(Most recently added items at top. See also a separate index of CompuServe nostalgia photos. The Building 2 construction items are also available catalogued in chronological order.)
Memorial directory: Addition to veterans' services: “If you’re planning to visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial [looking for a particular person's name], the CompuServe Directory allows you to find the panel number beforehand, eliminating time-consuming searches,” comments Dan Meeks, product manager and a Vietnam Veteran himself, in this November 1985 Online Today feature about services for veterans on CIS.
Polaroid Palette: “Anyone who’s had to reproduce computer screen images photographically knows it’s no trivial task,” so here's a September 1985 Online Today review of a gadget to reproduce computer screens on film. Plus a CompuServe Interchange ad.
Afterwords: Authors guide users through Micropolis: The story of Charles Bowen and David Peyton's collaboration on their book, How to Get the Most Out of CompuServe, from the April 1985 Online Today. “It’s really odd to live about four miles apart [in Huntington WV] and talk to each other on CompuServe via Columbus, Ohio.”
Filing it online: A “Beginner's Corner” article about CompuServe's personal file area — “the filespace might hold longer files than your home software can handle, having a 128K limit” — from the April 1985 Online Today. Plus nostalgic modem ads from General Datacomm, Hayes, MultiTech, and UDS (FasTalk).
Reviewing the Mall: The results of A.C. Nielsen's study of the first four months of CompuServe's Electronic Mall, from the February 1985 Online Today, with various statistics about CIS users as well as the Mall. (The average CIS household has 3.1 people.) Plus a mall ad.
Life in Micropolis: A February 1985 Online Today story about “community videotex systems,” interesting for its predictions as well as its main CompuServe connection: CIVIC, a computer system at COSI.
The electronic shopping bag: A December 1984 Online Today update on CompuServe's Electronic Mall and the future of online shopping, as seen at the time (e.g., “one drawback with videotex is that we won’t have graphics,” but OTOH, “this medium makes it easier for a merchant who doesn’t have much market position or much of an infrastructure to compete directly with companies that have stores on every main street in America”). Plus a CompuServe Vidtex ad.
Reflections on the videotex industry: “Videotex” was the 1980s buzzword for online services like CIS, and this December 1984 Online Today story looks at the state of CompuServe and other services at the time, plus CompuServe's expansion plans. It includes a sidebar with some predictions for the future (“by 2010 videotex will be as much a part of most Americans’ lives as cars and telephones. More than 60 percent of homes will be videotex-equipped” — and, in fact, the number of households with Internet access in 2009 was 69%).
The first CompuServe-sponsored CB simulator seminar and party: About 130 people from across the country attended the party on 16 June 1984, described in this September 1984 Online Today story. “LooLoo, who has been called the Mother Superior of CB, showed up in a nun’s habit and started the proceedings with a benediction: ‘Dear Lord, bless these people and make this a day to be remembered.’ A booming voice responded: ‘Request recorded, one moment please.’ ”
Online airline reservations—Travelshopper: “It’s the first time consumers will have direct access to a reservation system” with CIS subscribers able to book flights on Travelshopper, say these August and November 1984 Online Today stories. Also includes a Travelshopper ad from the December 1984 issue.
Older items: See items that have scrolled off this page.
2010-05-29