Editing CompuServe (section)

===CIS===
In 1979,<ref name=CompuWired79/> [[Radio Shack]] marketed the residential information service MicroNET, in which home users accessed the computers during evening hours when the CompuServe computers were otherwise idle. This was a success and CompuServe began to advertize it more widely, as "MicroNET, CompuServe's Personal Computing Division".<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=Byte |date=March 1980 |page=63 |title=MicroNET}}</ref> Its success prompted CompuServe to disuse the MicroNET name in favor of its own, becoming CompuServe Information Service, or CIS. CIS' 1979 origin was approximately concurrent with that of [[The Source (online service)|The Source]].{{efn|In 1989 CompuServe purchased and dismantled The Source.}}<ref name=CompuWired79/>

By the mid-1980s, CompuServe was one of the largest information and networking services companies, and it was the largest consumer information service. It operated commercial branches in more than 30 US cities, selling primarily network services to major corporations throughout the United States. Consumer accounts could be bought in most computer stores (a box with an instruction manual and a trial account login) and this service was well known to the public. By 1987, consumer business would provide 50% of CompuServe revenues.

The corporate culture was entrepreneurial, encouraging "[[skunkworks project]]s". Alexander "Sandy" Trevor secluded himself for a weekend, writing the "[[CB Simulator]]", a chat system that soon became one of CIS's most popular features.<ref name=CompuWired79/> Instead of hiring employees to manage the forums, they contracted with systems operators (sysops), who received compensation based on the success of their own forum's boards, libraries, and chat areas.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The INTERNET, ARPANet, and Consumer Online, by Michael A. Banks; 1 Jan. 2007 |url=http://www.allbusiness.com/media-telecommunications/internet-www/10555321-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090108150735/http://www.allbusiness.com/media-telecommunications/internet-www/10555321-1.html |archive-date=January 8, 2009 }}</ref>