AOL, CompuServe, Prodigy, etc had isolated content and communities. The internet at large (web, gopher, http, ftp, email, etc) existed and was available at uni

AOL, CompuServe, Prodigy, etc had isolated content and communities. The internet at large (web, gopher, http, ftp, email, etc) existed and was available at universities and through regional ISP's and a smattering of local BBS's but for a very long time there was very little shared traffic between this common "internet" of services and those proprietary services. The propriety services were delivering convenience, curation, cohesion, and features that the internet-at-large hadn't matured enough to deliver. Consumers liked that. That's the "dark" time the author, and myself, generally see us trending back towards.