CompuServe facts for kids
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Corporate headquarters in Columbus, Ohio
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Internet and communications |
| Founded | 1969 (as Compu-Serv Network, Inc.) |
| Headquarters | Columbus, Ohio, U.S. |
| Products | online services, ISP |
| Parent | Yahoo! Inc. |
CompuServe was one of the very first major companies to offer online services to people all over the world. It started in 1969, helping big businesses share computer time. In 1979, CompuServe began letting regular people use its service, especially after hours when the computers were not busy. This was a big step towards connecting people online.
A company called H&R Block bought CompuServe in 1980 and helped it grow even more. Throughout the 1980s, CompuServe was a leader in the online world. At its busiest in the early 1990s, it had online chat rooms, message boards for many different topics, and lots of software to download. It also had popular online games like MegaWars III. CompuServe even created the GIF format, which is still used today for pictures and short animations!
CompuServe stayed important through the mid-1990s. But then, the internet became popular, and new services like AOL started to take over. In 1997, CompuServe was sold to AOL. Later, it became part of Verizon and then Yahoo! Inc.. Today, CompuServe mainly works as an internet service provider and is a part of AOL.
Contents
How CompuServe Started
The Beginning in Ohio
CompuServe began in 1969 in Columbus, Ohio. It was first a part of an insurance company called Golden United Life Insurance.
The first president of CompuServe was John R. Goltz. Jeffrey Wilkins, who was also a student of electrical engineering, took over as CEO within the first year. Many early team members came from the same university.
The company had two main goals. First, it wanted to handle computer tasks for Golden United Life Insurance. Second, it aimed to rent out time on its powerful midrange computers to other businesses. In 1975, CompuServe became its own separate company.
Later, new leaders joined who changed the company's focus. Instead of just renting computer time, they wanted to offer ready-to-use programs. This helped CompuServe grow even more.
In 1977, the company officially changed its name to CompuServe Incorporated. By 1979, it started offering its online information service to regular people. In May 1980, with fewer than 1,000 home users, H&R Block bought CompuServe. Within four years, the number of users grew to about 110,000!
How the Technology Worked
In the beginning, connecting to CompuServe was simple. You would dial a local phone number, which connected you to a special machine. This machine then linked you to CompuServe's main computers in Columbus.
Over time, CompuServe built its own special network. This network used mini-computers in cities all over the United States and other countries. This allowed many people to connect at once. CompuServe's network became very advanced, using different technologies to send information quickly.
In 1981, a newspaper explained CompuServe's technology simply: "CompuServe lets personal computer users get software from a main computer using phone lines."
The New York Times newspaper said CompuServe was "the most international" of the big online services. It could be reached by a local phone call in over 700 cities!
CompuServe also helped businesses with financial services. It gathered and organized financial information for many investment banks.
CompuServe Information Service (CIS)
In 1979, CompuServe started a service called MicroNET for home users. This allowed people to use the computers during the evening when they were not busy. It was a big hit! Because of its success, CompuServe changed the name to CompuServe Information Service, or CIS.
By the mid-1980s, CompuServe was one of the biggest online companies. It had offices in over 30 U.S. cities, mostly selling network services to large companies. But regular people could also buy CompuServe accounts in most computer stores. By 1987, half of CompuServe's money came from its services for home users.
The company encouraged new ideas. For example, Alexander "Sandy" Trevor created the "CB Simulator," a chat system. It quickly became one of the most popular features on CIS. Instead of hiring people to run the online forums, CompuServe hired "sysops" (system operators). These sysops were paid based on how popular their forums were.
Newspapers Online
In July 1980, CompuServe teamed up with the Associated Press to put text versions of newspapers online. Soon, major newspapers like The New York Times and The Washington Post were available.
However, reading a whole newspaper this way was not practical. It could take hours to download, costing a lot of money per hour.
Selling Network Connections
In 1982, CompuServe started a new part of its business called CompuServe Network Services (CNS). This group made money by selling connections to the large network CompuServe had built. CompuServe even designed its own network machines and software.
This network was very smart. If one connection got too busy, traffic would automatically switch to another path. This helped keep things running smoothly for users.
CompuServe's network allowed it to connect with other networks around the world. This meant CompuServe had the most local phone numbers for dial-up connections. This was important because using the internet was expensive back then, and long-distance calls cost even more. Sometimes, it cost $30 an hour to connect to CompuServe! This led to nicknames like CompuSpend or Compu$erve.
CNS also became a main provider for credit card approvals for over 20 years. This part of the business is still running today as part of Verizon.
