Did any of you used to use Prodigy or GEnie?

Discussion in 'Laptop General Discussion' started by IBMPC8088, Feb 18, 2016.

  1. IBMPC8088

    IBMPC8088

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    My very first "graphical online experience" was never from a web browser at all. About 6 years before Mozilla 1.0 or anything like it was in use by the public, I was using a DOS-based graphical program/service called "Prodigy". Later on, Prodigy became a traditional dial-up ISP around 1998 or 1999, but back in 1989 it had its own client program for machines running MS-DOS and PC-DOS or DRDOS, and it was really neat.

    In a word of 4 color CGA graphics and 16 color EGA monitors (256 colors if you were really lucky and were willing to spend a few hundred dollars for a VGA monitor with "tv-quality pictures and graphics"), it was the first time that most people as legacy programmers and computer users in on the ground floor were able to realize a "graphical interface online" in wide use.

    By wide, it wasn't that wide of use...but it was something to behold of beauty. It had an online encyclopedia, dictionary, thesaurus, calculator, messaging system, graphical games, and you could even look up the weather forecasts and local news on it with pictures from time to time. You could do all of this without any "windows" whatsoever.

    It was awesome, and when I wanted a little more than the BBS experience at times, I would enjoy it a lot and use the dialup service for it. I even remember the dial-up password I used to use on it back in 1990: HXCW89EHORSE lol! 26 years later and I still remember that, but I can't tell you where my car keys are, right? lol

    Did any of you use Prodigy, GeNIE or any service like it in your country if offered during the 1980's or early 1990's?

    I understand that some users reading this message may have been born in the 90's and not been able to use it, but if not born before the 90's, did you go back to check it out and see what it was like?

    If not, you might like this: Prodigy History

    Another great service back then was CompuServe (before it was an AOL holding). It had its own "internet email" system that was based on numbers that corresponded to user IDs rather than names for addresses. The good ol' days of computing. :)
     
    IBMPC8088, Feb 18, 2016
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  2. IBMPC8088

    Tara

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    Well, I haven't heard these names in a long time. I didn't use any of Prodigy or GEnie. I did use CompuServe and then AOL. I found AOL to be very limiting. My first real ISP was Earthlink. I think Earthlink still exists. I have a friend with an Earthlink email address.

    I also remember connecting to BBS use DOS via a dial up modem. Those were the days, but I'm glad for currently technology.
     
    Tara, Feb 21, 2016
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