A Decade of the Internet: Looking Back at the 2000 Edition of 'The Internet For Dummies'

As we approach 2010, people are beginning to reflect on the past decade.

How much has the Internet changed in that time?  Things move so fast in the digital age, it can be hard to quantify.  But sometimes something comes along that helps put everything into perspective.

A few weeks ago at a flea market, I found a copy of The Internet For Dummies: 7th Edition — the edition they published in the year 2000.  The book is so out-of-date their website doesn't even exist anymore.

At the time, I'm sure it was a helpful reference, but in retrospect, this book is 360 pages of pure hilarity that speaks for itself.  Check out what the 2000 edition of The Internet for Dummies had to say about a number of important online topics after the jump…

On web browsers:

"The most popular browsers today are Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer." (11)

Luckily, Firefox will be around FOREVER!

On email:

“The most widely used e-mail programs are Eudora, Netscape Messenger, and Outlook Express.” (172)

“When you first begin to get e-mail, the feeling is so exciting that it’s difficult to imagine just throwing away the message.” (190)

“We get 50 spams a day (yes, really).” (202)

“Now that you know all about how to send and receive mail, only one thing stands between you and a rich, fulfilling, mail-blessed life: You don’t know many people with whom you can exchange mail.” (205)

“Many mail programs have spell checkers.” (322)

Yes, really… 50 spams a day.  I'm so excited I can barely throw them away.

On chat:

“ICQ…is the current king of the instant messengers.” (219)

“The first rule of chatting is not to hurt anyone. A real person with real feelings is at the other end of the computer chat connection.” (232)

I'm glad to see people never break the first rule of chatting now that comments have become the proper outlet for hurting other people's feelings.

On searching:

“Special tools known as search engines…help you find information on the Net.  We tell you about the two most useful, AltaVista and Yahoo!.” (12)

"The number-one reason your searches don’t find anything….  One of the search words is spelled wrong.” (127)

Giving an example on search results for the words "key lime pie": “AltaVista found about 6,300 matches.” (125)

A graphic showing the same example for Google: (128)

The ten-minute challenge: “Our friend Doug Hacker claims to be able to find the answer to any factual query on the Net in less than ten minutes.” (138)

Can you imagine getting less than a few thousand results for a query these days?  You'd have to be searching for some really rare German pornography.

On using the Internet:

“This year just might be the year you have to learn about the Internet ‘cause, like it or not, it’s part of your job.” (24)

FAQ: “How Important Is This Internet Stuff?” (295)

“If you’re purchasing a new computer primarily to surf the Net, you can buy a reasonably fast computer – a Pentium II with a color monitor – for under $1,000. The World Wide Web is a colorful place; to get the real effect, you have to see it in color.” (297)

On what you can and can't find online:

“These days, everyone and his dog has a home page.” (91)

“Most Web pages contain graphics of some sort.” (158)

“We bet that you’re wondering whether any free FTP sites or Web sites contain, er, exotic photography, but you’re too embarrassed to ask. Well, we’ll tell you – not much is available for free. Few public, free pictures are any raunchier than fashion photos from Redbook or Sports Illustrated.” (304)

That last line sounds more like it came from the book "The Internet for  Oblivious Religious Types."

On who is and isn't on the web:

“With an estimated 7 million kids online…” (31)

“Few honest businesses would attempt to advertise by broadcasting on the Internet because of the immense bad publicity it would bring on themselves.” (203)

On music:

Discussing CDNow: "You can even listen to some of the tracks if you've got a RealPlayer installed." (149)

“One of the hottest new activities on the Internet is exchanging music files with your friends in the MP3 file format.” (307)

“MP3 is so popular that several manufacturers now offer portable MP3 players that store a number of MP3 cuts.” (307)

The book is so old there's no mention of the iPod.  No mention of Napster.  No mention of Metallica being whiny bitches.

On online maps:

Yahoo Maps: “Gets a more or less accurate map of a street address you type.” (123)

As opposed to now when you get a more or less accurate look at where your car is parked.

On URLs:

“URLs vary by provider. Some providers don’t follow the convention of putting a tilde (~) in front of your user name.” (162)

On Internet Service Providers:

"Watch those phone bills." (286)

Step #4 in getting connected: “Crank up your Internet connection program and fiddle with it until it works.” (67)

Remember when finally getting connected felt like magic and ISPs charged by the hour?  Luckily, the days of hourly rates are over keeping us all from going broke.

On Internet on the go:

“Popping up with surprising speed are cybercafés.” (48)

“Staying connected on the road can be a challenge.” (54)

There's even an entire section on Cybercafé Etiquette.  Or as we call them now… cafes.

On download speeds:

“The Internet Explorer installation program…has to download between 10 and 25 MB…which takes a couple of hours. Consider starting the installation program and then going out for pizza (a lot of pizza).” (95)

On what is deserving of an entire chapter:

Chapter 17: AOL: Can Twenty Million Users Really Be Wrong? (273)

Chapter 18: Tuning in with WebTV (285)

On the future:

“Some people think that a big ‘bubble’ is occurring.” (129)

Those people were the biggest dummies of all.