I remember getting those AOL subscription disks in the mail all the time as a kid. My family used them as coaster.
Zthewise
"but there's a problem" never gets old
KeNsHoRt
Chatting in AOL chat rooms with random people was a big part of my childhood lol
benbees
2 million people still use dial-up around the world when I heard the statistic a few years ago.
lazarusthibodeaux
“Let’s you rent games for Atari” - the dude was a visionary. The fact that there’s several places you can now rent video games is a testament to that.
thedarklord
The best thing about AOL is that “you’ve got mail”
TPB-OPA
Damn, they are lost just because they didn't wanted to adapt.
Certified Bruh moment
MrAeral
Those dial sounds! I see my entire childhood flashing by
MariaV
Never forget the AOL/Time Warner merger
GGsquared
Is everyone working on computers in the 90s called Bill and Steve? 🤨
tailsmelv
To me (a 90s kid) finding out about Quantum Link just now is like discovering the 1st Halo game came out in the 1980s.
I remember the 1990s Netscape browser's homepage had stuff similar to what Quantum Link had like a News page, a Shopping page, a Horoscopes page, a Mental Health community forum page (where people with emotional issues could come together to consolidate each other and offer advice), a Technology page, a Recommended Websites page, stuff like that. I thought that was the first widely available website or service of that type in the world.
I know that earlier prototypes of stuff like that had existed earlier like the Nintendo Family Network System in 1988 in Japan and one in the UK in the 1980s or 1990s that people could somehow use through their televisions. (I forget the name of that last service.) However I'm still shocked something like Quantun Link existed back then.
Like if you were born after the year 2000 I'm sure you may've been shocked to discover there were Mario Kart franchise games back in the 1990s, just like I was shocked one day back in like 2011 or something to discover there was a Mario Kart game for the Super Nintendo. (It was at this bar where people couls play videogames together. At first I thought it was just someone'a demake of Mario Kart 64.)
SurprisinglyDeep
Petition for "But there's a problem" merch
zackd
Every now and then I'll use the AOL search engine, for old time's sake. It still works basically fine surprisingly.
lmitz
My first ISP was AOL. I’m sure I’m just one among many others that have had the same. There weren’t many choices for ISPs back then. They were the first ones to offer me a DSL connection at a reasonable price as well. That was a nice upgrade back then!
NBC_
Steve Case is still around, though now his company Revolution, LLC is an VC firm and his non-profit The Case Foundation. If anyone remembers Zipcar, he helped/funded it early on....
alexdhall
Never subscribed to AOL.
Did join a local dialup bulletin board, and enjoyed it very much. Just a couple years later and we moved, same city different neighborhood and went with Warner Cable with broadband, it eventually turned into COX. Also I've had AT&T version of always connected.
cynicalrabbit
In Europe, we used MSN messenger for chatting which used hotmail. It still exist because it was bought by windows but a majority have switched to gmail anyway.
cheezarose
Moral: There is always a problem and those who fail to adapt to it, fail
