Recently, I was reminiscing with someone at a party about the early days of the internet. When I went off to pursue my bright future at NYU way back in 1994, the internet barely existed. Checking email was possible for the masses with limited understanding of technology (aka "magic" or "sorcery")through AOL, CompuServe, and Prodigy, two out of three which didn't make it past those heady early days. College students with access to computers could use some sort of complicated system known as PINE to link up to text-based email and possibly even the "internet."
(Side story: Husband recently went to a 10 year anniversary celebration of an investing club that he helped found while an undergrad. At the event, current students pulled up the clubs first website, designed by Husband. His chest puffed with pride.
"I did that!" he thought.
Then the students pulled up the current website, and projected it side-by-side with Husband's creation.
"Look at this!" they snorted derisively with laughter.
Husband sulked. "It was great for its time!")
Anyway, one of the great things about PINE was that you could "finger" people. While fingering people sounds full of illicit fun, really it meant that you typed FINGER then someone's email exchange, and the system magically told you where that person was currently logged in! Such as, "sreis = cubicle 2, 3rd North." The precision! If only the FBI or CIA had such intricate location services, perhaps we could have verified Saddam's spider hole months before snitches gave him up. (Or figured out that there were no WMD over there. Oh wait - most of us already knew that.)
Sniggering aside, we marveled at fingering others, the sophisticated stalking tool of 1994. Of course, it was utterly useless if the person you wanted to find was not logged into the system, but then you could amuse yourself by typing a vague FINGER and getting a list of everyone currently logged in! Sometimes, that was a whopping 36 people. Craziness.
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oh the days of pine... fingering was fun. the other thing you could do was type IRC which sent you to a rudimentary chat room. i remember spending hours chatting w/ some israeli soldier one day while supposed to be studying for a bio exam. oops. dr H may remember that too.
ReplyDeleteI was on Compuserve in 1994, first marveling at the fact that I could email people all over the world and receive responses in minutes. But I really learned what a powerful tool it would be when I was researching treatment options for my husband's terminal colon cancer - and suddenly I was conversing with oncologists and other patients all over the U.S.
ReplyDeleteThat was AMAZING. We ended up firing our oncologist and heading down to Ohio State for treatment, by a physician who at least treated my husband like a human. Though the end result was the same (he died a year later), the information and support did so much to make us feel more hopeful and not as helpless.
I know that's not as fun as PINE, but seriously, I smile when I think of it all. It made that much of a difference. :)
gosh, i loved pine/finger back when i was in college (1997). really great for stalking my crushes at the time, to see when/where they last logged in. *snicker*
ReplyDeleteThe internet has so clearly changed the world for the better. Not only for the little things - like innocent stalking - but also for the great connections that Valerie found, and that I find with my blog friends every day.
ReplyDeleteSuz, when you left for NYU, I was very glad/sad, but one of my work colleagues hooked me up with you via e-mail on this behemoth of a computer. It literally saved me; I would eagerly log in to see what bit of news you had and to send you what was going on back home. I printed your responses and brought them home for all to read. It really helped me stay "close" to you.
ReplyDeleteI haven't thought about PINE in a long time !
ReplyDelete