Katie Couric And Bryant Gumbel Struggle To Understand 'What Is Internet' (VIDEO)

[Derechos]

It is incredible how much our society has changed in less than two decades.

"Can you explain what 'Internet' is?" a dumbfounded Couric asks during this hilarious vintage clip the folks at Buzzfeed were kind enough to resurrect today.

The daytime TV hosts continue by expressing their bemusement at such features as the "@" symbol ("That little mark with the 'a' and the ring around it? Katie thought that was 'about.'") and e-mail messages ("What do you write to it? Like...mail?").

Click on link to see rest of article and video http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/29/katie-couric-what-is-internet_n_815745.html

[Dennis Donovan]

1. Dig that 90's hair!!!

:rofl:

[Major Hogwash]

2. Instant classic!!

This is great stuff!!

[snooper2]

3. once a tool, always a tool...

[aikoaiko]

4. Wow. That's from 1994.

I can't believe how ignorant they were then. Universities were already issuing email addresses by then.

[cantbeserious]

5. WWW- Netscape Navigator Freely Downloaded By Late 1994

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netscape_Navigator

[aikoaiko]

6. True, but they were questioning web addresses, which were around for a while, more than the WWW.

If they were talking about the web it would be more understandable.

[cantbeserious]

7. Understood - Just Pointing Out How The Technology Was Maturing By 1994

eom

[tinrobot]

9. Email addresses, not web addresses

Web addresses start with "www" or something similar.

Email has the "@" sign.

The "@" sign has been in use since 1971, btw.

[aikoaiko]

12. that;s what I meant to write.

Thanks.

[Teaser]

10. eh, you'd be surprised

in 94 most people I knew hadn't heard of the internet itself, not just the web. I was a physics major back then, so of course I was all geeked out about it. But my family had no idea what I was playing with.

[SoCalDem]

8. a series of tubes.......

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-april-16-2007/sen--ted-stevens

[Teaser]

11. Pre Web Internet Quiz

Who remembers:

Archie?
Veronica?
gophernet?
WAIS?

[Renew Deal]

14. I connected pre-1994.

Using Prodigy. Mostly borrowed accounts from friends. Prodigy was the only choice until around 1995 when AOL took over. I rarely ever actually went beyond the AOL software to websites until 1997. Many companies didn't have websites until then. I think by 98-99 I was on all the time.

[Teaser]

15. old school search engines

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_search_engine

[Renew Deal]

13. Who's the woman on the right?

I remember 1994. It was the last year before "internet" really took off. You know what came out the next year? Windows 95 and it changed the world forever.