented, that we used to have a "library" of at work were clearly 3rd or 4th generation copies....

[aaronjb]

"educational" you say..

But yes, open source software has a lot going for it and, outside of work, it's basically all I use. Heck, as you know, our corporate product has Linux underpinnings for the management plane.. but back then I wasn't even a poor student - I was a poor school-kid who swept the streets for money (no, really .. though that may have been necessitated by the £200 phone bill and £200 CompuServe bill that I needed to pay back! ), so spending money on PCBoard was out of the question 

Ah, golden days.

[TheBoy]

I only ever used CompuServe once, on a month's free trial.  Phone bill was £80 just for that (I used to get free itemised bills back then).

I remember thinking during my one man campaign to get ADSL to Brakkers, £50 a month of internet might seem expensive, but my phone bill would drop dramatically.

[TheBoy]

Heck, as you know, our corporate product has Linux underpinnings for the management plane..

As I think I told you (might have even PM'd the photo), the most use I've had from your product thus far is to use as a step ladder to fit some RAM in the top of a rack .  I doubt I'll get more use, as they appear to have gone missing from that site .  Never even got to open the boxes.


(We use them extensively elsewhere, as you know, and they are great pieces of kit...   ...both for their intended use, and as boxes to stand on )

[aaronjb]

They are sturdily made! And lovely red balls..

CompuServe was great - but so damned expensive. Then again, so was AOL at the time, I imagine. It introduced me to things like IRC-like chat, before I had access to IRC, forums etc etc. Kids these days - don't know they're born, the Internet is practically free now in comparison..

[TheBoy]

They are sturdily made! And lovely red balls..

I often stroke your red balls

CompuServe was great - but so damned expensive. Then again, so was AOL at the time, I imagine. It introduced me to things like IRC-like chat, before I had access to IRC, forums etc etc. Kids these days - don't know they're born, the Internet is practically free now in comparison..

I guess in reality, once direct Internet (ie, likes of Demon, BT Openworld etc dial up services) became available for £15 per month (plus phone bill - pre Freeserve days, and pre the 0800 dialup days), the Internet was "cheap".  Broadband made it more usable by always on/available, but the monthly price rocketed to around £40 plus phone line when ADSL first came out.

So I think the Internet was always "expensive", only now its almost a necessity.

[aaronjb]

They are sturdily made! And lovely red balls..

I often stroke your red balls

I thought I could feel something..

CompuServe was great - but so damned expensive. Then again, so was AOL at the time, I imagine. It introduced me to things like IRC-like chat, before I had access to IRC, forums etc etc. Kids these days - don't know they're born, the Internet is practically free now in comparison..

I guess in reality, once direct Internet (ie, likes of Demon, BT Openworld etc dial up services) became available for £15 per month (plus phone bill - pre Freeserve days, and pre the 0800 dialup days), the Internet was "cheap".  Broadband made it more usable by always on/available, but the monthly price rocketed to around £40 plus phone line when ADSL first came out.

So I think the Internet was always "expensive", only now its almost a necessity.

Maybe that's true .. it "feels" a lot cheaper now, but that's probably subjective and largely due to my salary having increased somewhat from £100/mo I spent years stuck on ISDN ("Home Highway"), mind, before I could get ADSL .. it felt expensive again, then, when I was paying significantly more than someone a mile down the road

[Mr Skrunts]

Amstad 1640, Twin 5.25 drives, B&W Monitor, DMP 4000 printer and all for the bargain price of £999 

[aaronjb]

BTW, anyone getting nostalgic should go here: http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/

[Doctor Gollum]

Dad was into computers and programming, (although he was a physics teacher by trade...)

Unfortunately he didn't consider that it was worth spending the time to teach my brother and I anything about them...