Decades ago, Google, Facebook, and Amazon Web Services all invested billions of dollars in central Ohio, bringing internet access to home computer users and making the region the center of the state. CompuServe, the first major online service, was introduced. world of technology.
Chat forums and bulletin boards, e-mail, extensive access to online newspapers and magazines, stock prices and weather forecasts are products and services that have been available to users for years before they were available elsewhere. Founded in 1969, the company is famous for inventing the GIF digital graphics format.
At its peak, CompuServe served more than 3 million subscribers.
“I always wanted to have fun. I always wanted to make money,” said Jeff Wilkins, who helped found CompuServe in 1969 and is now executive chairman of the Facilities Management eXpress software company. “I wanted to change the world,” he said. “I didn’t change the world, but I certainly influenced the world. … I’ve been through that so many times. How can I live a better life than that?”
Ohio Historical Marker Celebrates CompuServe History
Before Christmas, the state installed a historical monument at CompuServ’s former headquarters at 5000 Arlington Center Blvd. To commemorate his 50th anniversary, headquartered in his Upper Arlington building.
CompuServe’s operations continued from 20,000 square feet until 2009, when the company was sold to H&R Block in 1980 and then again in 1997 as part of a $1.3 billion three-way deal with WorldCom and AOL. remained in the building.
The company ultimately employed 1,300 people in central Ohio, 810 of whom worked at its headquarters, The Dispatch reported in 2009.
The City of Upper Arlington sponsored the event, which brought together local and state business and political leaders, in conjunction with GOSH Enterprises, the current owner of the building, which is being developed as commercial office space.
Lt. Gov. Jon Husted compared CompuServe’s work to the development of a steam engine that opens the door to a digital pipeline of information.
“It was very fundamental to the world we live in today,” Husted said. “It happened here.”
“Google,[Amazon Web Services]Intel, Facebook — these are companies that wouldn’t exist without the seeds that were planted in this room,” said the region’s most influential civil society organizations and companies. said Kenny MacDonald, CEO of the group Columbus Partnership.
Amazon Web Services’ public policy manager Merle Madrid said Amazon Web Services’ investment in the region will reach $7 billion and will at least double by the end of the decade.
“It all started here,” he said.
History of CompuServe
CompuServe’s history dates back to 1969, before the company set up shop on Arlington Center Boulevard.
Wilkins and his father-in-law, Harry Gard, founded CompuServe as a computer time-sharing service and operated it as the computer division of Golden United Life.
Wilkins wanted to know if the company’s computers, which are busy servicing commercial customers during the day, could be used at night.
At the same time, hobbyists were starting to dabble in something new called the personal computer.
“Personal computers started out as kits. No one had actually built a complete machine,” Wilkins said.
It started as a test at a computer club with a few hundred members, he said. The company makes the database used by commercial customers public, and Wilkins thought individuals might want to see it, too.
“To our surprise, people were starting to use us,” he said. “That’s when I knew something was up.”
CompuServe launches first online newspaper
Wilkins knew that if he really wanted the service to grow, he needed more content.
“I thought, ‘Oh my God, it would be great if we could start a newspaper service with CompuServe Information Service,'” he said. “That will help drive subscriptions.”
Mr. Wilkins met with John F. Wolfe, publisher of the Columbus Dispatch, the first newspaper in the country to test the technology, to discuss access to the paper.
Dispatch has begun transmitting newspaper content through its service, which includes access to content from The Associated Press.
Who’s Who in Journalism Comes to CompuServe?
After the success of The Dispatch, Wilkins wanted to expand the partnership to other newspapers, and the Associated Press, which is made up of leaders from the nation’s largest newspapers, including Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham, proposed to the Board of Directors.
These leaders met at CompuServe headquarters, where Wilkins recruited 10 volunteer newspapers to give each paper $250,000 in free advertising and access to the Associated Press, with the Columbus Dispatch being the first. became a participating newspaper company.
“Essentially, I was trying to paint a picture of what it was like and what it could be in the future,” he said. “These are all visionaries.”
The board agreed, but said Wilkins would have to offer its services to newspapers that wanted to participate in the test.
On July 1, 1980, Wolfe, Graham, and Wilkins officially launched the service to CompuServe’s then 10,000 home computer subscribers.
News flowed into home computers at 300 words per minute, and users paid $5 an hour for a service billed by the minute.
It marked the beginning of a growth spurt for the company.
“Almost everything that has ever been on the Internet has been on the CompuServe Information Service in some form,” he said.
H&R Block acquired CompuServe in 1980 for $20 million.
“We thought we needed capital to grow this,” Wilkins said. “We knew what it was going to be like. We were looking for a partner who could help us with that. We were growing very quickly as a company.”
Although Wilkins was forced out of the company in 1985, he said he still cared about the company.
“The momentum at that point was very strong. All the pieces were in place. The talent was great, the motivation was high. The company was in shambles. … With nuclear energy like that, a lot of The matter is over.”
mawilliams@dispatch.com
@BizMarkWilliams
