Purely as a matter of interest, Compuserve was founded in 1969 as a business offering time-sharing on minicomputers. It opened to the public in something very

Purely as a matter of interest, Compuserve was founded in 1969 as a business offering time-sharing on minicomputers. It opened to the public in something very much like the form you're remembering in 1979. This later date is roughly contemporaneous with the first BBSes. I also remember Compuserve in the same mental slot as AOL and Prodigy, but it considerably predated them.