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To: Tony Viola who wrote (62721)	8/18/1998 4:36:00 PM
From: Pigboy	Respond to of 186894

OT << However, it didn't really get off the ground commercially until, when, about six years ago? >> Yep, 1993, when the Browsers (i think mosaic from U of I started getting the mass downloads, then Netscape, of course by the same guy) started taking off in a big way. of course, i didn't start using until 1994, always a little behind. ;-) I read somewhere that back in '88, the Internet had become a 'backbone' operating under the National Science Foundation to connect some supercomputing centers across the US. It was 56kps and in 88 they gave 'er T1 (1.55 Mbps). pigboy

To: Tony Viola who wrote (62721)	8/18/1998 4:58:00 PM
From: Mary Cluney	Respond to of 186894

Tony,>>>Original name Arpanet, funded out of a research project that began in 1969. Funding was by the US Department of Defense. Yes, it precedes Microsoft a little. However, it didn't really get off the ground commercially until, when, about six years ago? <<< That's almost like finding all those people who claimed to have had reservations but missed that fight that killed Richie Valens and those other rock n' rollers. They must have been over booking for a flight using a stretched version of the Boeing 747. I doubt that six years ago, Compuserv, Prodigy, and AOL (if they were in business at the time) had more than 1 million subscribers combined - and very few of those people had access to the WWW. I don't believe there were any ISP's (as we know them today) in existense six years ago. True, if you were a scientist and or affiliated with certain universities or research facilities you may have had access to some crude email programs, FTP capabilities, and bulletin board type discussion groups on the internet (usenet or wais). For most people not affiliated with research facilities or universities prior to six years ago they had access to private bulletin board services maintained by specialized interest groups. If I remember correctly, even as late as six years ago, a 4800 bps modem may have cost as much as $4000.00. Most bulletin board participants used modems with speeds of 300 to 1200 bps. The total population of those people could not have exceeded more than 1 million people worldwide. But, I'll bet that more than ten million people will claim they were on the Internet six years ago. Mary