The computer revolution took place rapidly over the last twenty years or so and is continuing today at an increasing pace. The arrival of the computer age was so rapid that we have not yet managed to cope with all the changes or with many of the consequences. Computers have been made smaller and more powerful until many people have on their desk at home a computer more powerful than the largest mainframe of the 1950s. These advances have been made by a number of new and developing companies, notably those in the so-called Silicon Valley near San Francisco. Different companies develop different advantages, however, in terms of the specific design of their components and other features developed through extensive and costly research and development. Among the services offered for the computer are online services enabling the consumer to access distant databases and to perform a number of tasks from home by use of telephone lines to connect the home and business computer to larger computers offering a variety of services and features. America Online is one such company.
America Online (AOL) is one of several online computer services that have developed in the last decade and that serve a broad customer base with a variety of services accessed by modem. AOL has over one million subscribers at this time. The company started early in this decade and had less than ten percent of the market share, but it hoped to improve that picture by providing services including information, graphics, and the use of many typefaces. Among the services offered were bulletin boards, financial data, and news. In 1992 the company joined with Apple Computer to enhance its on-line technology for services to be marketed by Apple. The strength of the service is interactivity, offering a number of ways for people to talk to one another online. The company was founded as Quantum Computer Services, Inc. in 1985, and it launched Q-Link service for Commodore ...