>
>
> On Mon, 29 Jun 1998, John Foust wrote:
>
> > At 05:15 PM 6/29/98 -0700, Sam Ismail wrote:
> > >>
> > >> > Didn't AOL get its start by being bundled with PC-GEOS?
> > >
> > >As far as I know, AOL used to be called AppleLink, which was an Apple
> > >online service.
> >
> > I don't remember if it mutated into AOL, but there once was a
> > service called QuantumLink that sold branded network services
> > such as AppleLink and AmigaLink and probably a few more "Links".
>
> This just found in COMPUTE!'s Gazette magazine, March 1986, p.26:
>
> "Several months ago Commodore agreed to lend exclusive marketing support
> to a new online service, QuantumLink, which would be designed solely for
> Commodore owners. This created a rather awkward situation when
> Commodore's contract renegotiations with CompuServe came up last summer.
> The two would, in effect, be competitors."
> .
> .
> .
> "Why a separate network for Commodore owners? The reason relates not
> only to providing a machine-specific service, but to the continued health
> of the whole industry, says Steve Case, Quantum's vice president of
> marketing. 'In order to really expand the market for computers long term,
> we had to create a dramatically increased utility because it seemed to a
> lot of people that the computer penetration level has slowed down.
> Somebody had to create a whole bunch of new ideas why people should buy
> computers.'"
> > - John
>
> Doug Spence
> ds_spenc_at_alcor.concordia.ca
> http://alcor.concordia.ca/~ds_spenc/
>
A good example of corporate cannibalism. The little fish (Q-Link-which
became AOL) swallows up the big fish (Compuserve). I've got several of
the Q-Link disks. Glad I didn't toss them. They wouldn't work of course
when I first tried them. It might be interesting to figure out what the
underlying com program was.
ciao larry
lwalker_at_interlog.com
Received on Thu Jul 09 1998 - 12:08:00 BST