1984: What's a modem? 2021: What's a modem?

Personal Password is 1234

Hey everyone the reporter Jane is my mum and she's very impressed that the video has so many millions of views all these years later ! 😂

That doctor whom she emailed was hailed as the oldest working doctor in Britain and died in 2022, having worked as a forensic expert at the age of 94. What a man!

"Yes, well its very simple really". Proceeds to CALL the computer.

1980: Personal Password = 1234 2020: Nothing changed

"It seems a very simple connection to me" Greatest lie ever told in front of an audience

No one who wasn’t there can know the excitement of connecting to an email hub and then being able to have a conversation with some unknown person somewhere on the Internet. Pretty much a nightmare today, but back then it just suddenly opened doors to a world of possibilities. Furthermore, in those first five years or so of this being available, we all used it so very differently from the flamers & extremists online today. We formed an online chat group then used to meet weekly at a pub. Was so fun. It all soured around 1991 when the trolls started up, but before that, it was so innocent and enjoyable. Plus, today, so chronically naive.

1984: how to send an email 2020: how to stop receiving an email.

It's actually an extremely simple connection. After only 67 steps you're connected. EZ.

These KZfaq Tutorials are great. I wanted to send an important E-Mail today and had to look it up. Thank you

Ill never forget back in the early 90s the first time I went into an online chatroom how amazed I was. Incredible how fast tech has developed

1984 printer: prints immediately 2020 printer: *FEED ME MAGENTA*

Before the wife spoke, I thought that was the guys 12 year old son.

I love that data transmission via audio at the end of the show. 😂😂

I'm old enough to remember this. Fascinating to watch something emerge from nothing, become a phenomenon, then a mainstay, and then....we just take it for granted.

1984: Password is "1234" 2019: Password is "1234"

What do you use the technology for? 1984: To keep household records, process documents, etc. 2020: To share a picture of my lunch, and argue about politics with strangers.

I like the way they were demonstrating 300 baud dialup, but also were doing live video-conferencing more advanced than what we have today.

I think it's pretty darn cool that they used sound to transmit data, what a crude yet effective way of doing it!

I'm surprised it doesn't require an oil change after each email

Who cares about the computer, they are having a real time video conferencing call!

I like how email is in quotes, like it's slang for something

its amazing nearly 40 years later people still don't understand this

Made perfect sense back then to purchase a $5,000 computer to keep records of what’s been in your freezer.

Password: 1234 I believe we've found patient zero.

I first witnessed Prestel being demonstrated in 1982 at Glasgow University in the then-Maths dept. How it even operated on a 16K ZX Spectrum that had been expanded to 48K still beats me. The software to run it was written by a close friend, who is sadly no longer with us, who went on to have a long successful career in computing. I too went on to have a career in computing which caused me to travel the four corners of the world, I'm now retired and am back in Bonnie Scotland, and done travelling thank goodness.😁

“It’s all very simple” proceeds to spend the next 5 minutes grinding and clanking with cables and connections

"It's extremely simple" **starts plugging cables, rotating dial and pushing switches**

1:19 "The computer is now asking me to enter my personal password" types 1234 "Which I've now done"

Those were the times when people appreciated such simple things as sending emails or keeping household records in one place. They were simply able to enjoy life. Now, for an unknown reason, we are looking down at them asking "how could they use such primitive ways to connect to the network"? Without that technology we wouldn't have today's technology.

I'd love to relive the 70s, 80s and 90s computer revolution, it was so exciting. While todays technology is amazing that has been built off it, living back then with new computer innovations coming literally every year, It was a very unique period in history.

This quarantine got me watching RANDOM sht

1984: that’s weird 2020: that’s weird

I used personal computers from 1977 onwards. I remember in 1983/84 when a roommate bought a Commodore 64, with modem. It was 64baud. We all stood around watching as the connection was made then data displayed one character at a time. Total magic

I like how ridiculously enthusiastic they are when they sign off with "BYE, JANE!". It's like they pre-recorded that part for some reason. Totally incongruous with their low-key manner just a few second earlier.

I'm going to type 'Electronically Yours' in all my emails here afterwards.

1984: Looking at the future with excitement 2020: Looking back at the past with longing

This whole video is wonderfully British from the dial up phone, the accents, mannerisims and interactions. Can confirm we all still connect to the jolly old t'internet this way. Wonderful.

3:47 « Electronically yours » I’ve got to use this greeting in my email 😂

The fact that he dials up the connection with a rotary phone makes this twice as enjoyable

Oh the days when 1234 was a safe password.

Kids these days didn't know how mind blowing this was as a nerdy kid back in the day. Holy cow this was amazing.

Better communication than I have with a doctor

1984: dedicating a whole room to a computer 2019:sitting on the toilet watching a video about sending emails in 1984 on my phone

*Kid takes popsicle from freezer* “Did you update the household database?” “No?” “Look, it’s quite simple. You unplug the computer wire and then plug in the modem. Then dial the # on the rotary phone, and wait for dial tone, then you hang up. All you gotta do next is put in the personal password and find the right entry on the micronet. Don’t make me tell you again!!”

I love this video. They’re in the 21st century while the rest of the world is in 1984.

40 years later mailbox become absolute nightmare. I think we all sometimes wish that sending emails were more complicated.