CompuServe was known for introducing many new online services. It offered e-mail in 1978. In 1980, it launched the CB Simulator, the first public, commercial chat program where many people could talk at once. In 1985, EaasySABRE allowed people to find and book airline flights and hotel rooms without a travel agent. CompuServe also had many online games.
Sending Files and Global Reach
Around 1981, CompuServe created its own way to send files, called the CompuServe B protocol. This allowed users to send files to each other. Later, they made a faster version called B+.
CompuServe also started to grow outside the United States. In 1986, it began working in Japan, and in 1989, it launched a Japanese version called NIFTY-Serve. In 1993, CompuServe Hong Kong started. Between 1994 and 1995, CompuServe helped create WorldsAway, a virtual world where people could interact. The original virtual world from 1995, called the Dreamscape, is still active today!
By the late 1980s, you could log on to CompuServe from all over the world using special networks. CompuServe also opened offices in London and Munich.
The Internet Arrives
CompuServe was the first online service to offer Internet access, though it was limited at first. As early as 1989, you could send and receive emails between CompuServe and the internet.
In the early 1990s, CompuServe had hundreds of thousands of users visiting its many forums. These forums were like early versions of today's discussion websites. Many computer companies even offered customer support through these forums.
In 1992, CompuServe allowed for the first time to see how your email or forum posts would look before you sent them (called WYSIWYG). You could use different fonts, colors, and emoticons. Special software allowed users to work offline, writing messages and then quickly connecting to send and receive new ones.
CompuServe later introduced CompuServe Information Manager (CIM) to compete with AOL. CIM was easier to use, with a point-and-click interface. It also allowed users to save forum messages and emails to read offline, which saved money on connection costs.
One big advantage CompuServe had over the early Internet was that users could buy services and software from other CompuServe members using their account. At that time, it was not allowed to use the main Internet for commercial activities.
In the early 1990s, the hourly cost of CompuServe dropped from over $10 to $1.95. In April 1995, CompuServe had over three million members, making it the largest online service. However, AOL started offering a much cheaper flat-rate plan with unlimited time. This caused CompuServe to lose many customers until it offered a similar plan in late 1997 for $24.95 per month.
As the World Wide Web grew, many companies moved their customer support from CompuServe forums to their own websites.
In 1997, CompuServe began changing its forums to use HTML web standards. The forums could be accessed through the web and CompuServe's own system. In 2004, CompuServe switched completely to web access for its forums. The forums stayed active on CompuServe.com until the end of 2017.
CompuServe UK
Before the Internet was widely used, CompuServe's UK branch created the first national online shopping service in the United Kingdom.
Andrew Gray started CompuServe UK's operations in the late 1980s. The service grew and offered technical help and sales.
The online shopping service was proposed in August 1994 and started quickly. It sold online space to major UK stores like WH Smith, Tesco, Virgin, and PC World (retailer).
The service officially began on April 27, 1995, with the first secure online purchase of a book from WH Smith. This was a big moment for online shopping in the UK. About 1,000,000 UK customers could access these shops at the time.
CompuServe UK even published a book and a free CD-ROM to help people use the service.
However, CompuServe's private network was slow to adapt to the fast growth of the open World Wide Web. Soon, many UK retailers started making their own websites instead of using CompuServe.
User IDs and Email Addresses
CompuServe user IDs were originally numbers like 7xxxx,xx. Later, they became longer.
From 1989, CompuServe users could send emails to the internet using their ID in the form xxxxx.xxxx@compuserve.com. The comma in the ID was changed to a period. In 1996, users could create a simpler email address. Today, CompuServe email addresses look like XXXXXX@cs.com for newer services.
Special Online Areas
CompuServe also offered special online areas for different groups. For example, it had a customized service for the airline industry, allowing pilots and flight attendants to choose their flight schedules. There was also "CompuServe for Lawyers" and "the African-American Culture and Arts Forum."
Later, as part of CompuServe 2000, it teamed up with WebMD to create a special health portal for doctors and consumers.
How Many People Used It?
For a long time, CompuServe was the biggest online service provider. By 1987, it had 380,000 users.
At its peak, CompuServe had three million users worldwide. But AOL grew much larger, with 27 million users in the United States alone. By early 1999, many home users started switching to regular dial-up Internet access. CompuServe's user count dropped to two million, mostly businesses or professionals.
Technology and Rules
One popular use of CompuServe in the 1980s was sharing files, especially pictures. In 1985, it even hosted one of the first online comics. CompuServe first created a simple black-and-white image format. Then, as computers became more powerful and could show color, CompuServe introduced the Graphics Interchange Format (GIF), invented by Steve Wilhite. GIF became very popular for images on the internet in the 1990s.
