Talk:CompuServe

CompuServe Founder

I have attempted to correct this article from downplaying the role of Harry Gard Sr. as the founder and CEO of Compuserve, but it continues to be changed back. It also consistently refers to Wilkins as CEO. Wilkins was never CEO of CompuServe. Wilkins replaced Goltz as president only. I'm not sure where the information claiming otherwise has come from. The facts are easy to verify.

Here is a letter from Ellen Gard, daughter of Harry Gard Sr.: > It is very odd that Harry Gard, Sr. is consistently being under > represented. He was, and continued to be the founder, majority > stockholder and CEO of CompuServe until he sold the company to Henry > Bloch/ H&R Block. Whoever has made the changes has given an in depth > historical overview of the company, but seems determined to blur the > central facts. > > After the sale to H&R Block, a portrait of my father, Harry K. Gard, was > hung in the entryway with the title "Founder of CompuServe" and the > company held a salute to "our founder" attended by the employees and our > family. > > After CompuServe began, Harry Gard, Sr. gave his daughter's husband, > Jeffrey Wilkins, the opportunity to join the company. He had been > working in his own burglar alarm company in Arizona and he recruited > John Goltz and others from his Arizona alma mater to CompuServe. > Eventually Wilkins became president. Harry Gard, Sr. retained his > titled as CEO and was majority shareholder, until he sold the company.

The above are all verifiable. Could somebody help correct this article? AngelTripp (talk) 18:05, 2 April 2015 (UTC)

Untitled

H&R Block bought CompuServe in 1986 (not 1980 as stated). This is public record, and I worked for CompuServe then & know firsthand. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.251.171.218 (talk) 19:38, 7 October 2007 (UTC)

There are two paragraphs discussing Tymnet and Telenet. I'm not sure which is really true or more accurate, but they need to be combined --Weyoun6 07:00, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Anyone want to volunteer to put up some screenshots? --ralmin 23:16, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

Maybe it's just me, but I think it's kind of scary that some of the text was a copyvio from [1] which had been sitting here, unnoticed, since August 2002. —David Wahler (talk) 20:56, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

Your link leads to a 404, but the stuff you rewrote seemed pretty innocuous to me, just PR-speak for some straightforward facts; I don't think copyvio would really be much of a concern. Regardless of that, your wording is better. - DavidWBrooks 21:11, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

Sprynet, Unlimited Pricing

For what it's worth, CompuServe started their unlimited internet plan before AOL. CSI acquired Spry in 1995, and on August 1, 1996, launched SpryNet, which was just dialup without any of the added services, but at an unlimited price. CompuServe's WOW product (a MS Bob-like interface to CompuServe) also offered all-you-can-eat-pricing. AOL followed a few months later. SpryNet never really caught on though, and WOW was a fairly bad idea, and you know the rest of the story.

I worked for Spry around the time of the SpryNet launch, so I'll try to see what I can add when I have more time. --Jkonrath 23:26, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

Why Sprynet never really caught on, Jkonrath? Humble2000 19:49, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

I will have to ring in on this as well.. I cut my baby internet teeth on AOL for about a month in April 1996 and at that time, AOL was still charging hourly rates. After a large credit card billing from AOL, I installed the WOW software distinctly because it was offering $16.95 a month for unlimited hours. After being on WOW until it closed a few months later, it was only then that I recall AOL going to flat fee billing which would have been around the beginning of 1997. After the demise of WOW, I signed on with Sprynet and was there for several years and it was bought out several times; last I knew it was operated by Earthlink. And yes, the WOW operation was rife with bugs, hangups and freezes but for some reason I still think fondly of it. Just look at me now! --Brad 14:10, 1 December 2007 (UTC)

What is GAMEY?

I saw a ref to GAMEY get added and then deleted, so I thought I'd explain it here. GAMEY stands for Google, AOL, Microsoft, eBay, and Yahoo!, who are the top companies with the resources to buy up their smaller competitors. I don't think it's right to mention GAMEY, given that the AOL buyout of CSI happened when two or three of these companies didn't even exist, let alone were buying up others. --Jkonrath 20:58, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

CB Inventor

I saw this removed from a previous edit, but Sandy Trevor did invent CompuServe's CB function. Take a look at his bio at http://nuvocom.com/nuvo_bak.htm or just go to CB Simulator, where it's also mentioned. --Jkonrath 18:57, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

Now that I have good references for it I readded his credit and enhanced it a bit for people not familiar with that CompuServe services. --rbanzai 23 May 2006

