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Tech

The Internet 20 Years Ago, As Seen on VHS

We've come a long way, baby.
​Screengrab: ​YouTube

​This year mark's VICE's 20th anniversary. We've come a long way from our government-subsidized Montreal zine roots, and to celebrate the milestone, I decided to take a look at something else that has changed drastically in the past two decades: the World Wide Web.

For example, remember how we actually used to call it the World Wide Web?

In 1994, I was in the first grade. My dad was a software developer, so my brothers and I had access to the internet before most of my friends, but back then, there wasn't a whole lot for a six-year-old to do online. I spent most of my computer time playing Mickey's ABC's: A Day At The Fair, instead.

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But the adults of the world were starting to log on, and many of them were very perplexed by this burgeoning technology. In response, and in exquisitely 90s style, the internet-explainer VHS video was born. These tapes are almost incomprehensible in their obsolescence, but they provide an archive of our early internet understanding and give glimpses of the web that pre-date even the Wayback Machine.

Internet user and enthusiast Andy Baio has ​started collecting these tapes and uploaded digitals copies to YouTube, in a satisfying consummation of the internet cycle. They include such gems as how to send an e-mail and the cutting-edge technology of Microsoft Plus.

Watching these videos and taking a walk down "8 MB of RAM" lane creates a strange tension between nostalgia and a sense of achievement. We've come so far, how far will we go in the next 20 years?