but which ones were
the most viable, and which ones contributed most to the explosive growth
of the internet?
That would be the flood of AOL floppies, and the run of $300 PCs after
rebate because you signed up for AOL for 3 years at $20/mn.
Everyone who was "hip" was getting online. AOL made it hip, and everyone
who thought they could suck a dime out of the public joined in. The
internet was just convenient because college students were talking about
it, and it was free content that these fly by night ISPs could offer,
while charging the same rate AOL/CompuServe/Prodigy et all were charging
for their "custom" content.
At least that is the way I saw it go in the mid 90's.
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>