This is a question I asked myself recently. I downloaded the Yahoo! Messenger to keep in touch with a co-worker who lives in the same dorm as me, but up on the 4th floor. I am certainly not one who will climb 66 steps (yes, I have counted them) just to see if they are ready to go eat chow. So, hence the need for an IM. I normally use the wonderful IM program from Google. But they use the Yahoo one. I figured it wouldn't be a problem since I still have my Yahoo account. In fact, just the other day I cleaned out about 600+ messages, and sent out an email using the program. So, I know it still works.
But that brought up a really good question for me. I also have a Hotmail account that I use periodically. I began to wonder, which was older, my Hotmail or Yahoo account. I know Google isn't even in the running, since they are the "new" kid on the block compared to the other two.
So, here's my results.
Hotmail: Registered December 1998
Yahoo: Member since January 1999
Google: February 2005
If I still had AOL, I am sure I would be among the oldest accounts on that one. Why? Because I still remember when it was upgraded to AOL 1.1!
And to let you know just how old I am to the internet, I still remember using Prodigy and Compuserve back in the day. I still remember using WoW! And no, I am not talking about World of Warcraft. The WOW I am talking about was a subsidiary of Compuserve. It was the first internet service to be offered with a monthly "unlimited" rate ($17.95). It was born in 1996, died Jan 31, 1997.
To go back even further, I remember our family's very first computer. It was a NEC that came bundled with Geoworks. Do you want to guess the year? If you guessed 1992, then you are absolutely correct. It was the platform of choice for America Online until the mid 1990s when America Online decided to go with Microsoft Windows. Yes, Geoworks predates Windows 3.1. Leaving Geoworks for Windows 3.1 was a big step for our family.
