old AOL disks

From: Doug Coward <dcoward_at_pressstart.com>
Date: Thu Jul 2 20:03:28 1998

> Didn't AOL get its start by being bundled with PC-GEOS?
>Before it was known as Applelink it was called "Samuel" and worked with
>the apple ][ as well.
>Q-Link or Quantum link came first for the C64 and then was expanded
>to include the Apple II.

 Once upon a time in the early 80's a man named
Bill von Meister started a company called Control
Video Corporation. (Bill von Meister had been one
of the founders of The Source which was bought by
Readers Digest) CVC started a service for Atari
2600 users called GameLine. Users would plug a
large modem cartridge into their 2600 and could
download a game and play it until they turned
their 2600 off. This service was kill by the Video
game crash of '83.
 Next they developed proprietary modems for the
C64 and the Apple II and started a service called
MasterLine. Same thing, you could download and
try software before buying it. This is when I
started with CVC (about the end of 1983 I think)
MasterLine lasted 3 months.
 Next they acquired the software from a small
on-line service called Playnet and in 6 months
launched QuantumLink (Q-Link for short). At
some point in here they also changed their
name to Quantum Computer Services. Q-Link was
a C64 only service.
 About 1987 they started AppleLink: Personal
Edition (not to be confused with Apple's tech
support service AppleLink) for Apple II, and
IIgs. And about the same time they also started
PCLink running under Tandy's DeskMate GUI.
 This is also the point where I left the company
and moved to California. In California I ported
Q-Link's Rabbit Jack's Casino Games to run on
AppleLink but other than that I lost track of
the company. I believe they changed their name
and the service's name to America On Line in 1989.
=========================================
Doug Coward dcoward_at_pressstart.com
Senior Software Engineer
Press Start Inc.
Sunnyvale,CA

Curator
Museum of Personal Computing Machinery
http://www.best.com/~dcoward/museum
=========================================
Received on Thu Jul 02 1998 - 20:03:28 BST

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