Early and later CompuServe user interfaces

This article could do a better job discussing the text-based user interface that was standard for CompuServe in the 1980's, prior to the development of it's CompuServe Information Manager GUI interface. I would imagine their are a significant number of computer users these days who don't realize that early online services did not have an GUI-based interface. Also the article should point out that because CompuServe used a text-based shell interface it allowed for anyone with a basic terminal communications program to access the service, unlike AOL with it's proprietary GUI-based Access program. Also their should be a mention of CompuServe's later introduction their GUI interface program known as CompuServe Information Manager that provided a limited graphical interface for users of DOS, Windows 3.1 and Mac OS. --Cab88 23:00, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

FYI, I added these a while back, including WinCIM. David Spalding (☎ ✉ ✍) 13:39, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

CIS and CNS

Please don't delete the comments about what happened to CompuServe Network Services post 1998. If this article is to be a history of CompuServe, then it should recognize that CompuServe ended its life in two major businesses, CIS and CNS. The company was split in half, with CIS going to AOL and CNS staying with WCOM.

The trademark 'CompuServe' and several other pieces of intellectual property are owned by a third company that exists solely to hold title to these assets. The successors to AOL (AOL Time Warner) and WCOM (Verizon) are the owners of this holding company. It is therefore permissable for Verizon to use the trademark 'CompuServe' as long as it is not being applied to anything that could be construed as an 'information service.' The point is that everything 'CompuServe' is not the exclusive property of either AOL or WCOM. Some of the DNA of what CompuServe was exists in both AOL and Verizon today.

I know these details because: a) I worked for CompuServe for nearly 30 years, retiring as CTO and VP/Network Operations, and know every person cited in this article; and, b) I was the CompuServe officer (at this point a WCOM VP) designated to negotiate the final details of asset ownership and services agreements between AOL and WCOM. I drafted much of language used to describe these arrangements, and was present in the room when Miles Gilburn or AOL and John Sidgmore of WCOM signed the agreements.

If you want to discuss any of this, please feel free to contact me at phlambert@msn.com

Does it have to be soooooo boring?

There must be something we can do to capture better the popularity of CompuServe in its earlier days and talk more prominently about what features it had that continued to be popular as AOL started coming on strong. I was an early AOLer and know that CS continued to be recommended highly by friends for good reasons. Frankly, I don't remember what they were -- and the article presently doesn't tell me. Basically, the "culture" of CS seems to be lacking in this article.

One thing the article may need is some kind of spin-off of some of the more technical aspects. I'm not a dumb person, and for a layperson, have a pretty good grasp of technical detail. However, the early paragraphs spend an awful lot of time on incredibly technical details and the exact succession of people. It's not that I'm unaware that such details are interesting to a group of folks, but I think it's a smaller group than someone here believes.

I know that CompuServe in the early 1990s had some kind of channels or groups or forums, and the people involved were extremely devoted to them and derived great benefit. I don't pick up much of that in the article as it stands. Please, please let's all hunt for an appropriate editor to perk this up, as I think the company deserves an interesting read. Lawikitejana 03:22, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

The appeal for me as a teenage baseball fan in the late 80's was mainly participating in fantasy baseball. I recall a flight controller simulation game that I couldn't figure out, as well. I don't remember much else about it except my username and password.

• First off, please sign your name to your comments with the ~~~~ code, okay? This also time-stamps your comment so we know when you posted. 'Nuff said?
  
  "Soooo boring" is a matter of opinion. Be that as it may, I was a CompuServer user and MUSICA forum sysop from 1991 or so until I finally cancelled in the late nineties. Yes, I can speak to the forums ... the software they released ... ways to navigate ... even comparing the service to the fledgling BBS community (with forum software, it was like a network of BBSs). In the 1990s, CIS also instituted early gateways to the Internet (USENET, FTP, GOPHER, et al) before AOL even had a Windows version (AOL was orignally DOS via a GeoWorks OS runtime, as I recall; it was way better than their Windows kluges). I remember that when AOL opened their Internet gateway, USENET and other areas were flooded with noobs. CIS had a much higher learning curve on its gateways, so -- like The Well -- Internet use by CIS'ers was more mature and professional. CIS predated Prodigy, GEnie, AOL, too.
  
