Homegrown CompuServe gave Columbus a tech-savvy flair in the '70s and '80s; now, little is left
Ben's note: The Dispatch recently published an article about Compuserve - one the early pioneers in interactive. It's worth a read to see about our rich interactive pioneering history in Columbus.
Sunday, September 6, 2009 3:30 AM
By Tim Feran
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
When the Internet was riding its '90s boom, one of the most heated battles played out in central Ohio.
Columbus-based CompuServe, the first major commercial service that gave home-computer users access to cyberspace, was competing with America Online to become the dominant Internet service provider.
Eventually, AOL prevailed, emerging as a tech-industry heavyweight with an international brand that still endures.
Click here for the rest of the story....
The history of CompuServe
1969: Compu-Serv (the original spelling) is founded in Columbus as a computer time-sharing service by Harry K. Gard and his son-in-law, Jeffrey M. Wilkins. It is conceived as the computer department of a startup life-insurance company, Golden United Life Insurance Co., which makes the initial investment of $1 million in the company. It evolves into a stand-alone company before it opens its doors.
Jan. 15, 1970: The company opens for business as a computer time-sharing operation in a rented storefront on W. 5th Avenue, Columbus.
1973: The company moves into the firm's newly constructed 20,000-square-foot computer center and offices at 5000 Arlington Centre Blvd. in Upper Arlington.
1974: The company goes public, its shares traded under the ticker symbol CMPU on the Nasdaq stock market.
May 14, 1977: The Dispatch reports that shareholders of Compu-Serv Network Inc. recently approved changing the name of the firm to CompuServe Inc.
1977: CompuServe builds a $1.2 million computer center at 4300 Tuller Rd. near Dublin.
1979: Personal computers begin appearing, and the company starts its most widely known division, the CompuServe Information Service. It is the first service to offer electronic mail capabilities and technical support to personal-computer users. This online computer service, linking 1,200 customers by the end of its first year, is launched to augment the company's time-sharing business.
1980: CompuServe breaks new ground as the first online service to offer real-time chat with its "CB Simulator."
April 30, 1980: CompuServe shareholders approve sale of company to H&R Block.
July 1, 1980: The Dispatch begins transmitting a twice-daily "newspaper" through the service, the first newspaper in the country to test the new technology. The news flows into home computers at 300 words per minute, and users pay $5 per hour for the service, billed in one-minute increments. By the next year, The Dispatch, 10 other newspapers and the Associated Press make their news stories available to the roughly 10,000 home-computer subscribers of CompuServe.
April 1985: In a dispute with its parent company, H&R Block, Jeffrey M. Wilkins is ousted as chairman of CompuServe Inc. along with four directors, including his father-in-law, Gard.
1986: CompuServe enters the Japanese market, with a Japanese-language version of CompuServe called NiftyServe.
1989: CompuServe becomes the first major online service to open a gateway to the Internet, allowing subscribers to send and receive e-mail across the global computer network. This is the first taste of Internet connectivity for many consumers.
March 13, 1989: CompuServe's online information service for personal-computer users becomes the first such business to pass the half-million membership mark.
April 3, 1989: Plans are announced to take the service to Europe.
Dec. 20, 1990: Maurice A. Cox is named president and chief executive officer after the surprise resignation of his predecessor, Charles W. McCall.
September 1993: The company forms a strategic alliance with Metatec Inc., developed from the ashes of bankrupt Discovery Systems Inc. (which Jeffrey M. Wilkins began after leaving CompuServe). It will use Metatec technology to provide members who have compact disc-equipped computers the option of receiving multimedia information via CD. Potential content includes a graphics- and sound-enhanced version of CompuServe's electronic shopping mall, an interactive version of its magazine and multimedia extensions of some popular databases and forums.
