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| Author | AOL reverse engineering project (Read 10496 times) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Bolkonskij
Administrator 1024 MB  Posts: 2023 
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on: August 07, 2022, 08:30
In the vein of recent retro platform revivals, someone is working hard to bring back that 90's AOL experience to modern platforms by re-creating AOL in Python Screenshot: (modern browser only) https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/g/29472/5732/5732_original.png The idea is to make it as close to the original as possible, including the famous Welcome sound. Those of you using AOL will surely fondly remember :-) More Info: https://g.livejournal.com/10829.html Anyone (already) signed up for this? I wonder how long until they starting sending those AOL CDs out again to complete the experience ;-) |
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Last Edit: August 07, 2022, 08:32 by Bolkonskij
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wove
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1024 MB  Posts: 1363
Reply #1 on: August 07, 2022, 23:25
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I have to admire the ambition in such a project. Personally I never used AOL. I think even back in its hey day at represented the things that are the new normal for the modern web. For me the allure of retro has more to do with the way projects were approached and how they were done. AOL does represent for me era where computers became a big sink hole suck down time, without getting much accomplished.
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68040
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512 MB Posts: 950 68k - thy kingdom come, thy will be done !
Reply #2 on: August 08, 2022, 10:36
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Give me back my CompuServe and I'll switch off the Web myself.  But AOL was too exclusive for me, even back then.
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Bolkonskij
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Administrator 1024 MB Posts: 2023
Reply #3 on: August 08, 2022, 14:19
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The experience won't be complete without getting AOL CDs in the mail I was a teen when AOL came around and as most teens, I had no funds for an expensive AOL adventure. My dad briefly used it when we accumulated enough CDs with "20 free hours" before moving to the www. I distinctly remember that AOL welcome screen and the sound of our modem dialing in. Fond memories of the exhilarating atmosphere of discovering digital terra incognita. Does anyone know if AOL actually relied on modem dialup? Or could you connect with a "normal" internet connection too? What made services like AOL special was really the "virtual community" I think. Remember the "global village" analogy of those days? I remember the first time I chatted with someone from a place a 10 hour drive away. "Wow, I can talk to that person from my computer!". Add in the fact most people still had education / manners and you could have civilized discussions on various topics that actually brought insight into certain matters. @68040 - What made CompuServe special for you? As a Macintosh user, it always looked like a lame place that was mostly for Windows faction.
Last Edit: August 08, 2022, 14:23 by Bolkonskij
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wove
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1024 MB Posts: 1363
Reply #4 on: August 08, 2022, 14:27
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Someone wrote a Hypercard stack that provided a sort of GUI interface for Compuserve, which worked very well. I used Compuserve during the mid '80s and switched to Genie later. Both were very nice information rich places to visit. Compuserve was rather expensive but included more, while Genie had a lower base price, and you could purchase subscriptions to access specific content. Genie had nice dedicated communities for the various platforms. Being in a small town, BBSes were all a long distance call, while Compuserve, AOL and Genie had a local number making them actually cheaper to use than the free BBSes. It is interesting to think that a 1200baud modem, was actually very useful for learning purposes. Today we connect at speeds a couple orders of magnatute greater and find it barely adequate to be entertained.
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68040
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512 MB Posts: 950 68k - thy kingdom come, thy will be done !
Reply #5 on: August 08, 2022, 19:39
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@Bolkonskij - I had just started freelancing as an IT consultant and CompuServe was *the* goto place for both technical info for my area of expertise (large scale enterprise entity systems) and new job offerings. Their BBS rooms were clearly structured, tightly managed (no flame wars there) and (for lack of screen real estate?) everyone kept his messages to the point. CompuServe was the reason I decided to "jump onto that Internet bandwagon thing" - for in those years it seemed like we still had a choice about that. :O Aaand - big difference to AOL - they had an equally strong presense in both North-America and the EU back then.
Last Edit: August 08, 2022, 19:41 by 68040
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cballero
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1024 MB Posts: 1176 System 7, today and forever
Reply #6 on: August 08, 2022, 21:46
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I was using a colleague's AOL account to download software and 'try out' the platform and it was pretty addicting. The facade was pretty and colorful, making the whole space very enticing! Well on December 1996, America Online switched from an hourly service to unlimited Internet service for only $19.95 per month. That was the game changer for most of us who had our own email and a few hours a month for $9.95  AOL added curated and very easy to access software repositories filled with a lot of shareware, freeware and trial software, along with exclusive software downloads for Mac as well as Windows. They also enticed everyone with their chat tool, AOL Instant Messenger as well as many public forums to just talk with anyone who jumped into a room at any given time! I think the virus-free software access and communication tools to talk with others made it a fun experience. They also delivered news from their portal and made the whole experience an exclusive one, all for $20 per month plus your phone service. Because of them, I ended getting a pager with its own number so that others could reach me since once you connected online it occupied the phone line  I remember telling a friend of mine that I had a pager and they joked, 'well the only people I know that carried pagers were doctors and those selling stuff,' which while funny, I feel that they missed the point. A pager would let you know when someone was trying to reach you, and between dialing-up Internet and being out and about, it was really nice to log off AOL to return a call or go to a pay phone, drop 35ยข, and call someone back right away before getting home to call them from there to have a longer conversation! I got a Quadra 630 w/a full FPU and Apple's AudioVision 14" display and Color StyleWriter, and I wanna say I used an external 56k modem? I had a ton of fun playing in AOL's online playground, making friends all over the world! It was all for fun, although that's where I learnt to make and upload websites to their member web page area!
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