Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
The service provided real-time news, games, and e-mail, but was slow to offer the type
of perks that quickly helped AOL supersede all other players, such as anonymous handles,
real-time chat, and unmoderated discussion-boards. In the early 1990s, strapped for cash-
flow, Prodigy limited monthly e-mail messages to thirty, after which a surcharge applied;
then in the summer of 1993 Prodigy began charging hourly rates for its most popular fea-
tures, including message boards. Although later rescinded, these policies caused thousands
of subscribers to leave the service, most of these heading for AOL, which offered a sexier
interface and reliable service while at the same providing better processing and more at-
tractive pricing.
By the early 1990s, all the dial-ups were offering such services as online banking,
online stock trading, and various shopping options. Notably, however, in 1994 Prodigy
became the first of the early-generation dialup services to offer full access to the World
Wide Web, as well as Web page hosting, to its members, along with access to USENET
newsgroups. CompuServe and AOL soon followed with similar approaches. Ultimately,
however, the Internet was to quickly gain on Prodigy just as it would all of the old dial-up
players.
In 1996, IBM and Sears sold their interests in Prodigy to the newly founded Internation-
al Wireless, with Mexican businessman Carlos Slim Helu (a principal owner of Telmex) as
minority investor. IBM and Sears took a bath on the transaction. The sales price was $200
million. Between them, the sellers had invested more than $1 billion in the service since
1984. In due course, Prodigy developed high-speed Internet capability, and in 2000 SBC
(Southwestern Bell Company, as of 2006 AT&T) bought a 43% interest. The firm - now
with a division called Prodigy Broadband - took on the task of servicing SBC's 77 million
high-speed Internet customers. Eventually SBC bought controlling interest for $465 milli-
on. At the time, Prodigy ranked as the fourth-largest Internet service provider behind AOL,
Microsoft's MSN, and EarthLink. In the year 2000, Prodigy logged 3.1 million subscribers,
of which 1.3 million were DSL users. Nevertheless, the Prodigy brand was eventually put
into defacto retirement. Users who sought Prodigy on the Internet found themselves redir-
ected to att.net.
By far the coolest online community, however, was the WELL (Whole Earth 'Lectronic
Link), launched in 1985 by
Whole Earth Catalog
founder Stewart Brand along with partner
Larry Brilliant. The WELL started life as a simple dial-up bulletin board system (BBS),
but in the early 1990s became one of the original dial-up ISPs. Today it remains a popular
community destination on the Internet.
The WELL's early management team - Matthew McClure, Cliff Figallo and John Coate
- collaborated closely with users to foster a sense of virtual community. In 1994, the
founders sold the WELL to Bruce Katz (the entrepreneur behind Rockport, maker of walk-
ing shoes), who owned the enterprise till 1999. Since the spring of that year, the WELL
has been owned by Salon.com. For many years, the WELL was a central digital gather-
