The Internet- great until the masses join in?
- Thread starter SiD the Turtle
- Start date
IMO the Internet has got better. Back in the good old days it was only really other geeks using it and if you mentioned to almost anyone in the real world that you had an Internet connection they would either ask if you were a geek or if you could get some illegal material (porn, zeraw etc) of some kind.
Nowadays pretty much everyone I know is on the Internet - whether on Facebook or MSN or IRC.
This makes it even more useful to me. And as an added bonus I don't remember the last time someone called me a geek for having the Internet.
It sounds like the OP has simply reached his "saturation point" where he can't find any more uses for the Internet. This happened to me probably oh 10 years ago now
luckily every other year something interesting comes along to spruce things up again. But to be honest I don't think I will ever get "bored" per se with the Internet because discussion boards never get boring. That is their whole purpose.
Nowadays pretty much everyone I know is on the Internet - whether on Facebook or MSN or IRC.
This makes it even more useful to me. And as an added bonus I don't remember the last time someone called me a geek for having the Internet.
It sounds like the OP has simply reached his "saturation point" where he can't find any more uses for the Internet. This happened to me probably oh 10 years ago now
luckily every other year something interesting comes along to spruce things up again. But to be honest I don't think I will ever get "bored" per se with the Internet because discussion boards never get boring. That is their whole purpose.I'd hazzard a guess that when something becomes the "in thing" and gets hundreds of thousands (or perhaps millions) of users it becomes harder to please everyone.
I haven't used MSN Messenger since I was about 15 (well I've been on once or twice to try and find old friends), but I really don't get on with the whole thing... MyBook/FaceSpace (etc) have never been my thing and I loathe them.
However, when I was 13-15 MSN Messenger was fantastic for me... it let me reach out to people hundreds even thousands of miles away... I kept in contact with family that lived half a world away... now I'd prefere emails or heck a phone call.
You've got to look at it this way though, Messenger/MyBook/FaceSpace have millions of users so they're obviously keeping some people happy.
I'm sure these companies would rather please the masses of users that they have, and alienate the few that don't get on with certain features... than remove these incredibly popular features and alienate 90% of their user-base just to keep guys like you and me happy.
I haven't used MSN Messenger since I was about 15 (well I've been on once or twice to try and find old friends), but I really don't get on with the whole thing... MyBook/FaceSpace (etc) have never been my thing and I loathe them.
However, when I was 13-15 MSN Messenger was fantastic for me... it let me reach out to people hundreds even thousands of miles away... I kept in contact with family that lived half a world away... now I'd prefere emails or heck a phone call.
You've got to look at it this way though, Messenger/MyBook/FaceSpace have millions of users so they're obviously keeping some people happy.
I'm sure these companies would rather please the masses of users that they have, and alienate the few that don't get on with certain features... than remove these incredibly popular features and alienate 90% of their user-base just to keep guys like you and me happy.
I don't see how msn has changed at all, you're just being elitist because you don't like that other people are using the same tool to speak to each other as you are. I've only been using it for about 8 years, before that I used AIM because no-one I knew used msn, and everyone used AIM.
Personally, I think it's a great thing that I'm able to keep in touch with old friends who never even had internet access when we were at school.
Personally, I think it's a great thing that I'm able to keep in touch with old friends who never even had internet access when we were at school.
I really have seen no detrimental effect on my experience of using msn messnger with the increase of msn messenger users. The only thing that annoys me is the virus which sends you a zip file from your friend saying "is this me".
Associate
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- 28 Dec 2007
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Back when you were charged by the minute...good days?
Bah, I was 890 numbers away from having a six-digit ICQ urn 
actually, I suppose it was 891 numbers.
Generally though, I think the Internet is a lot better today than it ever has been. People generate content, and that's what I'm here for.
actually, I suppose it was 891 numbers.Generally though, I think the Internet is a lot better today than it ever has been. People generate content, and that's what I'm here for.
Did it always have adverts? I've switched to Pidgin over the official MSN client as it takes too long to strip all the adverts out now...
Associate
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It got 'smarter', but thats about it.
It didnt use to have adverts and there are apps now that rip out all the guff.
To be honest I was reading a 10 year old book about the internet yesterday and it basically hasn't changed much, just grown and sped up - with more detail available with the speed. And some of the ideas have become obsolete such as 'digital money' which I read about lol. The only real new things are wikis, blogs and myspace/facebook and the like. The same ideas have been about for the last 10 years as far as I can tell.
PayPal?
You enter text in a small window. Press 'enter'. It shows up on the dialog window for the both of you.
How has that ever changed since the advent of instant messaging? I've been using AIM and MSN and such for nearly a decade now (in fact, during the 'messenger wars' a lot of us used trillian because we were sick of having to open millions of clients) and it's actually much better than it used to be. It's just elitism really.
How has that ever changed since the advent of instant messaging? I've been using AIM and MSN and such for nearly a decade now (in fact, during the 'messenger wars' a lot of us used trillian because we were sick of having to open millions of clients) and it's actually much better than it used to be. It's just elitism really.
Essentially different from what it was suggesting, but fair point.
I'd say MSN Messenger is bordering on bloatware. It used to pretty much be you, your contact list and a chat window.
Now it's full of ads, news, silly little features and general other junk.
About two years ago I tried using Google Chat with a mate, it seems pretty groovy. It was mainly for video chats rather than IM though.
Anyone know how well it's doing these days?
Soldato
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The OP's argument is nothing new. There were elitists moaning about the influx of the masses back when I started out. Imagine how they feel now. 
I started surfing the Information Superhighway™ back in 1996. Back then it really was good for nothing, apart from racking up terrifying phone bills. Now, in 'most' of the developed world it's become part of the furniture and I personally think this is a good thing.
And if it makes some of you feel better, remember. Where the pioneers lead, the masses will follow
I started surfing the Information Superhighway™ back in 1996. Back then it really was good for nothing, apart from racking up terrifying phone bills. Now, in 'most' of the developed world it's become part of the furniture and I personally think this is a good thing.
And if it makes some of you feel better, remember. Where the pioneers lead, the masses will follow
I always used to have to patch it to remove the visual rubbish. Started using Pidgin recently, much better. Just wish I could have Adium on PC as well as Mac.