May 1994: CompuServe erects a home page on the World Wide Web, called "a graphical interactive billboard." In an analysis of the three major online services (CompuServe, America Online and Prodigy), Fortune magazine calls CompuServe "The best of the bunch." CompuServe charges $8.95 a month for unlimited use of its basic service, but users' bills can quickly increase with use of "extended" and "premium" services.
June 2, 1994: Its ranks swelling by 80,000 accounts a month, CompuServe's information service tops 2 million subscribers.
April 28, 1995: Propelled by a boom of interest in the Internet and popular entertainment and current-events offerings, CompuServe's online computer service surges past 3 million subscribers.
June 16, 1995: Robert J. Massey is named president and CEO in the wake of Cox's resignation. Massey ramps up the company's marketing approach, saying CompuServe is being "out-hyped" and "out-marketed."
March 13, 1996: To respond to competition, CompuServe introduces Wow!, an online service for novice computer users. Despite a $20 million ad campaign, the concept never catches on. Wow! is ditched after eight months.
April 19, 1996: H&R Block spins off CompuServe as a separate publicly traded company.
Feb. 17, 1997: Massey resigns.
Sept. 8, 1997: CompuServe announces it will be acquired and split up.
Jan. 30, 1998: In a three-way deal valued at $1.3 billion, CompuServe is split and sold to AOL and WorldCom. CompuServe shareholders vote to sell the company to WorldCom, which in turn will sell CompuServe's consumer online services to America Online.
Feb. 9, 1998: America Online hands out pink slips to half its Columbus workers and says it is raising prices by 10 percent for 11 million subscribers.
Feb. 22, 1999: CompuServe launches software delivering faster service, a sleeker look and point-and-click simplicity resembling parent America Online's market-leading product. Chief Operating Officer Audrey Weil says the software, CompuServe 2000, aims for professional adults who either never had subscribed or were using another provider.
Jan. 10, 2000: America Online announces it is buying Time Warner. The deal is an aggressive bet that online delivery of media is the wave of the future.
June 30, 2009: This is the last day members can access the original CompuServe Information Service, later rebranded as CompuServe Classic. As of July 1, it no longer operates as an Internet service provider. A newer version of the service, CompuServe 2000, continues to operate.
Sunday, September 6, 2009 3:30 AM
By Tim Feran
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
When the Internet was riding its '90s boom, one of the most heated battles played out in central Ohio.
Columbus-based CompuServe, the first major commercial service that gave home-computer users access to cyberspace, was competing with America Online to become the dominant Internet service provider.
Eventually, AOL prevailed, emerging as a tech-industry heavyweight with an international brand that still endures.
Click here for the rest of the story....
The history of CompuServe
1969: Compu-Serv (the original spelling) is founded in Columbus as a computer time-sharing service by Harry K. Gard and his son-in-law, Jeffrey M. Wilkins. It is conceived as the computer department of a startup life-insurance company, Golden United Life Insurance Co., which makes the initial investment of $1 million in the company. It evolves into a stand-alone company before it opens its doors.
Jan. 15, 1970: The company opens for business as a computer time-sharing operation in a rented storefront on W. 5th Avenue, Columbus.
1973: The company moves into the firm's newly constructed 20,000-square-foot computer center and offices at 5000 Arlington Centre Blvd. in Upper Arlington.
1974: The company goes public, its shares traded under the ticker symbol CMPU on the Nasdaq stock market.
May 14, 1977: The Dispatch reports that shareholders of Compu-Serv Network Inc. recently approved changing the name of the firm to CompuServe Inc.
1977: CompuServe builds a $1.2 million computer center at 4300 Tuller Rd. near Dublin.
1979: Personal computers begin appearing, and the company starts its most widely known division, the CompuServe Information Service. It is the first service to offer electronic mail capabilities and technical support to personal-computer users. This online computer service, linking 1,200 customers by the end of its first year, is launched to augment the company's time-sharing business.
1980: CompuServe breaks new ground as the first online service to offer real-time chat with its "CB Simulator."
April 30, 1980: CompuServe shareholders approve sale of company to H&R Block.
