can’t say i remember much from using winME. maybe i blocked it out, haha.

  • bulwark@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    So they were just giving away America Online by the 700 hour quantity? I now blame AOL for more than I had previously considered.

    • grue@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      I now blame AOL for more than I had previously considered.

      Look up the phrase “eternal September.”

    • Stillwater@sh.itjust.works
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      2 days ago

      It started small and they kept growing in how many free hours. It didn’t stop at 700. I’m not sure where it stopped.

      700 hours is about a month of nonstop use (not that people stayed connected all day back then). Not a bad offer from AOL’s perspective, if you rolled into a subscription lasting years.

      • jqubed@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        I seem to remember our first disks/discs coming in with 5 free hours. That might’ve even been included with a Packard Bell we bought.

      • bulwark@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Yeah, I guess if they would have framed it as one month free it wouldn’t sound as good. I remember using it and completely ignoring everything but the actual Internet. Trolling on AIM back in the day was pretty fun.

      • InvalidName2@lemmy.zip
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        2 days ago

        And I’m guessing enough boomers DID subscribe for years to make it worth it, if my anecdotal experience is anything close to normal.

        • Psythik@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          Can concur. My baby boomer dad was an AOL subscriber up until his death in 2021. He ditched dialup in 2002 but just never stopped paying for AOL.

    • groucho@lemmy.sdf.org
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      2 days ago

      For a while, if you were broke, you got as much internet as you wanted as long as you left the registration screen open and the modem connected…