Get out and start spending

[dutch]

There were plenty of predcessors - Micronet, Compunet to name just two. It had forums, live chat rooms, gaming, downloads, and so on, much more than just a "direct connection to a server".

First world wide web browser came 1990.

 

The predecessors you talk about were non commercial government and uni links. Live Chatting? Don't make me laugh. Gaming and commercial downloads didn't come till 90's

I played chess with guys in Russia 1993 online. What games are you talking about?

[melthebell]

also remember that for 10 years we have been living under the Tories austerity plan, and so we have not had the spending confidence for 10 or whatever years.

Its a vicious circle, they want to save money, we dont get extra money (in some cases its cut), we cant spend, companies suffer, the economy loses out.

[alchresearch]

First world wide web browser came 1990.

 

The predecessors you talk about were non commercial government and uni links. Live Chatting? Don't make me laugh. Gaming and commercial downloads didn't come till 90's

I played chess with guys in Russia 1993 online. What games are you talking about?

 

You're really showing your ignorance now. Why not Google MUD, SHADES and DIALTALK and have a look at what Compunet, Micronet and Prestel offered back in the day.

 

They weren't "non commercial" or "government", they were paid for services, provided by BT and others.

 

I bet you also think email didn't exist until Outlook Express!

 

From March 1986:

 

A great deal has been happening on The Net, as afficionados like to call it, since we took at it in last June’s TECH NICHE. Perhaps the most significant change has taken place on the Chatline front: the service has expanded considerably. There are now two ‘Daisy Chain’ chatlines, which allow subscribers to send messages for all to see, and no less than seven brand new ‘Quickchat’ channels have been opened.

 

The new Chatline service is run on a computer which is much more sophisticated than the one it began life on — the frustrating delays and breakdowns that aggravated Chatline users have largely been eradicated. The seven new Quickchat lines work rather differently to the 100 page message board principle of the original Daisy Chain chatline — they cope with one message at a time, and you can’t step through the old messages. New messages on the Quickchat channels appear a few seconds after they are sent, and overwrite the current frame. “Blink, and you’ll miss it”, as Micronet puts it on their explanatory page.

 

Interactive games are getting popular too. Apart from the games run in the Gallery, gamesters might like to browse through some of Micronet’s own offerings. In the ‘Buttons’ section there’s a prize adventure running. You’re charged a few pence per page as you progress through it, but the incentive is a juicy cash prize which is awarded each month, when a draw is made from the subscribers who solved the adventure.

 

http://www.crashonline.org.uk/26/micronet.htm?COLLCC=3408582138&

 

And from 1985:

 

http://www.crashonline.org.uk/17/modems.htm?COLLCC=3395330067&

 

This might be worth a watch for you to brush up on your computer history:

 

Edited May 2, 2018 by alchresearch

[Cyclone]

Well in the new retail quarter in Sheffield our planners are building new banking offices while at the same time leaving the old one that is in a perfect position at West Bar empty ,still they can convert that place to even more student flats ,good planning int it.

 

You know that the planners don't actually build anything. Nor do they get to tell private companies to stay in an office that is long past its sell by date.

 

I don't know if HSBC own Griffin House, whether they own it or someone else, it will either find new tenants (unlikely given its age) or be knocked down and replaced by something else.

If that something else is flats, either student or private, so what, they're only going to be built if there's a demand for them, so why is that a problem, is it better for some reason to retain a 1970, tired old office block?

 

---------- Post added 02-05-2018 at 11:11 ----------

 

The Internet wasn't open to the public until 1991, how were you on in the 80's unless you were part of the DoD, or DARPA, or one of the universities that were involved?

 

 

Unless you mean directly remote dialling a server to get it's services, but then that's not really the internet, it's literally just direct connection...

 

I used Prestel at J&I school which must have been back in the late 80's. An old style phone sitting in a rubber receiver that was the modem attached to a BBC.

 

---------- Post added 02-05-2018 at 11:24 ----------

 

when I first came here 20 years ago prices in stores were 200% inflated and it was £50 cheaper to fly to New York and back to buy a stereo than getting same stereo in meadowhall. We used to load the car full with items we wanted before driving back to UK saving hundreds of pounds. Thank the internet for waking up sleepy ripped off britans.

 

I think you've entirely made that up. You've no idea how much a flight to NY cost in 1998 have you, and you definitely didn't fly there and return with a stereo and £50 still in your pocket.

 

I first went to NY myself in 2007, so a little over a decade ago, and several times since, the price of the flights has been falling, which is true of airfares generally, falling for 30 years!

