"1978: Ward Christensen and Randy Suess launch the first public dial-up bulletin board system. The two unleash the kernel of what would eventually spawn the world wide web, countless online messaging systems and, arguably, Twitter." - Wired.com: Feb. 16, 1978: Bulletin Board Goes Electronic.
Sorry but this kind of stuff truly brings the geek out in me. I remember in the 80's, my Dad bought a 'top of the line' 486, a Gateway 2000 (what Gateway used to be called - probably to make it sound futuristic) and I would get the Puget Sound Computer User magazine at the public library which listed the phone numbers of these BBS's. There were plenty of numbers to choose from, each with their own focus (some inappropriate, but most just geek chatter). This power house of machine had a 14.4 baud modem when the max speed listed for most of these BBS's was 4.8 or 9.6. People would post files where it took a cryptic syntax and a lot of time to download them and they were almost never what they said they were. If you spoke rudely of someone or to them, you would more than likely get an onscreen message from the SYSOP (system operator) and potentially be booted off the system. Of course all it took back then was someone else in the house picking up the phone to boot you from the system as well. I used to put Post-Its on all the phones in the house that said 'do not pick up' - they were not effective at all. Anyway, a random note on history and a bit of nostalgia for what inspired me to do what it is I do.
Posted on
Tue, February 16, 2010
by Shane Larrabee