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Wow this is a day... (Score:5, Informative)
I still remember my compuserve address... 70324,1777...
I can't for the live of me remember my pins, or phone numbers, but this ancient email address I have remembered to this day...
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Same here. I wonder whether AOL will make the discussion groups and other archived stuff available?
76344,2701
Re:Wow this is a day... (Score:5, Funny)
71350,2360 here. Sometimes I miss the days of terminal emulators and 1200bps modems. Then I remember how long it took to download pr0n, and I don't anymore.
DOWNLOAD ZMODEM! ...NO CARRIER
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76012,3621 here...
Same here.
You guys both had the same address?
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71052,3331
Great. That I can remember, but I can't remember my ATM PIN!
I still have the CS binder-in-a-book that came with my subscription, and my old OzWin (Anyone else remember that?) logs and email files around. Last email date: 1998.
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Yes, OzWin was great. My first "email program" and "news reader" of sorts.
I must still have the OzWin files somewhere on some backup, but they don't seem to be on my notebook. Had always intended to convert them to mbox-like format, but have never done it.
The great thing about Compuserve was that they had a dial-in number in just about any country in the world. It was expensive, but I could email in 1990 or so from Africa and Asia by dialing a local number.
100111,3271
Re:Wow this is a day... (Score:5, Interesting)
Oh well, 100531,3420 here. Yup, we Europeans had different numbers, and back in the old days before Eternal September you could even tell the geographical area of someone just by his CIS ID.
For all those who tagged this story "andnothingofvaluewaslost": Back in the day, you could only join CompuServe providing ID and using your real name. It's amazing how much nicer people behaved and how much more substance there was in the discussions. Because, you know, you didn't want your name associated with talking out of your ass. Much less flaming also, leave alone trolling. The trolls couldn't hold onto their accounts for long, because without ID they wouldn't get new ones. Oh, and for the same reasons there was no spam whatsoever.
It was a great time. It went down the drain when German laws dictated that everybody had to be allowed in, using nicknames, and without proof of identity. Then came the trolls, the idiots, and Eternal September followed.
I was a sysop, and even a wizop (Wizard Sysop, basically "root" of the forum), and have seen much of the shit which started when AOL took over. That basically killed the spirit. It's a real pity that I signed a pretty badass NDA, otherwise all that would make for a great book on how *not* to run an online service.
*sigh*
I feel old now. Being online used to be fun and fascinating and educational. Nowadays it's, well, shit.
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Re:Hey gramps (Score:4, Funny)
"Go back to the nursing home"
We're all LOST you insensitive clod!
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Re:Hey gramps (Score:4, Funny)
We're all LOST you insensitive clod!
No, where are not. We know perfectly well where WE are. But some of those young dorks MOVED EVERYTHING ELSE.
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Re:Hey gramps (Score:5, Funny)
young dorks MOVED EVERYTHING ELSE.
the word you where looking for was ' hooligan '...
NOW GET OFF MY LAN!
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Re:Hey gramps (Score:5, Funny)
Just remember - just because we've taught you everything you know -
that doesn't mean we've taught you everything *we* know...
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Re:Hey gramps (Score:5, Funny)
We wouldn't know -- it would be something utterly intelligible to us, but we'd recognize the word "fossil" in it somewhere...
That's because it will most likely be a mix of vally, redneck, and inner city slang... ...And our reply will sound pompous and faggy to them.
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I wonder if Compuserve was running on DEC hardware with TOPS-10
Originally, yes. I believe they moved to VAX in later years, but kept the user IDs.
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Yep, Compuserve probably knew more about DECsystem-10s than DEC did. At one point
they even designed their own power supply to replace the DEC one as it was much
more efficient. They designed and built their own disk controllers to use cheaper
(IBM) disks. They had a LOT of them!
Phil.
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Congratulations, you can Google! [barnesandnoble.com]... IIS 2... wow that was a while ago :)
Apparently you can also read his email address in his username tag line! Great job...
(I hope this post didn't come across too "assholish"... I'm just joking around)
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I remember all those flame wars on CIS back in the day. And it's still going on, but this time with online forums like the system here on /. and on forums running software like pHpBB and vBulletin.
Nothing new (Score:5, Informative)
They even dialed into the same modem bank, with exactly the same phone numbers.
[hanging head] Yes, I had an AOL acct and a CS acct at the same time.
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Exactly , the Compuserve clients released by AOL were just re-branded version of the AOL software.
Started with AOL 4.0 if i remember correctly.
Re:Nothing new (Score:5, Informative)
This article is wrong: AOL isn't shutting down the entirety of CompuServe.
