20.. years..
Congratulations to you, Neal! And to us, that we found Subsim
If i remember right in 1996 i had just moved to another home in the city of Goettingen, after finishing university, and was still working here and there without getting a proper job. Doing some geological excursions in southern Germany and abroad trying to explain how this stuff worked to tourist groups, which was fun. Went to some archeological sites in Greece with friends and was interested in the Minoans. Learned sailing and was beginning to get all those permits you need in Germany, for everything..
Using Windows and OS/2, the latter already dying out at the time.
Had already played "Silent Service II" for PC earlier (two (?) 5 1/4 " disks if i remember right), and "Wolfpack" (already on 3 1/5 "), then Silent Hunter (1) and Aces of the Deep.
With the upcoming internet we had gone past the Offline BBS stuff, and then i found Subsim, i think via Netscape..
Heard of "Fast Attack" and one day a package arrived in the mail, from the US. Neal had sent me the sim, and i was hooked for years..