Editing CompuServe (section)

{{short description|1969–2009 American online service provider}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox company
| name = CompuServe, Inc.
| logo = CompuServe wordmark.svg
| image = Aerial Views of CompuServe Corporate Headquarters 2 crop.jpg
| image_caption = Former corporate headquarters in [[Columbus, Ohio]]
| type = [[Subsidiary]]
| foundation = {{start date and age|1969}} (as Compu-Serv Network, Inc.)
| defunct = {{start date and age|2009|7|1}}
| industry = [[Internet]] and [[Telecommunications|communications]]
| products = [[Online service provider|Online services]], [[Internet service provider|ISP]]
| location = [[Columbus, Ohio]], U.S.
| parent = 
| homepage = {{official URL}}
}}
'''CompuServe, Inc.''' ('''CompuServe Information Service, Inc.''', also known by its initialism '''CIS''' or later '''CSi''') was an American [[Internet]] company that provided the first major commercial [[online service provider|online service]]. It opened in 1969 as a [[timesharing]] and [[Terminal emulation|remote access]] service marketed to corporations. After a successful 1979 venture selling otherwise under-utilized after-hours time to [[Radio Shack]] customers, the system was opened to the public, roughly the same time as [[The Source (online service)|The Source]].

[[H&R Block]] bought the company in 1980 and began to advertise the service aggressively. CompuServe dominated the industry during the 1980s, buying their competitor The Source. One popular use of CompuServe during the 1980s was file exchange, particularly pictures. In 1985, it hosted one of the earliest [[online comic]]s, ''[[Witches and Stitches]]''. CompuServe introduced a simple black-and-white image format known as RLE ([[run-length encoding]]) to standardize the images so they could be shared among different types of microcomputers. With the introduction of more powerful machines enabling display of color, CompuServe introduced the much more capable [[Graphics Interchange Format]] (GIF),<ref>{{Cite web |title=GIF |url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/GIF |access-date=2023-05-02 |publisher=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]] |language=en}}</ref> invented by [[Steve Wilhite]]. GIF later became the most common format for 8-bit images transmitted by Internet during the early and mid-1990s.

At its peak during the early 1990s, CIS had an [[CB Simulator|online chat system]], message forums for a variety of topics, extensive software libraries for most personal computers, and a series of popular [[online game]]s, including ''[[MegaWars III]]'' and ''[[Island of Kesmai]]''. In 1994, it was described as "the oldest of the Big Three information services (the others are [[Prodigy (online service)|Prodigy]] and [[AOL|America Online]])".<ref name="CIS1.NYT">{{Cite news |last=Lewis |first=Peter H. |date=November 29, 1994 |title=The Compuserve Edge: Delicate Data Balance |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/29/science/personal-computers-the-compuserve-edge-delicate-data-balance.html}}</ref> However, the rise of modern systems like [[AOL]], as well as the open [[World Wide Web]] system, led to it losing marketshare. In 1997, a complex deal was devised with [[MCI Inc.|WorldCom]] acting as a broker, resulting in the company being sold to AOL. New products under the CompuServe sub-brand ceased in 2002,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Everything you need to know about the Microsoft Exchange Server hack |url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/everything-you-need-to-know-about-microsoft-exchange-server-hack/ |access-date=2024-12-06 |website=ZDNET |language=en}}</ref> and the original CompuServe Information Service, later rebranded as CompuServe Classic, was eventually shut down in 2009 after 30 years.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cheng |first=Jacqui |date=2009-07-06 |title=Goodbye, CompuServe! (We thought you already died) |url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2009/07/goodbye-compuserve-we-thought-you-had-already-died/ |access-date=2024-12-06 |website=Ars Technica |language=en-US}}</ref>