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AOL Shuts Down CompuServe

Posted by Soulskill on from the real-men-use-base-eight dept.

Oracle Goddess writes "After 30 years, CompuServe is all but dead, as AOL has pulled the plug on the once-great company. The original CompuServe service, first offered in 1979, provided its users with addresses such as 73402,3633 and was the first major online service. CompuServe users will be able to use their existing CompuServe Classic (as the service was renamed) addresses at no charge via a new e-mail system, but the software that the service was built on has been shut down. Tellingly, the current version of the service's client software, CompuServe for Windows NT 4.0.2, dates back to 1999."

5 of 224 comments (clear)

  1. New email system? by mr_lizard13 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    CompuServe users will be able to use their existing CompuServe Classic (as the service was renamed) addresses at no charge via a new e-mail system

    That'll never catch on.

    --
    "We live in a global world" - Harvey Pitt, former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman
  2. Re:Fixing CS bugs from 1995! by Daniel+Dvorkin · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The days of the pages with the default gray backgrounds are finally gone!

    I don't miss the old days of web browsing either -- but I do have my default background in SeaMonkey set to exactly that old shade of gray, and it's pleasant when I get a page that doesn't set the background color for me. (I know I could override it and have my preferred color scheme come up every time, but that seems like overkill.) Black-on-light-gray is a lot easier on the eyes than black-on-white when you're looking at a glowing screen. I'm used to the latter by now, but I do wish that people had kept in mind that screens and paper are not the same thing.

    --
    The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
  3. R.I.P. by gafisher · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Requiescat in Pace, CompuServe. AOL was a cruel suitor and an abusive partner. You deserved better. 76702,2040

  4. Re:Brings back memories by micheas · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Do you know of any public gopher servers that are still alive?

    My list died out in the last four years when I wasn't watching.

    --
    Work bio at MMWD
  5. Re:My Life as Girl on Compuserve by Dogtanian · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If, despite your name, you weren't remotely grandmother-aged, why would they still assume that you were female?!

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    "Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).