CompuServe also played a big role in making internet access cheaper in the United States. They argued that data networks should not have to pay the same high fees as phone companies. The government agreed, which helped make dial-up internet much more affordable for everyone.
WOW! Online Service
Wow! was an online service launched by CompuServe in March 1996. It was supposed to be a new service for families and new computer users. It was even planned to be bundled with Microsoft Windows 95.
Wow! promised to be the first internet service with an "unlimited" monthly rate ($17.95). However, it had many problems, like software bugs, random shutdowns, and lost emails. Its closure was announced in November 1996, and it officially shut down on January 31, 1997.
What Happened to Wow.com?
After Wow! shut down, AOL kept the domain name wow.com. It was not used for a long time. Later, AOL thought about using it for a news website or a social network for the game World of Warcraft.
From 2010 to 2015, some of the gaming content was moved to another website. The wow.com domain was also used for a short time as a "deal of the day" website.
As of January 2019, wow.com is a search engine powered by Bing.
WorldCom Buys CompuServe, Then AOL Buys Part of It
The competition between AOL and CompuServe became very intense. CompuServe started losing money. In 1997, its parent company, H&R Block, decided to sell CompuServe.
In February 1998, a complex deal was made. WorldCom bought all of CompuServe. The very next day, WorldCom sold the CompuServe Information Service part to AOL. WorldCom kept the CompuServe Network Services part. In return, AOL sold its own networking division to WorldCom. It was a big swap!
WorldCom's new CompuServe Network Services became WorldCom Advanced Networks. It was later absorbed into another company and then became part of Verizon in 2006.
Because both WorldCom and AOL wanted to use the CompuServe name, they created a special company just to own the trademarks and patents. This allowed both companies to keep using the CompuServe name.
In 2015, when Verizon bought AOL, all of CompuServe's original parts became part of Verizon.
After AOL Took Over
In September 2003, CompuServe Information Service, which was now part of AOL, added a new product called CompuServe Basic.
CompuServe became a lower-cost option for millions of customers. The newer CompuServe software was like an improved Web browser that used AOL's network. The older CompuServe service, called "CompuServe Classic," was still available in some countries.
2007 and Beyond
In January 2007, CompuServe told its members that its software did not support Windows Vista. It suggested switching to AOL's service. Later, CompuServe services in the Pacific region (Australia, New Zealand) and France announced they would close down. CompuServe Germany also closed its main service in 2008, but its "CompuServe Classic" service remained.
On April 15, 2009, CompuServe announced that CompuServe Classic would stop being an Internet Service Provider on June 30, 2009. All its old services, including web pages, were taken offline. However, CompuServe Classic email users could still use their email addresses through a new system.
AOL used the CompuServe brand for CompuServe 2000 (a cheaper service) which ended in 2011.
As of 2023, CompuServe is still at version 7.0.
Forums Close Down
In November 2017, CompuServe announced that its famous CompuServe Forums would close on December 15, 2017. This was more than 36 years after they first started in 1981. Some users moved their discussions to other websites.
CompuServe GUIs (Graphical User Interfaces)
Over time, several different programs were made to help people use CompuServe. Unlike AOL, CompuServe did not give these away for free. Some of them were called WinCIM, TapCIS, and NavCIS.
Since users paid for the time they spent online, these programs helped them save money. They would let users write emails and forum posts offline, then quickly connect to CompuServe to send them, download new messages, and log off.
TapCIS
TapCIS was a program for MS-DOS computers that made it faster to use CompuServe email and forums. It was used from 1981 until 2004. Even though it looked old, it was a very powerful tool.
TapCIS was created by Howard Benner. It was a "shareware" program, meaning you could try it for free but had to pay to use it fully. Many CompuServe system operators (SysOps) preferred using TapCIS because it had special features for managing the forums.
CIM and WinCIM
PC Magazine said that WinCIM (and its older version CIM) gave users a "broader view" of what was available and made it "easier to navigate." However, unlike TapCIS, it might not save you money because it was designed for online use.
OzCIS and OzWIN
OzCIS and its Windows version, OzWIN, were also shareware programs. They were created by Steve Sneed.
Like TapCIS, OzWIN had special features for SysOps, such as moving messages and managing files. Unlike some other programs, OzWIN always showed text in a plain style, without special colors or fonts.
In May 2005, CompuServe stopped allowing access to the OzCis and TapCIS forums.
AutoSIG
AutoSIG was a free program, unlike many of the others.
VisCIS
Visual CompuServe, or VisCIS, was an idea for a 3D way to use CompuServe. It was later turned into a general 3D menu system.
See also
- CompuServe, Inc. v. Patterson, a legal case involving software
- FILe Generator and Editor
- VIDTEX
