In 1990 Intel introduced the 33-MHz 486 microprocessor (AT Technology). A reasonably nice computer cost between $1,500 and $2,500 with the average annual household income averaging $26,000. However, old technology, the lowly XT, became cheap. With an XT main motherboard costing about $60 you could assemble a single floppy drive computer with monitor for about $350. It was at this time that the social experiment called SFnet Coffeehouse Network was born.

SFnet was an attempt to use simple communications technology to bring together two very different social milieus. The premise of the idea; Create a network that allowed the well-heeled home user to connect with the young hipster crowd that frequented the smoke filled coffeehouses in the San Francisco Bay Area. To do this we, 1) created a simple coin operated public access terminal and placed 25 of them in the rough and tumble cafe scene throughout the Bay Area, 2) maintained a small geographic foot print so that social interaction was possible 3) focused community energy to a public chat area that used a fast moving text interface that allowed for no visual clues as to who was speaking, 4) charged a nominal fee for cafe use in the hope that the home subscriptions would carry the cost of running the network, 5) allowed for a self-governing community by creating a set of community mechanisms and tools for rewarding positive and engaging communications.

Below is a portion of the attention that SFnet enjoyed thanks to the exciting community that blossomed around this rudimentary technology. See also wikipedia - Internet Cafe
(www.openfence.net)