A buddy of mine commented that he'd never bought a plane ticket anywhere except the internet, so he wasn't even sure how people used to do it before the internet. Like me he's 33, and if you're my age you probably had to buy a plane ticket in college before the internet. So I had to think about it for a minute because I couldn't remember the process. I used to call one airline company and get a price. I'd also ask them what other carriers service the same route, then I'd call all of them to compare prices. In the end you had to have a matrix of prices written out. Same for the rental car. You'd get all of their 1-800 numbers from the phonebook and call each of them. We went to Vegas often enough where we had a list of all of the casino's 1-800 reservation numbers written out. The topic came up because my friend couldn't get the Southwest Airlines web page to respond. As a sign of the times we both had to ask ourselves, "How do you buy a plane ticket without the internet?"
Heh he heh, how dependant we are upon machines for our survival. If I remember right you called the airport and got a list of availible flights, then they transfered you to the particular airline that offered the flight you wanted. I also remeber this taking a very long time to accomplish.
My sister worked 4 years in the Guadalajara Miguel Hidalgo International Airport, selling tickets, booking flights, managing departures, locations, payments, and whatnot, for a small airline that doesn't exist anymore. The last flight I took on that airline, by the way, was so eventful that I made it into a short story and won a national award. My sister went to college in the late eighties and majored in "Travel Business Management" - back when they hardly used computers - booking was made pretty much by hand, a lot like buses, sometimes. *Stupid old me... I called the Guadalajara Airport "Benito Juárez", not Miguel Hidalgo - Juarez is the Veracruz Airport, I think.
while I love the internet (and def. use it far more than I should...) I am so glad when I grew up that I didn't know what the net was, and certainly, although it did exist it really didn't blow up until what, late 1995? I really don't recall hearing much about the internet until 96-ish when AOL popped up all over the place, and it seemed like every 13-year-old had AOL and a "screen name." I see kids today who are busy browsing online and it kinda makes me feel sad because they, at their age esp., need to go out and exercise and hang out with neighborhood friends and all that. One of many reasons why I love being born in the early 80s... it seems to me the ideal time to have enjoyed everything... NES as a kid, internet by the time you were no longer a kid.... etc...
i agree, i remember before havign a pc there was little to do, but at the same time getting out was a good thing. I think when cable internet became mainstream finally, the internet came full circle.
In the UK we would go to a travel agent to book a flight. Before the internet the world seemed a lot bigger to me. These days however it's so small ! Yakumo
Before the net, gaming magazines seemed to be heavenly sent, nowadays I hold no respect for them since I can read more of the same online. Try owning a devkit back in the day, you had to know a friend of a friend who's willing to do a favour to make a shinny dollar. No easy task
Fuck airplane tickets. Do you guys remember actually buying porn? EDIT: http://www.uselessgraphics.com/wayback.htm The version I read had more swearing in it, and of course, all the dorks here will know that the graphics weren't THAT bad in 1987, but still... EDIT again: Shit... that one doesn't have the best lin in it. It's all edited. It said something like, "If you wanted porn, you had to pay some homeless guy to buy it. Either that or jack off to the JC Penny Catalogue!"
hmmmm this about before the internet... http://fun.drno.de/flash/internetkilledthevideostar.swf I am a child of the 80´s and didn´t touch an IBM pc before late 1989. so here is a tribute to the 80´s
Before Internet I only used the PC for typing up papers and playing games. Now I type papers, play games both online and offline, porn, watch movies, edit photos, buy stuff and a few other things.
i can blame the internet for playing less videogames. It seems i spend so much time researching and surfing for games, that I forget to play on my consoles
I was never much of a PC gamer (I had a 286 running DOS 5.0 until 1999) but I played the Commodore 64 a lot. Before the Internet, I played console games, read a lot of magazines, and also spent long periods in the school library. I was actually far more antisocial before the Internet than after I got one of those "free" CDs from a service called Terra, and a Compaq 1252 Laptop in '99 and started chatting with many friends. First things I got from the web? Walkthroughs. The Mynocks guide to Final Fantasy VI, and then Vandal Hearts, and then Final Fantasy VII, and then Parasite Eve. And it took like 30 minutes to download the text files, too. Those were THE DAYS to be a gamer. I don't know if the availability of information and even game files themselves have ruined it, or if my time as a gamer has simply gone, but I just don't get the games of today, the way I "got" them before there was an Internet. Do you think there's a relation between both these variables?
Heh. I highly agree with you barcode. Ever since I got into the Internet I spend less time playing videogames than before. Specifically console games. I think I tend to play PC games more than console games simply because I don't leave the computer! That is why, subconsciously, I got myself a TV Tuner card, so that I can have everything on one machine without having to leave my computer chair! Thats slowly changing though as I'm taking classes and working full-time. With homework I have less time playing on the computer. So the freetime I do get I actually play some console games.
I believe that the volume of games has affected this outcome. The fact that there are generic games isnt something new. There used to be generics back in the day, and people knew the "good" games from the bad, just as they do now. Thing is though, that nowadays the good games have all "been there, done that" for us the grampas of gaming, and for someone like myself, who has beaten games such as Faxanadu on the original NES , Grand Theft Auto seems dull, easy and boring. Plus the fact that with age comes obligation, and making money, and studying for uni etc., friends, family and other people in general tend to require our attention , thus not allowing us to focus all our minds in submerging ourselves in the magic of gaming. Besides, just like a good book, makes your mind fly to faraway places, an old game with a strong theme can do the same. In contrast, games that offer so much eye-candy and action can seem dull and un-inviting. Compare your favourite book to hollywood's latest blockbuster movie and you ll see what I mean PS: speaking of Faxanadu, I m revisiting this game again, and i m hooked once more. Controls are crap, but I ll take it any day over God of War or the new Prince of Persia games. Its far more engaging as an experience. Sometimes Less is More
