[mettamage]

True, but for me, the techno-optimism started with Google. I was a young kid back then, but the idea to catalog all of the world's information under a search engine (that worked) sounded wild to me at the time.

[tivert]

> True, but for me, the techno-optimism started with Google. I was a young kid back then...

But for me, the world started with my youth. I was a young kid back then...

[ahaucnx]

For me it started with AltaVista.

[latchkey]

For me it started with a 1200 baud modem connected to my Apple IIe.

[drumdance]

For me it started with signing up for Match.com for free in 1995 because I was one of the first 10,000 users.

Seriously, it was probably Usenet that kept me engaged. The web was exciting to browse but the conversation was on Usenet.

[latchkey]

I was early to Match as well. When I first started, there were a total of 8 women in the entire Bay Area. I kept that free account for years and eventually found my (now ex-)wife through the site.