Tuesday, October 07, 2008

DELPHI, CompuServe, BIX, GEnie, The Source, Q-Link, PC-Link

Do those names bring back memories? Or are you wondering what they are? Either way, you'll find On the Way to the Web: The Secret History of the Internet and Its Founders fascinating. It's the story of how the Internet began (before ARPAnet), how the prime technology was developed by ARPA and transferred to the world at large by Telenet, then propogated into the public sphere by the commercial online services: CompuServe, The Source, DELPHI, GEnie, Playnet, Q-Link (eventually, AOL), PeopleLink, CIX, and all the other major stars and bit players in the drama of the developing Internet, from 1959 through 1994.

It's the story of yesterday's tomorrows, the many and varied visions the online services and their users created on the way to the World Wide Web. Sound interesting? Click here for more information. (Coming soon: Excerpts from On the Way to the Web.)

"As someone who has been involved in the telecom scene since 1978 I have always feared that much of the wild history during the Hayes-modem era would be lost. Michael Banks to the rescue. This fascinating book is a must have for any student of the techology scene." --John C. Dvorak

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