HK wrote:
John wrote:
On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 01:03:47 -0800 (PST), wrote:

On Dec 11, 11:18 pm, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq."
wrote:
BAR wrote:
Why did anyone ever pay for AOL?
The question is why did Time Warner buy AOL.
The Jews needed to hide some money from the IRS...................

You and Harry make a great pair.
Pick a religion and go for it.


You are more than a bit over the edge this morning, Herring.
Are you now accusing me of being anti-Semitic? I have nothing against
Christianity, by the way, but I have no respect for assholes like you
who claim to be Christians but whose behavior says otherwise.



Harry, actually you hate everyone equally. It doesn't matter what their
religion is. You only make derogatory comments about someone's religion
if you think it will touch a nerve and make your insult more effective.

Your behavior is far worse than any of the Christians you like to insult
and you realize it. In your mind, is it acceptable to be rec.boats
most vile individual because you are not a Christian?

On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 08:25:47 -0500, BAR wrote:

Tom Francis - SWSports wrote:
On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 07:12:21 -0500, BAR wrote:

Tom Francis - SWSports wrote:
On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:41:33 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Thu, 11 Dec 2008 23:59:57 -0500, wrote:

There was a time when it was only Prodigy and AOL
Let us not forget Compuserve which was there *long* before Prodigy or
AOL. Compuserve had the very best national and international dial-up
network, EMAIL and many valuable support forums and databases. They
could have easily converted their proprietaty screen formats to HTML
and web based presentation but they didn't see the need for it.
Heh - reminds me of a certain computer company executive who told me
that email would never become a mass market feature for the home
computer because the routing systems would be too complex, too
expensive to build and besides, telephones were easier.
Was this the profit himself, Edson?

Actually no - although it wouldn't have surprised me if he didn't feel
the same way.

It was Ken Olsen.

A member of the where are they now companies.

ROTFL!!

Amazing isn't it? We thought we were kings. :)

On Dec 12, 10:11*am, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq."
wrote:
wrote:
On Dec 11, 11:18 pm, "Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq."
wrote:
BAR wrote:
Why did anyone ever pay for AOL?
The question is why did Time Warner buy AOL.

The Jews needed to hide some money from the IRS...................

We are more creative than that. *Only an Italian Mobster would make that
mistake. *

Or, possibly a Governor from ILL-annoy

wrote in message
...
On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:41:33 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

Let us not forget Compuserve which was there *long* before Prodigy or
AOL.
Yep but if your company wasn't paying the bill it was way too
expensive for most mortals and they didn't have much in the way of
entertainment services. I had Prodigy pretty much from day 1 (IBM
subsidized it for us) They had great content for the day.
I got AOL very early on because my wife's family were on it. I think
they had an IBEW deal. I really didn't use it myself but my wife used
Email a lot to talk to the folks up north. I did start using this as
my Email when I left IBM in 96. It was easy for people since my IBM
address was gfretwel@atlvmic1 on the VM system
When Prodigy dropped the "Classic" service, I dropped them.
I still keep this AOL account but I think it will go away soon, when I
get my own domain. That way I will own my Email address. It will take
a while to get the word out tho, since I have had this as my primary
address for so long.


I had a bunch of email addresses from different companies I worked for, but
have kept the netcom address for years. When I did consulting, was good to
not have to change emails. Earthlink is the final owner, but though at
least 4 companies, they have kept the old email address valid.

"Mike" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
...
On Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:54:38 -0500, BAR wrote:

Why did anyone ever pay for AOL?
There was a time when it was only Prodigy and AOL, before there really
was an internet, from the consumer standpoint. It was all proprietary
software and captive content. Other than that you just had local BBS
services. If you traveled you wanted something with national coverage.
It still is about the most stable ISP. The rest came and went with too
much frequency to actually give anyone your Email address and have it
be useful a year later. Even now I can still use my 15 year old AOL
address but my Mediaone address is dead, as is the successor
Roadrunner (ended up Comcast), Sprint then Earthlink, ended up Embarq.
and a half dozen other places that I had accounts with. (RIP)

The software stopped being stable when they incorporated Internet
Explorer as the browser and W/9x. Prior to that it was rock solid. I
used to use the W/3.1 version to test communication on machines that
had suspected software problems since it didn't have to be "installed"
and it would run straight from a diskette.

Before Prodigy and AOL there was Compuserve and GEnie. Same stuff, just
earlier.

--Mike


Actually there was ARPA net for a lot of us.

On Dec 12, 3:01*pm, "Calif Bill" wrote:
"Mike" wrote in message

...







wrote in message
.. .
On Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:54:38 -0500, BAR wrote:

Why did anyone ever pay for AOL?
There was a time when it was only Prodigy and AOL, before there really
was an internet, from the consumer standpoint. It was all proprietary
software and captive content. Other than that you just had local BBS
services. If you traveled you wanted something with national coverage.
It still is about the most stable ISP. The rest came and went with too
much frequency to actually give anyone your Email address and have it
be useful a year later. Even now I can still use my 15 year old AOL
address but my Mediaone address is dead, as is the successor
Roadrunner (ended up Comcast), Sprint then Earthlink, ended up Embarq.
and a half dozen other places that I had accounts with. *(RIP)

The software stopped being stable when they incorporated Internet
Explorer as the browser and W/9x. Prior to that it was rock solid. *I
used to use the W/3.1 version to test communication on machines that
had suspected software problems since it didn't have to be "installed"
and it would run straight from a diskette.

