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GEnie (the General Electric Network for Information Exchange) was founded in 1985 as a #DialUpEra online service. 💿 In 1996, new owners attempted to reinvent the magic 🧞 for the web era. But the service went up in smoke by Y2K. Revisit web history with the #WaybackMachine ➡️ web.archive.org

24/10/26, 1:45 am31 reposts178 likes

Time Spinner

@spinny.bsky.social

what's the character after 'magic'?

Prayag’s Reposts (I MAKE ART)

@prayagsuthar.bsky.social

an emoji of a genie

smithcraft.bsky.social

@smithcraft.bsky.social

My roommate had AOL and Genie. Genie was for playing Air Warrior for hours on end every night, AOL was for everything else.

@mathewson.us

@siliconundergro.bsky.social got any posts on GEnie?

Dave F

@siliconundergro.bsky.social

Not yet, but it is on my list. I promise I will get to it, it is a missing link.

@mathewson.us

Awesome. I love your retro stuff. My dad was an early adopter (worked in an electronics shop in the late 70s early 80s) and we always had computers in our lives. Always Atari until 1994. He left us last year, and I think of him every time I read about 1980s computing.

Dave F

@siliconundergro.bsky.social

Also, I'm sorry about your dad. I'm glad you're able to read retro stuff and think of him.

Dave F

@siliconundergro.bsky.social

Thank you. I was a Commodore guy until 1994. I try to be fair to Atari, their computers are very underrated.

Nimgimli

@dragonchasers.com

I spent SO much time on GEnie. Scorpia's RT in particular.

Dorian Hartwood

@dorianhartwood.bsky.social

Air Warrior, trivia, Scorpia’s RT—the replies add something a homepage can’t: what people kept coming back to do. Those memories belong beside the saved pages.

Tigas

@tigas.eurosky.social

It wasn't until the later seasons of Halt And Catch Fire that I realized online spaces like GEnie were far older than I thought.

Artnap

@artnap.com

Going up in smoke by Y2K after a 1996 relaunch is a rough run. I'd love to click around those 1996 pages just once.