The Source (service)

The Source (Source Telecomputing Corporation) was an early online service, one of the first such services to be oriented toward and available to the general public. The Source described itself as follows:

It's not hardware. It's not software. But it can take your personal computer anywhere in the world.

The Source was in operation from 1979 to 1989, when it was purchased by rival CompuServe and discontinued sometime thereafter. The Source's headquarters were located at 1616 Anderson Road, McLean, Virginia 22102.

The Source was founded in 1978 as Digital Broadcasting Corporation by Bill von Meister, with support from Jack R. Taub, a businessman who had been very successful publishing the Scott catalogue of postage stamps. Initially the idea was to transmit email using an unused subcarrier piggy-backed onto FM radio signals. Instead, the two hit on the idea of an "information utility," using cheap overnight excess capacity in minicomputers and data networks to make online information available to dial-up subscribers. Dialcom Inc., located in Silver Spring, MD was the backbone of The Source and supplied all of the networking, computing power and software development until the sale of The Source to The Reader's Digest Association. Robert Ryan was the President and CEO of Dialcom for fifteen years and concurrently served as the founding President of The Source and remained in that role for three years and then decided to return full-time to Dialcom. Having secured publishing rights and put in place the necessary software, the system was announced at Comdex in June 1979. At a launch in New York the following month, Isaac Asimov declared it to be "the start of the information age." Prices were initially $100 for a subscription, then $2.75 per hour off-peak. However, the project had already run up large debts, and soon began running out of money. Taub sold an 80% controlling stake to The Reader's Digest Association to keep the company afloat. Von Meister initiated legal action, and received a $1 million pay-off. He went on to found Control Video Corporation, which ultimately evolved into AOL.

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