Farewell To AOL Dial-Up: SCREEAAANK-GLONK Scroooom Yibbi-Yibbi-Yibbi-Yibbi . . .

Many news sites (such as Fortune) are reporting that AOL is discontinuing dial-up Internet access after 30 years, ending on September 30.

Like many who heard the news, I haven't thought about dial-up in years. And I never used AOL. Still, being reminded of that bygone era makes me nostalgic for when text ruled the Web. When editing the HTML era of Pyramid, I put considerable thought and effort trying to eke out a bit more efficiency in various images. I mean, 200kb for an image?! Who wants to wait for that?!

I can't say I miss dial-up itself . . . but I miss the promise of that janky digital utopia, with "Under Construction" animated GIFs, incredibly niche hand-coded websites, and pics that beam aboard your browser in blocky blotches, coming into focus as more data downloaded. Soon you'll have the full article . . . just another minute or so . . .

-- Steven Marsh