AOL simulatenously operated both CompuServe 2000 (the AOL-based network) and CompuServe Classic, as it came to be called. AOL isn't "pulling the plug" on the entire company as this summary says; they're merely shutting down the CompuServe Classic service, which they have hardly touched one bit in the last ten years anyway. There are no plans to shut down CompuServe 2000, and users have the option of migrating to this service.
So, while your comment is mostly on the mark, it's important to note that AOL neither shut down CompuServe when they bought it (they operated Classic simultaneously with the new service for 10 years!), nor are they shutting down the service (CompuServe 2000) to which you refer.
Also, this was announced in April, so it's hardly news, other than the June 30 shutdown date--which already happened.
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Signed up in 1987 (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't remember my Account Number, but I signed up in 1987, shortly after I bought my Atari 1040ST and a 2400-baud modem. I got hooked on the CB Simulator, and spent myself into severe debt. Good times.
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I signed up in 1983 or so, after I got my Atari 800 and 300-baud modem. The CB Simulator was fun. I still remember fondly that people back then typed complete sentences and words, not like the ch475p33k crap that passes for communication these days.
Everyone complained about how expensive Compu$erve was, but we paid the price anyway. And we liked it that way.
Re:Signed up in 1987 (Score:4, Funny)
1997 called, they want their tired joke about everybody on the internets speaking "1337" back.
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Re:Signed up in 1987 (Score:4, Informative)
That was the major difference between BBS culture and Usenet/Internet culture. On pre-september Usenet, everyone posted under their real names, their sigs often contained their job titles and phone numbers, and there was a sense of responsiblity because your account was closely tied to your real life.
For the most part, web discussion boards follow the BBS tradition of using handles and discouraging the posting of personal information. However, that doesn't serve the needs of people who want network their real life as opposed to hanging out with a bunch of internet phoneys called "DarthMegaBlade666". So its natural that things like Facebook or LinkedIn appeared.
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Re:Signed up in 1987 (Score:5, Funny)
I was born in 1987
Weird, I fucked your mom in 1986....
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The PITS (reward) (Score:5, Interesting)
Does anyone remember playing the game "The PITS" on CompuServe? Or, even better, know if thesource survived?
http://games.wwco.com/pits/
Migrating from CompuServe (Score:5, Informative)
Goodbye to what was once an incredibly innovative service...
For any Slashdot readers who need to get a friend or relative off of CompuServe:
Users who are running CompuServe 3 or 4 can export the address book using:
http://www.connectedsw.com/Overview/57262
Users who are running CompuServe 2000, 6 or 7 can export the address book and email using:
http://www.connectedsw.com/Overview/57267
Re:The one thing I hope to forget one day... (Score:3, Informative)
is the $300-$400 monthly bills for all the time spent using the CB Simulator. That was addictive, but man those bills hurt.
RIP (Score:2, Interesting)
compuserve was the first thing i ever dialed with my first real computer, as it was the first actual service provider to have a local phone number in my area when i was a kid
i was completely in awe of it when i first used it, it cost me a good chunk of my allowance, but i remember it made the local BBS systems, as well as some other service providers that eventually crept into my area seem like toys
i used it for quite a long time even after everyone else had proper internet service (the internet took quite
Good Riddance (Score:5, Interesting)
Compuserve might've been great at one time, but it hasn't been for a much longer period. I used to do customer service for them back when they were offering a $400 rebate on new computers... as long as people signed up for a 2 year service agreement with them. I felt dirty every time I had to take a call from someone that had one of those rebates. Half the time the callers wanted to cancel their service because of how piss poor their dial-up connection was and it was my job to "remind" them about the terms which stated that they had to pay back the rebate PLUS a cancellation fee. I put remind in quotes because it was often the customer's first time hearing about the terms in the first place (Admittedly this was usually the sales person's fault, and usually not Compuserve's.). I remember one call in particular when a customer in Pennsylvania had purchased a computer with the rebate only to find out that they only had TWO dial-up numbers in the whole state available to them, neither of which was a local call for them. I had to tell this poor soul that they had accepted the terms of the rebate, received the $400, and if they cancelled they would owe Compuserve all that back, etc even though they couldn't even use the service. Now Compuserve was obviously not the only ISP that played the rebate game, but their participation left a bad taste in mouth and lowered my opinion of them greatly.
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I used to work in the department that created the software that billed those rebate customers if they did happen to cancel early.
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No, they shouldn't've eaten the cost once the customer agreed to the terms but these rebates could've been handled much differently. For one thing they could've at least have pro-rated the rebate so if a customer cancelled say, halfway through the 2-year term they would only have to pay back half of the rebate. For another the way these rebates were marketed was fairly reprehensible; they were aimed at lower in
Anyone remember Cubby v. CompuServe? (Score:5, Informative)
Brings back memories (Score:5, Interesting)
Oddly ironic that Compuserve was around before AOL. Gah, I still remember the days when AOL users first flooded the net. They were rude, they were shrill and they were legion.
