Recent News Articles

This Is How People Sent Emails Back In The ’80s

2 Apr 2021 1:22 PM | Anonymous

I do remember home computers in those days and I do not miss them! If you were using online home computers in the 1980s, this video from the archives of Thames TV is a reminder of how we used to send and receive email messages long before the invention of the World Wide Web. Ah, the sweet sound of a dot matrix printer.

My favorite line from the video is when the television interviewer asked, “Why did you buy a computer?” I cannot imagine anyone asking that question today.

This interview was first shown on Thames TV’s computer programme ‘Database’ in 1984. You can view it at https://youtu.be/szdbKz5CyhA.

Comments

  • 3 Apr 2021 8:40 AM | Anonymous
    Around 1985 I used the phone company's text-based "Envoy 100" app to send email. It was pretty cool, although all your correspondents had to be on the same service.
    Link  •  Reply
  • 3 Apr 2021 9:41 AM | Anonymous
    In 1978 I was using a Computer Aided Design System for Printed Circuit Design, and I was able to communicate with all the other users of the system by sending messages over the system instead of speaking to them at their desks in person.
    Link  •  Reply
  • 19 Apr 2021 12:07 PM | Anonymous
    This was a typical dial-up BBS with no email beyond it. Meanwhile the big universities talked to each other with UUCP. You would give your address as a path from a well-known site. Mine was gatech!ncrats!ncrcom!ncrwic!jmatrow.
    Link  •  Reply

Blog posts

Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter









































Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software