  So,... if you're looking for someone to visit here regularly and try to "add some spice," I'm available. Feel free to post on my Talk page specifics about what you think is needed and I'll try to address it as best I can. ;) David Spalding ^{Talk, Contribs} 16:43, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

I, personally, don't find the techie-talk in the article boring, but I do see the previous editor's point about the broader appeal and impact of CompuServe being somewhat lost amid all the explanation of the technical nuts & bolts. Most of the article is piled under the header of History, which doesn't help. I'll see if I can find some suitable sources from which to draw some more interesting information. Xenophrenic (talk) 01:43, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

Ownership

Apprently UK fuel card company (Croft Fuels) & parent company (C H Jones t/a Keyfuels) apparently own, or at least part-own Compuserve. If you look on the following link, CS are registered in the same small UK town as CH Jones, but I can't find any hard proof to put on here. [2]

Also, a US fuel company called Fleetcor purchased CHJ back in Sept 2006, but I can't find any supportive evidence re: this. Apart from this: [3]

Any more info? -- —Preceding unsigned comment added by Leopheard (talk • contribs)

About the Downfall of CompuServe

In the article it is said to be because of AOL's pricing policy. But how did CompuServe allow this to happen over the years? It could have noticed the massive loss of customers because of this and have done something. What prevented them from matching AOL's pricing strategy? Maybe they were just less efficient and couldn't?

Also, it says CompuServe adopted WWW early but then says with CompuServe WWW is not generally available like with AOL. This probably have contributed to its downfall. Can someone expand a little bit? ---Humble2000 08:12, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

I don't think AOL killed CIS. Really, AOL was just the supermarket checkout "impulse item" to millions of newbies, offering access to its own internal content and features, which grew exponentially due to notariety. Also because circa 1997 - 2000, the Internet and WWW took over, ISPs became the new hot way to "get online," and monolithic services like CIS and GEnie and Fraudigy and AOL couldn't keep up. AOL did by advertising itself as an ISP (which, only in a rudimentary way, it was). I can't recall if CIS did, as well, but I left as they were starting to turn CIS into a Web site, which in my view just didn't make sense.

Yes, surely AOL hit it's stride and starting growing like Jabba the Hut post-1994, but CIS lost momentum due to other reasons. And when I left, the management was not capitalizing on CIS' strengths, but trying to morph the system into a Web entity. This is all my own opinion, of course. Bottom line, I'm hesitant to put conjecture and opinion into the Compuserve article. --David Spalding ^Talk/_Contribs 13:58, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Aa a side note, at the time of the rising popularity of AOL, CompuServe tried to counter with a massively poor attempt at a competing product called WOW. As a final act of driving the company into the ground, H&R Block removed the executives that built CompuServe in favor of those who engineered the WOW disaster. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 2007 199.64.0.252 (talk • contribs) 15:49, January 12,

I remember that ... (groan). It was sillier IMHO than the AOL advertainment. David Spalding (☎ ✉ ✍) 13:47, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

CompuServe never understood the value of its content. The real power of the service lay in the well-moderated forums. AOL didn't have the same quality. Business users were willing to py a premium for that, but CompuServe decided to chase the consumer dollar and lost. Another great service (and a huge money maker) was the Executive News Service (ENS). This service allowed the user to create keyword folders that pulled matching stories off the newswire (can you say Google Alerts?). Sigh. This is what happens when you let Marketers take over. P.S. I worked there until just before the AOL buyout. I left because I couldn't stand to watch it die even though I missed out on the promise of buyout. --71.72.98.220 23:21, 15 August 2007 (UTC)

CompuServe 2000

The current article just mentions CompuServe 2000 in passing. There needs to be some text that describes the origin of CompuServe 2000. I was a CompuServe user in the mid-1990's, and as I recall, it was an AOL-like alternative to WinCIM that was marketed as an "upgrade" to WinCIM after AOL acquired CompuServe. However, IIRC, Classic CompuServe users who unwittingly chose to install it found that their user account and mail service were switched from CompuServe to AOL. And, I think, their dial-up network changed from the CompuServe network to the AOL network. Does anyone have the facts? Wdfarmer 20:49, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

I don't, that was after I'd canceled, but I DO remember that AOL install discs about that time ("AOL version 7" ?) were notorious for changing Windows 95 and 98 networking (dialup settings) setup. Without warning. Causing a lot of users much grief. (It was also infamously difficult to cancel their service, but that's another tale.) I worked at a firm where I urged the IT team to alert all associates about it as if it were a Trojan. If you search CNET or ZDnet columnists, I'm sure you'd find teh articles in which they were talking about it. Dvorak wrote about it, too, probably. - David Spalding (☎ ✉ ✍) 13:50, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

Compuserve and Windows Vista

The article makes it appear as if Compuserve is incompatible with Windows Vista; however, I came upon the following from Compuserve's official website today: CompuServe for Windows 98 / ME / XP / Vista CompuServe Dialer, which suggests that they are somehow supporting Vista. Can someone verify this point or elaborate on it in the article? Thanks! --24.154.173.243 22:23, 6 August 2007 (UTC)

Closure of services

Have just added the (sad) news that CompuServe has closed its Pacific network and will be closing France...

