Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology

America Online 11as well as some design errors, somewhat crippled the newcomputer design. Amdahl was forced to repeatedly delaythe introduction of the new machine, and Trilogy failed inthe marketplace.Amdahl’s achievements could not be overshadowed bythe failures of his later career. He has received many industryawards, including Data Processing Man of the Year bythe Data Processing Management Association (1976), theHarry Goode Memorial Award from the American Federationof Information Processing Societies, and the SIGDA PioneeringAchievement Award (2007).Further Reading“Gene Amdahl.” Available online. URL: http://www.thocp.net/biographies/amdahl_gene.htm. Accessed April 10, 2007.Slater, Robert. Portraits in Silicon. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press,1987.America Online (AOL)For millions of PC users in the 1990s, “going online” meantconnecting to America Online. However, this once dominantservice provider has had difficulty adapting to thechanging world of the Internet.By the mid-1980s a growing number of PC users werestarting to go online, mainly dialing up small bulletin boardservices. Generally these were run by individuals from theirhomes, offering a forum for discussion and a way for usersto upload and download games and other free software andshareware (see bulletin board systems). However, someentrepreneurs saw the possibility of creating a commercialinformation service that would be interesting and usefulenough that users would pay a monthly subscription feefor access. Perhaps the first such enterprise to be successfulwas Quantum Computer Services, founded by Jim Kimseyin 1985 and soon joined by another young entrepreneur,Steve Case. Their strategy was to team up with personalcomputer makers such as Commodore, Apple, and IBM toprovide special online services for their users.In 1989 Quantum Link changed its name to AmericaOnline (AOL). In 1991 Steve Case became CEO, taking overfrom the retiring Kimsey. Case’s approach to marketing AOLwas to aim the service at novice PC users who had troublemastering arcane DOS (disk operating system) commandsand interacting with text-based bulletin boards and primitiveterminal programs. As an alternative, AOL provided acomplete software package that managed the user’s connection,presented “friendly” graphics, and offered point-andclickaccess to features.Chat rooms and discussion boards were also expandedand offered in a variety of formats for casual and more formaluse. Gaming, too, was a major emphasis of the earlyAOL, with some of the first online multiplayer fantasy roleplayinggames such as a version of Dungeons and Dragonscalled Neverwinter Nights (see online games). A third popularapplication has been instant messaging (IM), includinga feature that allowed users to set up “buddy lists” of theirfriends and keep track of when they were online (see alsotexting and instant messaging).Internet ChallengeBy 1996 the World Wide Web was becoming popular (seeWorld Wide Web). Rather than signing up with a proprietaryservice such as AOL, users could simply get an accountwith a lower-cost direct-connection service (see Internetservice provider) and then use a Web browser such asNetscape to access information and services. AOL was slowin adapting to the growing use of the Internet. At first, theservice provided only limited access to the Web (and onlythrough its proprietary software). Gradually, however, AOLoffered a more seamless Web experience, allowing users torun their own browsers and other software together withthe proprietary interface. Also, responding to competition,AOL replaced its hourly rates with a flat monthly fee ($19.95at first).Overall, AOL increasingly struggled with trying to fulfilltwo distinct roles: Internet access provider and contentprovider. By the late 1990s AOL’s monthly rates were higherthan those of “no frills” access providers such as NetZero.AOL tried to compensate for this by offering integration ofservices (such as e-mail, chat, and instant messaging) andnews and other content not available on the open Internet.AOL also tried to shore up its user base with aggressivemarketing to users who wanted to go online but were notsure how to do so. Especially during the late 1990s, AOLwas able to swell its user rolls to nearly 30 million, largelyby providing millions of free CDs (such as in magazineinserts) that included a setup program and up to a month offree service. But while it was easy to get started with AOL,some users began to complain that the service would keepbilling them even after they had repeatedly attempted tocancel it. Meanwhile, AOL users got little respect from themore sophisticated inhabitants of cyberspace, who oftencomplained that the clueless “newbies” were clutteringnewsgroups and chat rooms.In 2000 AOL and Time Warner merged. At the time, thedeal was hailed as one of the greatest mergers in corporateAmerica Online (AOL) was a major online portal in the 1990s,but has faced challenges adapting to the modern world of theWeb. (Screen image credit: AOL)