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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:blue'>Thanks for digging this up Tom. I used that service in 1984 (using a Kaypro II), and I found a note in my files, dated January, 1985, stating that “you can reach me via E-mail on Compuserve, ID # 73036.635.” BTW, that was an octal number, as the service was run off PDP-10s, unless someone can correct me. I don’t think I used it before 1984.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:blue'>Paul E. Ceruzzi<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:blue'>Chair, Division of Space History<br>National Air & Space Museum<br>MRC 311; PO Box 37012<br>Washington, DC 20013-7012<br>202-633-2414 <br><<a href="http://www.nasm.si.edu/staffDetail.cfm?staffID=24">http://www.nasm.si.edu/staffDetail.cfm?staffID=24</a></span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue'>></span><span style='color:blue'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> members-bounces@sigcis.org [mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Thomas Haigh<br><b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, February 29, 2012 6:33 PM<br><b>To:</b> members@sigcis.org<br><b>Subject:</b> [SIGCIS-Members] Email Invention: Homing in on Compuserve "GO EMAIL"<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'>Hello,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'>I’m now homing in on CompuServe as a possible vector for the popularization of the word “email,” perhaps as early as 1979.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'>What I know so far:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]>In 1979 Compserve, formerly a business oriented timesharing business, launched a consumer oriented $5 an hour service called Micronet. In 1980 this was rebranded as Compuserve Information Service.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]>Electronic mail using numerical DEC userIDs as account names seems to have been there from the outset. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:1.0in'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]>There was some attempt to brand a Compuserve email service as “Infoplex,” circa 1978/9 onward but this may have been a separate service aimed at business. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]>By 1984 email was definitely accessed on compuserve by typing “GO EMAIL” <a href="http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1984IAPPP..17...11H/0000011.000.html">http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/1984IAPPP..17...11H/0000011.000.html</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]>Compuserve filed a trademark application for email in 1983, citing a first use in commerce in 1981. It was abandoned in 1984. (Verified with TESS database).<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:1.0in'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'>Anyone find anything to firmly document “GO EMAIL” before 1984? Micronet was used particularly with the TRS-80, so user group materials might be one source.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'>Tom<o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>