The original CompuServe service, first offered in 1979, was shut down this past week by its current owner, AOL. The service, which provided its users with addresses such as 73402,3633 and was the first major online service, had seen the number of users dwindle in recent years. At its height, the service boasted about having over half a million users simultaneously on line. Many innovations we now take for granted, from online travel (Eaasy Sabre), online shopping, online stock quotations, and global weather forecasts, just to name a few, were standard fare on CompuServe in the 1980s. 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, along with all the features supported by that software, from forums for virtually every topic and profession known to man to members’ Ourworld Web pages, has been shut down. Indeed, the current version of the service’s client software, CompuServe for Windows NT 4.0.2, dates back to 1999.
RIP, CompuServe, although I never loved you! Connecting via a 300 baud telephone line modem was a tedious process, and my blazingly fast Tandy 1000 didn't help. A 4 Mhz processor, (NOT Ghz), a 5.25" floppy drive and 128k of memory, I added a clock chip and a card-mounted 40 Mhz hard drive. I became re-acquainted with "Fraint" there, my first meeting was in local Bulletin Boards, which were considerably easier on the pocket than Compuserve. I remember piling up a monthly cost of US$ 85 in good old Compuserve, even using the fast-in, fast-out software available to navigate and snatch information quickly. I even had a Compuserve VISA card to make losing money easier... until the company dumped the service without warning. I subsequently found that PCMagNet and ZiffNet could supply most of the stuff I wanted at that time. I don't care to remember the days, yes days, this system took to render a fairly basic fractal. Farewell Compuserve... I, personally, will not miss you! John W. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lee H. Skinner" <skinner@thuntek.net> To: "Fractint and General Fractals Discussion" <fractint@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Saturday, July 04, 2009 11:26 AM Subject: [Fractint] CompuServe Requiem The original CompuServe service, first offered in 1979, was shut down this past week by its current owner, AOL. The service, which provided its users with addresses such as 73402,3633 and was the first major online service, had seen the number of users dwindle in recent years. At its height, the service boasted about having over half a million users simultaneously on line. Many innovations we now take for granted, from online travel (Eaasy Sabre), online shopping, online stock quotations, and global weather forecasts, just to name a few, were standard fare on CompuServe in the 1980s. 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, along with all the features supported by that software, from forums for virtually every topic and profession known to man to membersÂ’ Ourworld Web pages, has been shut down. Indeed, the current version of the serviceÂ’s client software, CompuServe for Windows NT 4.0.2, dates back to 1999. _______________________________________________ Fractint mailing list Fractint@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fractint
Farewell Compuserve... I, personally, will not miss you!
And neither will I. But in the eighties, most of the Fractint developers and artists used compuserve. I remember that when I closed my Comuserve account, they refused to forward any of my Compuserve e-mail to my new e-mail address, even for a short time period. That left a bitter feeling about Compuserve in my mouth. Lee Skinner
Lee wrote:
And neither will I. But in the eighties, most of the Fractint developers and artists used compuserve.
That's for sure! When I first ran into fractint, it could write but not read GIF files, and did not save any fractal info. I vaguely remember (and might have this wrong) that I cajoled Bert Tyler to get developer access to the GraphDev forum precisely so he could get access to GIF source code. At that time all you had to do is ask. In short order we had devised a way to write all the fractal info after the GIF terminator, and could read it back in along with the image. Compuserve foiled us by scrubbing the "garbage" at the end of the files when users like Lee Skinner uploaded images. Then when there was work going on with the "new" GIF89a format, we were instrumental in getting CompuServe to add extension blocks in which we could safely store the data. There were a lot of pioneering developers hanging out in the graphics forum, includsing the PovRay team. CompuServe had it's annoying aspects, but certainly facilitated a lot of collaborative software development of considerable importance. tim
I too paid a lot of money for my account, but I was young, somewhat foolish and 'in love' with the beauty of fractals. Reading the help menu and learning to write fractal formulae started me on the road to learning how computer languages work. In the end all we have are memories. Alex Dukay
Lee H. Skinner wrote:
The original CompuServe service, first offered in 1979, was shut down this past week by its current owner, AOL. The service, which provided its users with addresses such as 73402,3633 and was the first major online service, had seen the number of users dwindle in recent years. At its height, the service boasted about having over half a million users simultaneously on line. Many innovations we now take for granted, from online travel (Eaasy Sabre), online shopping, online stock quotations, and global weather forecasts, just to name a few, were standard fare on CompuServe in the 1980s.
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, along with all the features supported by that software, from forums for virtually every topic and profession known to man to membersÂ’ Ourworld Web pages, has been shut down. Indeed, the current version of the serviceÂ’s client software, CompuServe for Windows NT 4.0.2, dates back to 1999.
And in another year or so, AOL will be shutdown, too. Just goes to show that the only reliable way to keep information online is to do it yourself. -- David gnome@hawaii.rr.com authenticity, honesty, community
participants (5)
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alex dukay -
david -
John W. -
Lee H. Skinner -
Tim Wegner