91.171.192.207 09:05, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

WOW!

The section on WOW! really needs to be re-written. It starts out OK as far as describing the service but ends up in a discussion of H&R Block's machinations within Compuserve that do not really have that much to do with WOW! and should be put elswewhere. I was a WOW! subscriber and can attest to the fact that the service was extremely buggy,. especially the email. There were frequent shutdowns. It was diferent because of its very bright colored, seemingly hand-drawn pages family-friendly content. However.. it is not mentioned in the article that WOW! was the FIRST internet service to be offered with a monthly "unlimited" rate ($17.95) and that it had a small but VERY loyal fan base that believed they were "sold out" by Compuserve because they were being bought out by AOL, who mysteriously began offering a $19.95 unlimited service as it was cutting WOW!'s throat. There was a strong group of "WOWIES" who fought for 5 years after its demise, to stay connected through chat groups (on AOL for instance) and a web ring. Sadly, they seem to have all been consumed in the corporate greed of AOL/Time Warner. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.96.106.130 (talk) 14:39, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

First to offer Internet connectivity?

This section:

CompuServe was the first online service to offer Internet connectivity, albeit limited access, as early as 1989 when it connected its proprietary e-mail service to allow incoming and outgoing messages to other Internet e-mail addresses.

appears to be in contradiction with this statement over on the CIX article:

In 1988 [CIX] provided the first commercial Internet email and Usenet access in the UK.

which suggests that CIX was a year earlier. Does anyone have a reliable source for either statement?

I was a member of both CIX and CIS and thinking about this further, I don't remember exactly when I joined but I do know that it was no earlier than April 1991, and that CIS internet email connectivity was not available when I joined. I can remember it going live while I was a member, which would put CIS's internet access date even later. Paypwip (talk) 14:36, 6 April 2008 (UTC)(mff/lks)

User IDs and e-mail addresses

The article is incorrect in describing the allocation of user ID's as I was allocated a 6+3 digit 1xxxxx,xxx user ID in late 93 or early 94.
78.105.161.231 (talk) 09:34, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

How is Commodore not even mentioned once?

CompuServe took off after the VIC-20 and C64 took off for Commodore. They were putting CompuServe membership disks right into the boxes of their modems and even possibly computers, and the Commodore Information Network became the most popular section of CompuServe. After Commodore switched to partnering with Quantum-Link, CompuServe started to dry up. This is a big part of CompuServe's history that is totally missing. JettaMann (talk) 19:09, 18 June 2010 (UTC)

CompuServe partnered with many computer manufacturers, not just Commodore. For instance, they included CompuServe membership IDs with every TRS-80 system sold through Radio Shack, and even paid Radio Shack to keep demonstration systems running CIS in all of their stores. If you can find reliably sourced information, feel free to add it to the article. Xenophrenic (talk) 20:33, 18 June 2010 (UTC)

Merger Proposal

UK shopping centre is a product and should not have its own article. Athleek123 18:43, 28 June 2012 (UTC)

I'm the original author of that article and, yes, your're right, it belongs in the main CompuServe article. Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Khumzi (talk • contribs) 09:00, 29 June 2012 (UTC) 

Acronym

"CIS" isn't an acronym unless it's pronounced as "kiss" or "siss". If it's pronounced "SEE-EYE-ESS", then it's an abbreviation, strictly speaking, an initialism. I edited it but my edit was undone. MarkRae (talk) 22:16, 26 May 2013 (UTC)

Acronyms are not required to be pronounceable as a single word unless you feel the need to be prescriptivist. See acronym. That said, people go both ways on it - "C-I-S" I've heard most commonly, with "sis" popping up less frequently. --Xanzzibar (talk) 22:46, 26 May 2013 (UTC)

Well, I disagree totally with you. Ho hum... MarkRae (talk) 23:23, 26 May 2013 (UTC)

ourworld.compuserve.com - A nice trip down memory lane

http://web.archive.org/web/19961020023945/http://ourworld.compuserve.com/ While I don't know whether it might be interesting to include this archive link in the article (I'm known to always ask around first before putting these in), I think it's a nice part of history that the 1996 version of OurWorld got preserved. :) Let alone that the design of that ancient logo somehow gives the impression of an anti-racist message embedded in there. ;) ("All people are equal, regardless of their ... etc.") -andy 2.243.99.192 (talk) 07:22, 7 June 2014 (UTC)