So on that basis, in 2000, a flight to NY would have cost at an absolute minimum £500, and probably considerably more.

And I'm sure that many of us have bought stereos at around that date. The claim you were making is that you could pay £500 for a flight, buy a stereo and still have £50 left compared to simply buying it in meadowhall. Lets imagine that it was a £500 stereo, so $1000, in meadowhall the same stereo would have to cost £1050.

 

Obviously stereo systems were available for considerably less than £1050, I bought a £400 stereo when I graduated, and that was an expensive system for 2000 (I still have it now). I can tell you that there were plenty of options for £75 and up available.

 

---------- Post added 02-05-2018 at 11:26 ----------

 

Said it before and say it again - the internet will lead to the end of society as we know it.

 

And the start of society as we know it then.

Things change.

[dutch]

I am not joking on this cyclone.

I would have saved £50 pounds if I would have gone to NY with a budget airline. instead of getting that same stereo in meadowhall 20 years ago.

 

In those days 20 years ago I also came back from trips to EU car loaded with stuff bought in Netherlands saving loads of money.

 

The british consumers had not yet woken up. The euro didn't even exist yet in those days.

Edited May 2, 2018 by dutch

[Cyclone]

Well, I'm fascinated, what stereo did you not buy, how much did it cost and how much do you think a flight to NY cost?

[L00b]

I’m willing to give dutch the benefit of the doubt at least about the comparative price of stereos at that time, as I used to buy & bring back a lot of mid-tier branded equipment for U.K. family & friends from Luxembourg in the mid to late 90s; wherein the price difference was usually between 30 & (up to) 50% compared to U.K. high street (brand new systems with European warranty valid in U.K., from Lux retailer with VAT paid). You were talking Pioneer, Yamaha, Marantz separates & lifestyle systems.

 

Pretty much the reverse these days, however, local prices are eye watering compared to eg Richer Sounds and similar.

[dutch]

Thanks loob, it was 20 years ago, things were very different then.

 

On our visits to Netherlands at the time boot and backseat was full with boxes and bags coming back to Sheffield. Everything was lot cheaper abroad.

 

Cyclone: It was a sony system with speakers £650 in meadowhall $620 in USA, a cheap flight would get you there and back for around £300. Only thing is USA stuff is 110 volt but I already had a transformer.

I didn't go there to do it. But would have done it if I really wanted it.

Only reason I mentioned it is to show how much these prices have changed since larger amount of people started to use the internet to look further than this island. They were blind to the real cost of these things and overcharged in UK because the consumer was ignorant.

Now the shops are more careful and cant get away with this anymore and have to compete on a more global level.

 

Today its the other way around, things have become either same price or sometimes even cheaper here.

Edited May 2, 2018 by dutch

[ECCOnoob]

Hang on a sec. Let me get this right.

 

You claimed:

I would have saved £50 pounds if I would have gone to NY with a budget airline. instead of getting that same stereo in meadowhall 20 years ago.

 

You then say:

It was a sony system with speakers £650 in meadowhall $620 in USA, a cheap flight would get you there and back for around £300.

 

$620 is approximately £454.20

 

So,

 

Cost of stereo £454.20

Cost of flight £300

 

Total spent £754.00

 

what exactly would the saving have been??

[area 51]

Thanks loob, it was 20 years ago, things were very different then.

 

On our visits to Netherlands at the time boot and backseat was full with boxes and bags coming back to Sheffield. Everything was lot cheaper abroad.

 

Cyclone: It was a sony system with speakers £650 in meadowhall $620 in USA, a cheap flight would get you there and back for around £300. Only thing is USA stuff is 110 volt but I already had a transformer.

I didn't go there to do it. But would have done it if I really wanted it.

Only reason I mentioned it is to show how much these prices have changed since larger amount of people started to use the internet to look further than this island. They were blind to the real cost of these things and overcharged in UK because the consumer was ignorant.

Now the shops are more careful and cant get away with this anymore and have to compete on a more global level.

 

Today its the other way around, things have become either same price or sometimes even cheaper here.

 

I remember buying hifi separates in the mid eighties and it cost me about 600 pounds for a dual turntable,marantz amp and Aiwa cassette deck with a pair of wharfedale diamond speakers.It was expensive like you say if you wanted a really good quality system.I still use separates now and i have a stack of seven separates which cost me an eyewatering 1200 quid over a few years of upgrading older separates.Well worth it though if you like music.