Mmmmm I wasnt intent on using facebook as facebook per-se, only the instant messaging side of it as basically a glorified, web-based SMS system... A few years ago I wouldn't even have done that, but in 2013 unfortunately I recieve more electronic correspondence via facebook IM than SMS or phonecalls. If it werent going to compromise my day to day communications as greatly (say had i taken the challenge in 2008 prior to facebook being a staple communication medium and prior to it having a viable IM function), I'd simply do away with it altogether... Alas, I am a slave to the changing times 
As far as it's other functions go however, the actual page itself, if it will not function on old browsers or equipment, I'll go without. To be honest, it will be a very very refreshing change of digital scenery... going a month without seeing stupid memes full of cat's and willy wonkas and reading about how wonderful somebody thinks the meal they cooked is, and vague statuses about how much somebody i know hates somebody else i know... :lol:
With the mail etc side of things, I was reasonably expecting I would run into problems etc with regard to the massive gaps you mention in security protocols that exist between the servers of now and the mail client applications of then. Whilst in this instance it could be considered that for the purposes of a productivity-based challenge, a helper device is appropriate, I would in this instance, probably attempt to work around this in a rudimentary fashion using the webmail facilities provided by my ISP, and as far as the web-based hotmail and gmail accounts go, I dare say I'd hope that they work in some dodgy kinda fashion on my browser. Unless I was expecting a particularly important email however I dare say I wouldn't resort even then to the iPhone as a helper, simply out of principal.
I guess I'm lucky enough that I've never embraced the portable self-cointained digital media-player since it's conception, having never owned an iPod, owned and used a Zen for about 3 weeks before I stuffed it in a drawer never to be seen again, and even now I have half a dozen videos ripped from youtube on my iPhone that represents my entire portable music collection, which never actually get listened too. In my car I have a USB stick connected with most of my iTunes library on it which baSICALLY replaces my CD's... This means that for what it's worth, I probably wont even feel the effects of such limitations. I had put some thought towards what was acceptable as far as accessing music etc remotely and drew a conclusion that whilst anything dependant upon an OSX-specific function would be immediately ruled out, any solution involving simple file-sharing connectivity between machines would be perfectly acceptable, as in theory, replace the G4 with a WGS over ethernet and you have in essence a network configuration that was valid and possible on the technology available in the 90's... In theory, I could go a step further and have the G4 booted into OS9 to even more accurately replicate a typical 68k/60x era setup. WHilst admittedly, 40Gb hard discs didnt exist in 1997, the basic Appleshare and TCP infrastructure did, and theoretically, a remote file server with my 10Gb music collection would still have been possible, even if stretched over multiple volumes.
The only real issue I have come by that would appear to require me to cheat and have to accept is actual connectivity to the outside world... Realistically, I would like to be able to simply install a commslot modem and use my ISP's dial-up function to establish web-connectivity for the month of the challenge, however my property no longer has an active telephone line as such, with my flatmate and I having opted for a full cable-based telecommunications package earlier this year... basically even our landline telephone is connected via our broadband internet connection. This means that connectivity via broadband is the only option and as such will possibly require other hardware or software as an intermediary to help it along at worst, or at best, will mean I'll have to put up with net speeds that were unheard of at the time.
As far as it's other functions go however, the actual page itself, if it will not function on old browsers or equipment, I'll go without. To be honest, it will be a very very refreshing change of digital scenery... going a month without seeing stupid memes full of cat's and willy wonkas and reading about how wonderful somebody thinks the meal they cooked is, and vague statuses about how much somebody i know hates somebody else i know... :lol:
With the mail etc side of things, I was reasonably expecting I would run into problems etc with regard to the massive gaps you mention in security protocols that exist between the servers of now and the mail client applications of then. Whilst in this instance it could be considered that for the purposes of a productivity-based challenge, a helper device is appropriate, I would in this instance, probably attempt to work around this in a rudimentary fashion using the webmail facilities provided by my ISP, and as far as the web-based hotmail and gmail accounts go, I dare say I'd hope that they work in some dodgy kinda fashion on my browser. Unless I was expecting a particularly important email however I dare say I wouldn't resort even then to the iPhone as a helper, simply out of principal.
I guess I'm lucky enough that I've never embraced the portable self-cointained digital media-player since it's conception, having never owned an iPod, owned and used a Zen for about 3 weeks before I stuffed it in a drawer never to be seen again, and even now I have half a dozen videos ripped from youtube on my iPhone that represents my entire portable music collection, which never actually get listened too. In my car I have a USB stick connected with most of my iTunes library on it which baSICALLY replaces my CD's... This means that for what it's worth, I probably wont even feel the effects of such limitations.
I had put some thought towards what was acceptable as far as accessing music etc remotely and drew a conclusion that whilst anything dependant upon an OSX-specific function would be immediately ruled out, any solution involving simple file-sharing connectivity between machines would be perfectly acceptable, as in theory, replace the G4 with a WGS over ethernet and you have in essence a network configuration that was valid and possible on the technology available in the 90's... In theory, I could go a step further and have the G4 booted into OS9 to even more accurately replicate a typical 68k/60x era setup. WHilst admittedly, 40Gb hard discs didnt exist in 1997, the basic Appleshare and TCP infrastructure did, and theoretically, a remote file server with my 10Gb music collection would still have been possible, even if stretched over multiple volumes. The only real issue I have come by that would appear to require me to cheat and have to accept is actual connectivity to the outside world... Realistically, I would like to be able to simply install a commslot modem and use my ISP's dial-up function to establish web-connectivity for the month of the challenge, however my property no longer has an active telephone line as such, with my flatmate and I having opted for a full cable-based telecommunications package earlier this year... basically even our landline telephone is connected via our broadband internet connection. This means that connectivity via broadband is the only option and as such will possibly require other hardware or software as an intermediary to help it along at worst, or at best, will mean I'll have to put up with net speeds that were unheard of at the time.