Jack_Straw - 9:39 pm on Aug 7, 2002 (gmt 0)

1970 - began programming and working with computers at the university.
1980 - 300 baud modem for remote access to minicomputers.
A couple of years later I became one of the first users of some obscure dialup service called CompuServe.
About 1984? (a guess) Telnet and FTP to unix boxes all over the country.
1985 - Developed early hypertext application (in MASM and C) to run on IBM PCs and marketed it nationally.
Early 1990's for first web access. Soon after that, my first web page.
1994 first commercial SEO activity.

I started programming computers in 1970 at UC Berkeley working mostly with large mainframes. While I was there, members of the Computer Sciences department (my major) developed seminal versions of both unix and Unix and early predecessors of the internet, but I was, at best, only peripherally involved. Designed first microcomputer application for an apple in 1974. Bought my first IBM PC on the day they were released (costing over $4000 with 128KB RAM and 2 120KB floppy disk drives running at 4.7Mhz). Thought I was in heaven because I could develop software without submitting punch cards and in my house. Paid $2000 for a 10MB fixed disk drive when they came out a couple of years later and thought I was in heaven again because I no longer had to swap floppies in my compile/test loop.

Kept a mini-computer in my basement for several years in the early 1980s. It was about the size of 4 large refrigerators) and made enough noise to bother the neighbors. It sounded like a rocket ship taking off when I booted it up.

I started on 300 baud modems for remote communications, migrated to 1200 baud and then to 2400 baud (thought I was in heaven yet again with such high speed access).

It is difficult to give an exact date to the discussion question because the term "net" is a bit ambiguous. So, I guess I get to interpret that to my best advantage. So, I'll say 1990 because I can discount the other stuff as before the internet as we know it today and 1990 makes me sound younger than 1970. :-)