&gt;  I&#x27;m not sure that most people appreciate how fragmented the entire thing was. There was no real universal email for a long time.<p>Nor how expensive it was.<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;imgur.com&#x2F;xz3k9OC" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;imgur.com&#x2F;xz3k9OC</a><p>Compuserve was $11 <i>per hour</i>.  Delphi was $6 per hour.<p>$11 in 1998 is $22 now.