It’s been about 14 years or so since I closed my Compuserve account in favor of an internet-connected BBS. I initially signed up for that account using my Commodore 64 and a blazing-fast 300 baud modem. (At that point, 1200 baud modems were fairly common, but a 1200 baud modem for the C-64 was a little too pricey for someone just a couple years out of college.)
During the couple of years I used Compuserve, I got to know Sue P, had discussions (and the occasional argument) with folks such as David Gerrold, established a few professional ties through my nifty technical skills, and eventually persuaded my then-employer to set up a technical support area on the service (a move which almost immediately gained them several new customers, and long before the term “World Wide Web” ever reached the mainstream).
Sometime in mid-90s, Compuserve was acquired by AOL where it became something of an online backwater, a “walled-garden” dinosaur in an online ecosystem inhabited by web sites which could be accessed via any standard web browser.
Back in April, AOL notified the few remaining Compuserve users of plans to shut down the service. Compuserve was officially shut down last week.
I haven’t used the service in at least 14 years, but I have to admit to being a little sad to see it go.