Before Prodigy and AOL there was Compuserve and GEnie. Same stuff, just
earlier.

--Mike

Actually there was ARPA net for a lot of us.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

That ran off of heated rocks and bronze, didn't it?!!!!!

HK wrote:
BAR wrote:
Tom Francis - SWSports wrote:
On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 07:12:21 -0500, BAR wrote:

Tom Francis - SWSports wrote:
On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:41:33 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Thu, 11 Dec 2008 23:59:57 -0500, wrote:

There was a time when it was only Prodigy and AOL
Let us not forget Compuserve which was there *long* before Prodigy or
AOL. Compuserve had the very best national and international dial-up
network, EMAIL and many valuable support forums and databases. They
could have easily converted their proprietaty screen formats to HTML
and web based presentation but they didn't see the need for it.
Heh - reminds me of a certain computer company executive who told me
that email would never become a mass market feature for the home
computer because the routing systems would be too complex, too
expensive to build and besides, telephones were easier.
Was this the profit himself, Edson?

Actually no - although it wouldn't have surprised me if he didn't feel
the same way.

It was Ken Olsen.

A member of the where are they now companies.


Olsen is well-known. He may be a "was" but you are a never were and
never will be.

I don't try to be anything more than I was or am. I know this is a
foreign concept to you but others will understand.

Tom Francis - SWSports wrote:
On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 08:25:47 -0500, BAR wrote:

Tom Francis - SWSports wrote:
On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 07:12:21 -0500, BAR wrote:

Tom Francis - SWSports wrote:
On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:41:33 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Thu, 11 Dec 2008 23:59:57 -0500, wrote:

There was a time when it was only Prodigy and AOL
Let us not forget Compuserve which was there *long* before Prodigy or
AOL. Compuserve had the very best national and international dial-up
network, EMAIL and many valuable support forums and databases. They
could have easily converted their proprietaty screen formats to HTML
and web based presentation but they didn't see the need for it.
Heh - reminds me of a certain computer company executive who told me
that email would never become a mass market feature for the home
computer because the routing systems would be too complex, too
expensive to build and besides, telephones were easier.
Was this the profit himself, Edson?
Actually no - although it wouldn't have surprised me if he didn't feel
the same way.

It was Ken Olsen.
A member of the where are they now companies.

ROTFL!!

Amazing isn't it? We thought we were kings. :)

I asked a 68000 ICE (in circuit emulator) sales guy one time why I had
to buy a $55K MicroVAX II to run his $8K ICE when I had all of these $3K
PCs? He couldn't come up with a good answer. WE bought the MicroVAX II.

When superior technology meets superior marketing who wins?

Calif Bill wrote:
"Mike" wrote in message
...
wrote in message
...
On Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:54:38 -0500, BAR wrote:

Why did anyone ever pay for AOL?
There was a time when it was only Prodigy and AOL, before there really
was an internet, from the consumer standpoint. It was all proprietary
software and captive content. Other than that you just had local BBS
services. If you traveled you wanted something with national coverage.
It still is about the most stable ISP. The rest came and went with too
much frequency to actually give anyone your Email address and have it
be useful a year later. Even now I can still use my 15 year old AOL
address but my Mediaone address is dead, as is the successor
Roadrunner (ended up Comcast), Sprint then Earthlink, ended up Embarq.
and a half dozen other places that I had accounts with. (RIP)

The software stopped being stable when they incorporated Internet
Explorer as the browser and W/9x. Prior to that it was rock solid. I
used to use the W/3.1 version to test communication on machines that
had suspected software problems since it didn't have to be "installed"
and it would run straight from a diskette.
Before Prodigy and AOL there was Compuserve and GEnie. Same stuff, just
earlier.

--Mike


Actually there was ARPA net for a lot of us.

Which host were you?

On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 12:01:17 -0800, "Calif Bill"
wrote:


"Mike" wrote in message
. ..

wrote in message
...
On Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:54:38 -0500, BAR wrote:

Why did anyone ever pay for AOL?
There was a time when it was only Prodigy and AOL, before there really
was an internet, from the consumer standpoint. It was all proprietary
software and captive content. Other than that you just had local BBS
services. If you traveled you wanted something with national coverage.
It still is about the most stable ISP. The rest came and went with too
much frequency to actually give anyone your Email address and have it
be useful a year later. Even now I can still use my 15 year old AOL
address but my Mediaone address is dead, as is the successor
Roadrunner (ended up Comcast), Sprint then Earthlink, ended up Embarq.
and a half dozen other places that I had accounts with. (RIP)

The software stopped being stable when they incorporated Internet
Explorer as the browser and W/9x. Prior to that it was rock solid. I
used to use the W/3.1 version to test communication on machines that
had suspected software problems since it didn't have to be "installed"
and it would run straight from a diskette.

Before Prodigy and AOL there was Compuserve and GEnie. Same stuff, just
earlier.

Actually there was ARPA net for a lot of us.

Heh - In '78, I was at BBN working on a joint project for the US Navy
(which is how I met Admn. Grace Hooper who was there consulting with
BBN on a DEC implementation) and as it happened, Ray Tomlinson was
involved in our project. I asked him point blank if he really didn't
know what he sent as the first remote email message and he grinned and
said he didn't have a clue.

I was told later on by somebody who was, in theory "in the know", that
it was a very naughty joke. :)