The days you would actually still use a gopher server.
We got our first internet connection from the local library.
Some admins would actually block AOL users from their web servers.
Exciting times.
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Do you know of any public gopher servers that are still alive?
My list died out in the last four years when I wasn't watching.
CS censorship (Score:2)
I canceled my CS account after they overreacted to Bavarian censorship demands. See Risks issues 17.61, 17.62 and other sources
What? (Score:5, Interesting)
Allow me to be the first to say... Compuserve still existed?
It was still up ?! (Score:5, Interesting)
Compuserve was shut down? It was still up!?
Those of us who live outside of the US are vaguely aware of its existance...
Prodigy? (Score:3, Interesting)
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Whatever happened to Prodigy?
They had a pretty big hit in the 90s that got banned from MTV "Smack my Bitch Up." They're still recording as far as I know, but that was definitely their high point.
New email system? (Score:3, Insightful)
CompuServe users will be able to use their existing CompuServe Classic (as the service was renamed) addresses at no charge via a new e-mail system
That'll never catch on.
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I think thats the point.
My Life as Girl on Compuserve (Score:5, Interesting)
Compuserve was my first real foray into an online community and all the good and bad that comes with it. I was 16 and in High School when the Computer Programming teacher (BASIC on Apple II+ computers) signed up for a school account on Compuserve. This was years before I had even heard of the Internet. Since nobody in the school had the first clue what to do with this "Information Superhighway" thing, and I was the only geek around, the teacher just gave me the login info and let me do whatever I wanted on it.
It didn't take me long to gravitate towards the various chat rooms. Those of you who grew up with the availability of the Internet and the like probably take it for granted that you can communicate with people all over the world (or nation, at least). Back when my only communication with the world at large was my pen pal, these simple chat rooms were mind-blowing!
There was one little hitch. See, my nickname back then was "Granny" (play on my last name) and so I naturally used it as my handle in the chat room. I forget which room I joined but I hadn't been in there but a few seconds when I started getting a lot of people saying "hi" and asking where I was located and the like. Then somebody asked how old I was and I mentioned that I was 16.
Well, right after I wrote that, I started getting a stream of Private Chat requests. We're talking a couple dozen requests in about 10 seconds. "Everybody is so friendly," I thought.
But their questions were odd and very personal. "What do you look like?" "What color are your eyes?" "What are you wearing?" Eh? What am I wearing? What kind of weird question is that to ask.
And then: "How big are your boobs?" "Do you have a boyfriend?" It went off the deep end after that.
They thought I was a 16 year old girl! I thought that was so funny and told them so. And just like that, all of the Private Chats closed and all I was left with were a scattering of "Well why would you call yourself Granny if you weren't a girl?" messages.
I signed on a few more times as Granny after that but found that I really couldn't go anywhere without a stream of sexual comments following me. I eventually had to change my nick just to be able to chat with people without them staring at my virtual chest.
That was an eye-opener. Let me tell you, though, when the Internet happened years later and I heard women complaining about being effectively harassed online by a bunch of horny nerds... well, I knew exactly what they were talking about.
Heh.
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What do you look like? What color are your eyes? What are you wearing? [grin]
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Hi! A/S/L? :p
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RIP Compuserve, 1979 - 2009 (Score:5, Interesting)
So I guess you were better than AOL, who funny enough just put you out of your misery even though you were around longer. And I was never really into you, even more so once I found local BBS'. Especially ones with pirate software and Trade Wars [wikipedia.org]. To be honest I was only fascinated by what was possible with you, not what you actually offered. I should have been more open with you and told you.
But you were great fun while you lasted, which in the eyes of most people who knew about you probably ended somewhere around 1985. I hope you weren't lonely in the end, because I had no idea you were on that respirator and life support. I TOTALLY would have come to see you if I knew...I mean, me and the free shell accounts at Arbornet have been getting it on all kindsa nasty style for years now, so I hope you don't curse me from intarwebs hell. I just found a part of teh 'tubes that, you know, I clicked with. It was never you, Compuserve. It was totally me.
Rest In Peace, old friend.
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The days of the pages with the default gray backgrounds are finally gone!
I don't miss the old days of web browsing either -- but I do have my default background in SeaMonkey set to exactly that old shade of gray, and it's pleasant when I get a page that doesn't set the background color for me. (I know I could override it and have my preferred color scheme come up every time, but that seems like overkill.) Black-on-light-gray is a lot easier on the eyes than black-on-white when you're looking at a glowing