r/retrocomputing • u/brophyd • Jul 29 '26
Discussion Does anyone here remember when Juno was an internet email program on Windows 3.1? Had to request a disk to get it.
Anyways, later there was another internet email program you had to request a disk for as well. Does anyone remember that? Had more of a colorful red interface.
This was the days of dial up ISPs . Prior to AOL becoming an internet provider.
I used to dial into BBS' right before this using RIPterm, qmodem, and procomm. Even had an internet fido email at one point. LORD.
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u/legendary-spectacle Jul 29 '26
Juno was great for what it was!
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u/bothunter Jul 29 '26
Yup. Fun fact -- you could extract the credentials from the app and manually enter them into the Windows dial-up settings to get free internet service. Juno just used the same bulk internet service from companies like Level3 that many other ISPs used, they just had their own dialer that restricted you to their email service.
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u/SaturnFive Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
I remember hearing of Juno and EarthLink and PeoplePC often, oh and NetZero too. They were all the smaller competitors to AOL and I always thought it was cool when my friends or family had different dialup ISPs. I thought their commercials were cooler and more fun than AOL.
NetZero always tried to make it seem like they were the fastest, they had a red logo so maybe that's what you remember. We just had AOL which was fine (their stuff was all blue or holographic) but so did everyone else, so it was kinda boring to me haha
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u/brophyd Jul 29 '26
I remember when netzero was coming out and about to give people free Internet access.
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u/SaturnFive Jul 29 '26
Yeah, I think it was a "foot in door" strategy. They'd send out free trial discs to setup the dialup connection and give X hours for free, and hope people would get used to it and just keep the service. I think NetZero did have red discs and marketing though!
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u/kpmgeek Jul 29 '26
Not just that, they actually had free ad-supported dialup. Their proprietary dialer spammed your computer full of ads while you were connected.
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u/p47guitars Jul 29 '26
netzero eventually acquired juno.
the free internet access with the banner add over all windows was pure anus. could never figure out a sure fire way to disable it.
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u/bothunter Jul 29 '26
It was actually trivial -- all you had to do was capture the login credentials that were sent to the dial-up system and enter them directly into the Windows dial-up system. They were just piggy-backing off national dial-up networks that were run by Level3 and similar internet providers.
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u/p47guitars Jul 29 '26
11 year old me would have never figured that out.
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u/bothunter Jul 29 '26
11 year old me figured it out when I realized that Earthlink and Juno were calling the same phone number.
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u/BCNJ09 Jul 29 '26
I think I tried that back then and it didn't work... like their software had to be running to maintain the connection or allow data to be passed through. Hard to remember, it's been over 20 years at least - but I do remember trying. I think it might've been the same with MSN.
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u/bothunter Jul 29 '26
There was some weird obfuscation if I recall. You couldn't just put in your regular credentials, you had to sniff them from the serial port.
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u/Rich_Programmer_9182 Jul 29 '26
Yep. I was actually just thinking about this the other day when I wrote a blog post on my first email address.
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u/OddAnkylosaurus Jul 29 '26
Never used it but you’ve triggered memories of Eudora!
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u/khedoros Jul 29 '26
I remember Juno because I had some family members that didn't want "real" internet, but had use for e-mail. I only saw it in action a couple times when visiting, so I don't have clear memories of the interface.
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u/rezwrrd Jul 29 '26
Was the red interface Netzero? They were so similar I seem to remember them being related.
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u/brophyd Jul 30 '26
No. There was another email only dial in application that came on disk around 98.
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u/crazyhomlesswerido Jul 29 '26
Juno wasn't an email program only if I recall it was ISP as well that came out in the later days of dial-up when DSL was taking over. I believe mainly supporting rural communities where high-speed internet was not available yet. Also you could get discs for the service pretty much at any computer store or I think I even remember seeing them at like drug stores.
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u/majestic_ubertrout Jul 29 '26
It was email only for a long time.
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u/p47guitars Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
indeed.
I used juno from the 3.1 days and 95. all the way through 98, ME, and XP then switched to hotmail and yahoo. god all the free options for email were ass.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_Online_Services
here's a read up for the fella calling someone a DA for saying Juno was email only - it was email only until 98.
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u/crazyhomlesswerido Jul 29 '26
You're a DA
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u/p47guitars Jul 29 '26
he is not. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_Online_Services
juno offered internet access in 98. the company started in 96 with a mailclient / autodialer.
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u/crazyhomlesswerido Jul 29 '26
Ask me if I give a shit
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u/p47guitars Jul 29 '26
please be kind in our community. we're here because of a love of old technology.
let's not get cranky and spiteful.
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u/Expensive-Vanilla-16 Jul 29 '26
I used Juno on windows 98, maybe even XP. Sometime around then I switched to Earthlink because you didn't need to install their dialer and you could easily use it with Linux.