I don’t know the exact date, but on a cold, wet day in November 1995 I got out of a Physics test at MUN and I didn’t feel too good about it. I went into one of the Computer Labs on campus around 11am and decided to play around a bit. After asking a few people for some help getting started I managed to find the AltaVista search engine (then www.digital.com/altavista as far as I remember) and started doing some searching. I was amazed at what I could find. It was 9pm before I got up again. I never ate, drank or used the washroom in the time I spent discovering the Internet. I guess you could say I was hooked!
From there I proceeded to call home. I found out my father’s email address. He was a bit of a pioneer in those times. He was using a dial-up, long-distance, SLIP account. His web browser was SlipKnot (???) and allowed him to view webpages. I don’t remember what he was using for his email client (Eudora maybe??) but I was using some terminal based text application at MUN.
Dad had a website up already and I had actually scanned some pictures for him while I was in Grade 12. Why I didn’t see the light then is beyond me! I had also been active on a few Dial-Up BBS’ during my teenage years. The adult folders on those were a godsend for me and my buddies. In November 1995 I put my first website online at www.geocities.com/Colosseum/2772. It was very rough. I only had 200 kilobytes of space and each file had to be individually uploaded using email.
Things changed then. I became very interested in the Internet… I eventually got into computer networks in general and have since completed my CNE (Novell) and MCSE (Microsoft) certifications along with my A+ and loads of experience building and maintaining networks and computer systems.
I find it even harder to believe that I started with computers at the ripe old age of 5. When, back in 1982 or thereabouts, Dad brought home our first computer. A Tandy TRS-80. I guess I should thank my Father for the way my life has turned out. If he had not introduced me to computers way back when I was just a boy I might be where I am now… and I like where I am now. 🙂 Thanks Dad.
Enough writing for me now. Gotta get to work!
Rene
2 replies on “10 years on the net!”
Yea I remember them days. Who knows where you could have gone. Maby a dentest doctor and/or pilot. How much life could have been different for you. Gotta love that physics….
rene, was wondering if you would be able to tell me what date(s) the pow wow fell on this year (2005)? thanks!