Forty years ago today (October 29, 1969) the first electronic connection was made over ARPANET, the foundation and predecessor of today’s internet.
On that date the intention was for one programmer in one city to make a connection to a computer at a different location. It was accomplished by sending the message/command “login.”
Not very exotic nor sexy I assure you. But I was listening to NPR on the way home tonight and they were talking to the gents who shared that first transmission forty years ago. It brought to mind yet another thing that bugs your ole Uncle Aaron: the misuse of the word “login” or “logon.”
My first logon experience was at Western Michigan University where I connected to the DEC/VAX mainframe for my BASIC programming course. I remember the 100-year-old building that housed one of the computer labs (the following year it was leveled to make way for the new library complex). I remember dozens of very loud, foundation-rattling, tractor-fed, 9-pin dot-matrix printers. I also remember the filthy keyboard (with missing and mis-labeled keys) and the bright-amber display that almost immediately induced a headache.
I couldn’t do any computing task without successfully logging in. And that was a task in itself. Once logged in I was equally lost as to what to do next.
So I remember the dark old days when logging in meant something! In MY day I had to LOG IN to a computer before I could ask the computer the age-old question of ‘what is the sum of two and two?’.
Of course, many of us log in to company computers and networks now. We are accustomed to the “first-initial-last-name” or “firstnameDOTlastname” drill. And most losers out there probably understand that going through the logon process is what grants them access to the amazing secrets inside that mysterious box. Yes, I’m talking about Solitaire.
So what has got Uncle Aaron’s sneakers full of bubble gum? The fact that so many adverts suggest that potential customers “log on” to such-and-such a website.
“If you want to make stock trades for thirty-seven cents, log on today to www.WeWillCheatYou.com.”
When was the last time you ever “logged on” to a website?!?! You “navigate” to a website. Maybe you “go to” a website. But you do NOT “log on.” You aren’t asked for your name, rank and blood type. You aren’t asked for a secret code like “rover” or “betty” in order to see the latest video of cats diving for goldfish.
Now maybe after you visit a website you might be asked to provide user credentials in order to access your banking account, your charge card details or your fantasy poker league. But you do NOT log on to a website.
So all of you Madison Avenue types who are hanging on to my every keystroke, please stop doing this. Invite people to “visit” your very fine website…but don’t ask them to logon. They don’t know the difference, but I do and that’s all that really matters, isn’t it?
Logging off now….