University of South Carolina Libraries
ftel V II It's a brand If you've been wond keep getting in LUKE ROBINSON Staff Writer Now that Fve reshingled my roof and a with all of the extra America Online disks ifs time to take a look at the old service oi In 1985 Steve Case founded Quantum online services to Tandy and Commodoi commissioned Case to provide the Appleli Although that partnership was dissolved and used the engine from the Applelink America Online. He made a name for hire sprvipp in pvprv vpniip Vip nnnlH finri Of course, this is where the diskettes c first Windows version came out (don't won AOL has made sure that its disks have f< home in the nation, by bundling the dis preloading them onto new computers, an< who had even the slightest connection wit What this means is that computer gee] with dozens upon dozens of the things, an ! have been put to good use as beer coasters, 1 I application, as storage devices, preferably fc j to do with AOL. j AOL has had amazing success ever sin j AOL has grown to be the largest commer I almost 4 million subscribers . When this I healthy 3.5 million, it was considered a la B?\ ^*1 Ci brin< Brunswick i,*:,, t Recreation ? Jom ! Centers BrunSWII A Brunswick Company ? 1995 Brunswick Corporation Free game and diSI Winn kimy Mr I new look at an old i ering what the deal is with all tl the mail, Luke Robinson has th< uccu tuiiaiucicu uic m starting to tile my bathroom floor America Online'! i that I have received lately, I think and, more recently, its tie more time. the huge global comp Computer Services, built to provide the future of social h e users. In 1989 Apple Computer mainstream press "dink Personal Service to its users. around for years), a , Case made the most of his efforts Internet" or "cybers software in his own new service, blasted "highway" m iself by aggressively promoting the has become a hot ite: This is where AOI :ome in. Ever since 1993, when the attracted those peopi y, Fm not forgetting you Mac guys), with the Internet, a t Dund their way into every average own pecking order, a ks with magazines and modems, The perceived pro! 1 sending them via mail to anyone discussion groups h the computer business. USENET has bee ks (like yours truly) have ended up any social animal, it' d since you need only one, the rest USENET was once a risbees, and in their more mundane to dread the month o >r data that has nothing whatsoever discover the newsgr custom or propriety, ce From zero subscribers in 1989, questions, such as asl ?nllne service in the world, at devoted to skiin number surpassed Compuserve s when A0L let ndmark, as Compuserve had long 1 Its Out of This Worl Cosmic Light Sh _____ Lasers and Far-o Great Rock Musi j Thursday at 11:30 pm allege Nite 3 ID and receive a discount :ridays & Saturdays at midnight Brunswick Capitoi Lanes I Broad River Road 798-2444 he Cosmic Crowd at *sa ck Recreation Centers! count coupons not valid during Cosmic Bowling. ETC. 1I [ i e I a service. j L hose disks you $ answers. king of online services. ' 3 appeal has been its ease of use ' 7V? = . _ much-hyped access to the Internet, .. ::: / <1 \ f uter network that has been called ... J ateraction. Since 1993, when the 'h/;< ' -< \ ' I i scovered" the Net (which had been ||| inything at all mentioning "the pace" (not to mention that other tetaphor the press came up with) m. year> Js problems begin. Marketing its ease of use has naturally ta^ 0 le who might have not otherwise gotten online. Mix that AOL additional haven of UNIX-hacking ultranerds with their veter; nd problems are bound to occur. 80 tha blem is AOL's impact on USENET, the worldwide system A that sits on top of the Internet. extrei n around in one form or another since the '80s, and, like bad n has developed its own codes of conduct and etiquette. As primarily academic system, veterans of the service came use- ^ f September, when hordes of university freshmen would naoth< oups and come storming in with little or no regard for A Often these "newbies" would ask totally inappropriate some^ king about how to get pirated software in the newsgroup ^uess somet its hordes of inexperienced users loose on USENET last /~rui and fla BSpri pyy The Editor position requir pQg have a minimum GPR of 2.5( ^ good standing in the majoi worked for The Gamecock 1 B Applications are judged on their applic tion form, two k Applications can b Lhh s \ / ? AjOXT there was an intensely negative re? if "September all year round," and ? in their address was soon automat in Net users even went so far as to ? t any message originating from AOL \ new newsgroup appeared, alt.aol-si nely popular outlet for AOL-inducec ame from this. lere is a flip side to this: when you co Vhen the question came up of how ?r on e-mail, America Online came i OL disks holding up one corner of 1 vhat). Even my mother can clicketj AOL has its good points after all. I j hing stupid on the skiing newsgrouj '<e Robinson is an International Relations Jun mes can be hurled at luker@compusult.coi UbUUl ing Edito 'amecock Newspaper es that applicants be junior or 5 ) overall or minimum GPR reqi r college (whichever is greater), for at least one year (or equivak their submitted samples ofwoi itters of reference, and a formal nt Publications and Gommunic "ISaiffcocI? e picked up in Russell House /V~^x /j*mj up* tudent Media Thursday, November 30,1995 rrw? nimw k jjjj mmmm. 111 ETHAN MYERSON The Gamecock iction. USENET soon buzzed with my message sent by a person with ically regarded as suspect. Many idjust their news reading software vouldn't even show up in the groups, icks, and it remains to this day an I angst. Needless to say, AOL got a me right down to it. AOL is easv to to get my electronically-impaired mmediately to mind (and, I admit, the house influenced the decision r-click her way to being wired, so I ust hope I don't catch Mom saying ior and a computer consultant Comments 77. tfilfllilM HAiAiM ' w r senior standing, lired to remain in and must have int experience), k responses on I interview before ations. 1331. SM. 11/30 lUifiUifl