Smart Tech Tips

CompuServe started in 1979. By the time I was given my first computer, they were in their prime. Outside of the academic, military, or government bodies; this was the only way to get email and tech support for a PC user. In its’ hay-day it had over 1/2 a million users at any given time. Anyone who was interested in technology went to their forums and used their services. Those people that went there were being charged by the hour! Can you image having that kind of business model in today’s internet environment?

They were eventually overtaken by young upstarts like AOL and local Mom and Pop ISPs. In fact, AOL with their monthly rates and other amenities, eventually purchased CompuServe in 1997. Just like anything else AOL purchases, the brand was neglected and by the turn of the millennium it had fallen into obscurity. How ironic that AOL also find itself struggling like the fore bearer it had overtaken.

I remember my friend in high school having a CompuServe account and using it to get risqué pictures of swimsuit models in gif format on a 9600 baud modem. Talk about delayed gratification, it took nearly a day to get one picture and you didn’t know what you got until AFTER it was downloaded. It could have been whales humping in 2 colors instead of the full 256 colors. We were so proud that we had gotten something from across the United States into our home in a little town in Texas with our 386DX blazingly fast machine. Also I recall it was cool to have a 3862360.3683@compuserve.com email address. It meant you were ELEET (31337) for those in the know.