Old Friends Crossing Paths

I was browsing around on the internet a couple of days ago and came across a webpage where somebody mentioned that a certain person was their momand I saw the name of somebody I knew “online” in the days before the world wide web took off. A little history lesson is probably appropriate at this point (I apologise if you already know this, but I’m guessing a lot of people don’t and might find it interesting). First I want to get something straightthe “internet” is not the “world wide web”, and the “world wide web” is not the internet. They are two different things. The “internet” is the network of computers that are linked together (when you request a web page, the data bounces across several computers on it’s way to youthat network of computers is “the internet”while you are connected to the network, your computer is part of “the internet”). Right. Back in 1991 when I first went “online” the “internet” consisted of computers at various education, research and government establishments. There were no such things as the “web”, or “web browsers”. You could send email, share files, and post messages to bulletin boards called “usenet” (now known as “newsgroups”). Because the internet wasn’t really available to the home computer user, various other systems cropped upamong them bulletin board systems (home-grown servers with banks of modems), and the first “online services”. The leader in the late 80s and early 90s was a company called Compuserve. To connected to compuserve you plugged a modem into your computer (running Windows 3), bought an account, installed their client software, and you got access to their network. You could send email to people, join “groups” that had messageboards, and read various news feeds generated by Compuserve themselves. Although Compuserve spanned the globe, their network was not the “internet”, and was not a part of the internet that we now know. Their servers were a closed networktheir software only allowed you to look at their own systemyour email, groups, and their news. It looks very restrictive and simple now, but at the time there really was nothing elseit was the “cutting edge”. The world wide web was still years away (although Tim Berners Lee had actually invented it’s fore-runner, although it was running on his own server inside CERN). It’s probably worth pointing out that if Tim’s bosses at CERN had not let him publish the draft specification for the world wide web to the community, the web as we know it would not have happened. We would have ended up with a three way fight between the power players of the 1990sCompuserve, AOL, and MSN. MSN. Now there’s a story. “The Microsoft Network” was built by Microsoft in the mid 1990s as a competitor to Compuserve, AOL, and a new emerging system called the “World Wide Web”. Microsoft regarded the internet as a system used by educational and research establishments, and tried to convince everybody that (just like Compuserve and AOL) the future lay in them controlling the network, and providing you with rich content that worked best on Windows computers. It was the worst mistake Microsoft ever made. Looking back, it’s obvious why the private networks failedif you were a member of Compuserve, AOL, or the Miscrosoft Network, you could see their system. You could also email people on the other systems, but that was a novelty. The thing about the web was that if you had a browser it didn’t matter which system you were oneverybody could see the world wide web. And once the first graphical browser appeared”Mosaic” (later to become Netscape)Compuserve, AOL and Microsoft realised they were trying to stare down the grim reaper. Getting back to the original story, it was as a member of compuserve about 10 years ago that I first ran into the friend that I started this post talking about. I was a member of the “Compuserve Writers Forum”, and she was one of the more active members that always had time to send a message, or reply to a discussion topic. Soten years on the world has changed. The internet has destroyed Compuserve. AOL bought their ashes after a sustained attempt to provide everybody on earth will an entire garbage can full of installation CDs. Microsoft saw the approaching tide that was the Internet, and quietly started turning their ship around. They built a competitor to Netscape, and a new version of Windows (98), and tried to quietly forget about the “Microsoft Network”. Also in those ten years, two good friends parted and enjoyed a significant chunk of their lives. Then their paths crossed again yesterday after I spotted a surname on a webpage and a door opened somewhere near the back of my memory “I know that name” What else is there to say? Hi Eliseit’s great to be back in touch with you. It’s been a long time