I’ve discovered Internet in 1996 when my provider in LA asked me if I had an email, I was running a callback company here in France, and was like WTF are you talking about??!!??? A few days later I manage to found out the only ISP in France, it was Compuserve.
Do you remember Compuserve?
Founded in 1969 as a computer time-sharing service, Columbus, Ohio-based CompuServe drove the initial emergence of the online service industry. In 1979, CompuServe became the first service to offer electronic mail capabilities and technical support to personal computer users. CompuServe broke new ground again in 1980 as the first online service to offer real-time chat online with its CB Simulator. By 1982, the company had formed its Network Services Division to provide wide-area networking capabilities to corporate clients.
CompuServe also led the interactive services industry overseas, entering the international arena in Japan in 1986 with Fujitsu and Nisso Iwai, developing a Japanese-language version of CompuServe called NIFTYSERVE. In 1989, the company expanded into Europe where it grew to be a leading Internet service provider.
In february 1998, Compuserve was sold for $1.2 billions to AOL.
Then at the same time I discovered Mosaic (first release september 10, 1993) coded by NCSA, it wasn’t the first web browser ever made, but it certainly contribute to the explosion of Internet. Its name was change to Netscape Navigator (first release October 13, 1994) that came as a bundle with the Compuserve internet connexion. Netscape usage disappeared in 2004.
At those times I was also using ICQ that was firstly released in November 1996, and was first developed by the Israeli company Mirabilis. The technology’s success caused AOL to acquire Mirabilis on June 8, 1998, for $407 million. At the time, this was the highest price ever paid to purchase an Israeli technology company. In 2006 they had only 63 million users compared to the +200 millions each for Windows Live and QQ. And apparently AOL is about to sell it to russians or chineses for $120 million.
Oh yeah by the way, does anyone remember AOL that bought Compuserve and ICQ and so many more??!!??? Where are they now? And what about Yahoo! or MySpace???
So will Facebook still be there in 2015?
Yes Facebook has as many users that there was Internet users woldwide in 2000. But when I say that I may doubt that Facebook we’ll still be around as a major key player of the Internet, people look at me as if was completely crazy… The thing about Facebook is, it’s insanely new. This world of the Internet, if we know anything from its brief history, it likes nothing more than to build someone up only to topple them. Who has an AOL account these days? Not that long ago, AOL was the single most powerful player on the Internet. Who has a MySpace account these days? MySpace sold for billions of dollars not that long ago. I’m very reluctant to crown Facebook king of the future. They certainly are flavour of the month. This is not a world that respects loyalties and longevity unless you build something that’s really useful on an everyday basis.
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