The new-fangled things called "search engines"
 

I thought some of you might get a smile out of this. I found an article from 1998, with a run-down of some of the biggest and latest search engines:

Alta Vista
Eblast
Excite
Go To
HotBot
InfoSeek
Lycos
Mining Co
Northern Light
Snap
Yahoo

Some of those are still round :)

Only AltaVista, Lycos and Yahoo sound familiar to me. I wouldn't have a clue which ones are still active (except for Yahoo obviously) ; says a lot about how Google has a near-monopoly when it comes to search engines in most areas of the world.

I especially like the title ... crazy how fast technologies are developing :)

Soon people may start talking about a thing that'll be called 'email' or something.. :cool:

I don't see that happening … I don't see email disappear anytime in the forseeable future.

That said, many people on this forum have known the days when 4 MB inboxes were considered big... That sounds like talking about the mediëval times probably to the new generation of internet users!

Away from email a bit, computers in general: I remember my dad telling me about 4k memory 'chips' he repaired. By wrapping wire around a core stick..

I think you must be referring to magnetic core memory planes:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic-core_memory

I used computers which made use of core memory in the 1970’s and also managed technicians repairing systems containing such memory. The actual repair of the core memory planes themselves (the cores and associated wiring) was a specialized job which required training, a steady hand, a microscope, and special tools. By the mid-1970’s the price and performance of semiconductor memory (static TTL RAM and dynamic MOS RAM) replaced magnetic core memory for new projects.

The early MOS dynamic RAM chips contained only 1,024 memory bits. So 1 M bytes of such memory would have required 8,000 of those IC’s! A minor breakthrough happened when the MOSTEK 4116 dynamic memory chips were introduced with 16 k bits of memory.
http://smithsonianchips.si.edu/augarten/p50.htm

Bill

Yeppers. I just heard a few stories and didn't see the hardware, this was before my first 'computer birthday', but it's probably 100% right on!

Bruce

Do you guys also feel old when the younger generation realizes those saving symbols actually used to exist? :D

You mean the floppy drive icon? Here are more outdated icons:

• Envelope icon for email.
• Open envelope top icon for Inbox.
• File storage box for archive folder.
• Paper airplane for Sent folder.
• Folder icon for file folders.

When I first used computers (long before the PC was introduced) there were several data storage media available before floppy disk and what we think of as hard drives were developed:

• Punched cards
• Punched tape
• Open reel magnetic tape
• Magnetic tape cartridges

Floppy disks were introduced in the early 1970's and initially had a diameter of 8 inches. By the late 1970's the 5.25 inch diameter floppy disk was introduced. It was essentially identical to an 8 inch floppy except for the size. These were truly floppy disks in that the outer protective envelope was floppy (as well as the rotating magnetic disk). By the late 1980's the 3.5 inch floppy disk was popular. It used a hard plastic case with a metal protective slider so the user didn't actually see the floppy magnetic disk inside the casing.

Bill