"Yeah it's extremely simple really" *proceeds to launch a ballistic missile towards the USSR*

They act like there’s someone off camera holding them at gunpoint😂

These guys enthusiasm for the computer age Brings back fond memories of me and my brother tussling with a new Sinclair ZX Spectrum computer in 1982. Nothing more than glorified keyboard with a processor chip and board buried within. When we learned what the machine was doing it was a great feeling of discovery, like we struck gold😂 40 years later, we now have machines learning how to get rid of us because we’ve run out of luck as we’ve gotten old.

Oh wow, there's a happy memory, the sound of the dot-matrix printer.

Rare footage of a printer that actually works

This is where it all started!!! I mean, usage of '1234' passwords...

For 1984, the connection process was actually very simple. Assembling the computer itself must have been very complicated compared to the facilities we have today. When I started using the Internet, the modem itself was already attached to the computer and the computer made the connection to the ISP.

I’ve never heard of an internet dialup with a rotary dial phone! I didn’t even know that was possible!!

I'll be ending my emails with "electronically yours" from now on.

1984 online porn: "I am naked." in Bold sans

What an innovation to drop a data blast at the end!

1984: Presses a button and the printer starts printing immediately 2019: Printer cartridge not detected

1984: The amazing communication of electronical mail 2020: Yo why does his wife look like a 13 year old boy

its mind blowing how far we've come in 40 years....

WOW!!! Tech is advanced so much that this video seems from 100 years ago!

My parents as kids during this time: Well it's fairly simple. My Parents now: How do I connect to the WiFi?

Laugh all you want, but they were WAY ahead of their time. I didn't send an email until around 1993 and it was only because our professor made us

It's funny how 80s nostalgia is all about the neon, when 80s telly was this beige

1:20 For being a computer expert he sure doesn’t care about security with his 1234-password. 😂

Printout reads: "Hello, I am the prince of Nigera and i require your help to transfer money..."

Incredible looking back. This was groundbreaking at the time. I was working for British Telecom. Prestel was a great invention but it never really took off publicly in the way that Minitel did in France.

What an amazing piece of history. Thank you for posting.

1984: Interviews done virtually. 2021: Interviews done virtually.

I was born in 69. My grade 8 teacher told me that by the year 2000 everyone will have a miniature computer in their pocket. I thought that he was insane because computers couldn’t do barely anything in 1987. Now 80% of humans have a actual computer in their pocket!

Thanks, startlingly informative, for those growing up In the eighties,, with little to no concept of technology

"extremely simple" :D On a side not, it's just amazing how she can pull out a repeat prescription form her doctor in 1984. This is something that just recently became a thing to do online in my country. These people were exceptionally intelligent and way before their time.

This guy is the most early 1980’s looking guy I have ever seen.

2:26 "What do you use the computer for?" "Well, for keeping household records, such as what I have in the freezer...." I guess I do it the old-fashioned way, to see what I have in the freezer I open the freezer door.

It's very simple really, just 36 steps tech 2 level experience. Extremely simple connection to make. Julian thank you for the very simple instructions.

June 7, 1984? I was born five days after this aired…and my family didn’t have a computer till 1994, or internet till 1996. Early times indeed.

"electronically yours" this is how I will now end every email I send

"It's a very simple connection to make!" *Connects one cable, switches another cable, turns on the modem, logs in from the computer and dials a number from the telephone*

No times better than these folks. All the way up to around 1998. Actually, even up to 2008 things were still majestic.

I enjoy listening to this on loop and at 0.5x speed over and over again

Husband: Hun what are having for dinner tonight? Wife: Hold on, I have to check the computer to see what’s in the freezer.

1984: Send a simple email. 2020: Shitposting, memes, and porn.

We may laugh it up today, but these guys were in the top of the tecnology, and things like that helped to build the world as we know today. In the future, we will be laughed at too

My first BBS computer was a Northstar 8080 (CP/M), with a 1200 baud modem. I later went to a 286 computer. I had the Candy Store BBS for many years. Last time, a 486 DX-66, 4 gigs HD, 2- diskless workstations, running Wildcat software with 8 phone lines, connected to the Novel server. Expensive hobby back then!!

-Looks in the freezer -goes to computer - writes... buy eggs and milk - prints it out and heads to the store. - 5k well invested.

Incredible that they're able to facetime each other whilst exchanging emails.

Never dialed up like that. Looks like fun. I wish I could still play around with connections like those.

Amazing progress of technology since 1980s

"What do you use the computer for?" "Keeping household records such as: what I have in the freezer..." That was hilarious.

This video totally sounded like a conversation recording for an English lesson

So quaint watching this in 2023.

I never knew Fred and Rose West sent the first email-fascinating!

That was a sick song they played for the credits.

"electronically yours" that's so cute wtf why don't we sign off all our work emails like that

Amazing. What could be simpler!

The internet dial up sounds will forever be stuck in my memories we've come a very long way with the internet.

- "I see you have your computer linked to the telephone line. Can you tell us how you did that?" - "Yes. Well, it's very simple really..." Proceeds to triangulate the signal between the Voyager 1, the Kennedy Space Center, and the Great Pyramid of Giza.

As an IT nerd myself, I can say that this is probably the last time that a computer/software demonstration went perfectly. That just doesn't happen anymore.