July 1, 1980: The Dispatch begins transmitting a twice-daily "newspaper" through the service, the first newspaper in the country to test the new technology. The news flows into home computers at 300 words per minute, and users pay $5 per hour for the service, billed in one-minute increments. By the next year, The Dispatch, 10 other newspapers and the Associated Press make their news stories available to the roughly 10,000 home-computer subscribers of CompuServe.
April 1985: In a dispute with its parent company, H&R Block, Jeffrey M. Wilkins is ousted as chairman of CompuServe Inc. along with four directors, including his father-in-law, Gard.
1986: CompuServe enters the Japanese market, with a Japanese-language version of CompuServe called NiftyServe.
1989: CompuServe becomes the first major online service to open a gateway to the Internet, allowing subscribers to send and receive e-mail across the global computer network. This is the first taste of Internet connectivity for many consumers.
March 13, 1989: CompuServe's online information service for personal-computer users becomes the first such business to pass the half-million membership mark.
April 3, 1989: Plans are announced to take the service to Europe.
Dec. 20, 1990: Maurice A. Cox is named president and chief executive officer after the surprise resignation of his predecessor, Charles W. McCall.
September 1993: The company forms a strategic alliance with Metatec Inc., developed from the ashes of bankrupt Discovery Systems Inc. (which Jeffrey M. Wilkins began after leaving CompuServe). It will use Metatec technology to provide members who have compact disc-equipped computers the option of receiving multimedia information via CD. Potential content includes a graphics- and sound-enhanced version of CompuServe's electronic shopping mall, an interactive version of its magazine and multimedia extensions of some popular databases and forums.
May 1994: CompuServe erects a home page on the World Wide Web, called "a graphical interactive billboard." In an analysis of the three major online services (CompuServe, America Online and Prodigy), Fortune magazine calls CompuServe "The best of the bunch." CompuServe charges $8.95 a month for unlimited use of its basic service, but users' bills can quickly increase with use of "extended" and "premium" services.
June 2, 1994: Its ranks swelling by 80,000 accounts a month, CompuServe's information service tops 2 million subscribers.
April 28, 1995: Propelled by a boom of interest in the Internet and popular entertainment and current-events offerings, CompuServe's online computer service surges past 3 million subscribers.
June 16, 1995: Robert J. Massey is named president and CEO in the wake of Cox's resignation. Massey ramps up the company's marketing approach, saying CompuServe is being "out-hyped" and "out-marketed."
March 13, 1996: To respond to competition, CompuServe introduces Wow!, an online service for novice computer users. Despite a $20 million ad campaign, the concept never catches on. Wow! is ditched after eight months.
April 19, 1996: H&R Block spins off CompuServe as a separate publicly traded company.
Feb. 17, 1997: Massey resigns.
Sept. 8, 1997: CompuServe announces it will be acquired and split up.
Jan. 30, 1998: In a three-way deal valued at $1.3 billion, CompuServe is split and sold to AOL and WorldCom. CompuServe shareholders vote to sell the company to WorldCom, which in turn will sell CompuServe's consumer online services to America Online.
Feb. 9, 1998: America Online hands out pink slips to half its Columbus workers and says it is raising prices by 10 percent for 11 million subscribers.
Feb. 22, 1999: CompuServe launches software delivering faster service, a sleeker look and point-and-click simplicity resembling parent America Online's market-leading product. Chief Operating Officer Audrey Weil says the software, CompuServe 2000, aims for professional adults who either never had subscribed or were using another provider.
Jan. 10, 2000: America Online announces it is buying Time Warner. The deal is an aggressive bet that online delivery of media is the wave of the future.
June 30, 2009: This is the last day members can access the original CompuServe Information Service, later rebranded as CompuServe Classic. As of July 1, it no longer operates as an Internet service provider. A newer version of the service, CompuServe 2000, continues to operate.
posted by Ben Blanquera at
6:39 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home