Delphi online service
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Categories: Internet service providers | Online service providers
Delphi was an early US Internet service provider that started as a nationwide dialup service in 1983, and in 1992 became the first national commercial service to offer access to the Internet.
Delphi, like ISPs GEnie and CompuServe, was never able to cope with the switch to graphic interface adopted by AOL, which swept past it in the late 1980s. It exists today only as Delphi Forums with access through the Internet.
History
The company that became Delphi was founded by Wes Kussmaul as Kussmaul Encyclopedia in 1982, featured ASCII-based encyclopedia, email, and a primitive chat. Newswires, bulletin boards and better chat were added in early 1982.
In March 15, 1983, the Delphi name was first used by General Videotex Corporation. Forums were text-based, and accessed via Telenet, Sprintnet, Tymnet, and Datapac (Canada).
Delphi partnered with ASCII Corp. of Japan to open online services in 1991.
Delphi provided national consumer access to the internet in 1992 Features included Email (July 1992), FTP, Telnet, Usenet, text-based web access (November 1992), MUDs, Finger protocol, Gopher protocol.
In 1993 Delphi was sold to Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. It had 125,000 text based customers in 1995, but by 1996 were down to were down to less than 5,000 by some accounts, 50,000 by others.
In 1996, NewsCorp sold Delphi Internet to a group of investors that included some of its original principles. It launched a free, ad-supported managed-content website with associated message boards and chatrooms, under the management of a team led by Bill Louden, who had headed GEnie during its heyday. For a period of time, both text-based and web-based community services were available. After a year as a managed content site, Delphi reinvented itself as a community-driven service that allowed anyone to create an online community.
Prospero Technologies was formed in January 2000 as the merger of Delphi Forums and Wellengaged. Webpages for forums are discontinued.
In 2001, Rob Brazell purchased Delphi Forums, merged it with eHow and Idea Exchange, and formed Blue Frogg Enterprises. The Delphi.com domain was sold to Delphi Corporation. Prospero partnered with Inforonics.
In 2002, Prospero reacquired Delphi Forums, joining it with Talk City to form Delphi Forums LLC.