walled-gardens-part-2.md 4.4 KB
+++ title = "40 years of walled gardens & open platforms: Part II" author = ["George M Jones"] publishDate = 2020-08-21 lastmod = 2023-12-06T05:46:39-05:00 tags = ["history", "computing", "social", "USENET", "Facebook", "Twitter", "100DaysToOffload"] categories = ["blog"] draft = false +++
Here are some developments in late 70s and early 80s where I started to become aware/involved in "Online" things that eventually evolved into today's Social Media: Modems[^fn:1], BBS systems, TOPS-20 Bulletin Boards, Usenet News and the birth of CompuServe.
{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/modem.jpg" caption="Figure 1: Desktop Dial-up" >}}
Post 21 #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/
Dialup BBS Systems : Once upon a time it was illegal to connect
modems (or anything else but AT&T equipment) to the phone network.
And that was, basically, the only network. Some time after that
changed, dialup Bullitin Board Systems (BBS) arrived. You could
dial up and connect to a BBS running in someone's house often
connected to the only line (the home phone). Mom and Dad may have
wondered at first why they picked up a call and heard awful
electronic squawking noises rather than someone saying "Hello".
Once on, you could leave messages, read messages, etc. Communities
formed this way.
TOPS-20 Bulletin Boards : I'm not sure, but my first exposure
to bulletin boards and email ("social media") was probably on
the Ohio State DecSystem-20. I had friends who worked there,
and we later went to school there and thus had a "legitimate"
accounts. The world and software I remember is describe well
here <http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/dec20.html>. Kermit (the
project that the authors of this article ran) was a very
important piece of software for 10-15 years, a workhorse of
moving files across dial-up phone connections.
Usenet News : Social media c.a. 1980. Usenet was (is) a system
that moves messages (posts) between connected computers. In the
beginning this was dial-up lines. Mostly between universities and
research institutions and, of course, AT&T/Bell Labs etc. For a
while the USENET "backbone" (the long haul links, the well connected
sites) were run by an unofficial cabal internally at AT&T (because
they had free access to "long lines") and traffic was farmed out to
local sites (universities) for further distribution. It was the
quintessential "old boy" network. To connect, you had to know
someone and convince them to "give you a feed". I was on sometime
from the mid-80s on. A few ?representative? newsgroups: `comp.sources.amiga`,
`rec.humor.funny` `alt.ensign.wesley.die.die.die`
CompuServe: Dialup+Network+Dec10s == Information Service : CompuServe
("Online Services") was born in this world. People started having
"Personal Computers" in the late 70s and early 80s. Modems started
becoming a thing. While Usenet, BBS systems, Fido-net and friends
started using these technologies to connect people in non-commercial
settings, Compu$erve started to do so in a commercial setting.
CompuServe had been running a nationwide packet switching network
since 1972 (take that, ARPANET !), had been selling business
oriented computing services, and time sharing on its DecSystem10's
accessed via that network as well as growing raft of dial-up modem
pools, conveniently located in H&R Block offices around the country
at a time when having "Local" numbers was important (long distance
was expensive). This was the 1970s version of "Cloud Computing".
Business use slacked off at night, so what was a good time-sharing
company to do? Why start an Information Service that grew into the
familiar lineup of "Forums" (BBS), "InfoPlex" (email), "CB"
(chat/Aim/IRC), and the recurring services that every online service,
search engine and social network eventually devolves to: News,
Weather, and Sports. I think the online service started around 1980. I began working
there in 1985. More from the CompuPerspective as these posts
progress.
[^fn:1]: Modem picture courtesy of: "Dial-a-Grue" by Digital Game Museum is licensed under CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/