美国在线公司官方网站网址：http://www.aol.com

　　美国在线（AOL）是美国时代华纳的子公司，著名的因特网服务提供商。

　　美国在线服务(AOL)公司：总部设在弗吉尼亚州维也纳的一种在线信息服务公司，可提供电子邮件、新闻组、教育和娱乐服务，并支持对因特网访问。美国在线服务(AOL)公司是美国最大因特网服务提供商之一。2000年美国在线服务(AOL)公司与媒体巨人华纳时代公司合并，2001年1月11日该交易被联邦贸易委员会证实。合并旨在扩展品牌内容服务以及通信服务的大众市场，合并后的公司形成了一个通信和媒体大公司，这个大公司拥有因特网最大用户群体，并有娱乐、出版和有线电视领域的广泛基础。

　　美国在线是全球首屈一指的ISP。而其旗下的另一公司CompuServe定位于增值业务。此外，AOL公司提供以下免费服务：数字城市（当地城市指南）、地图查找、Moviefone（影片相关信息以及和订票服务）、ICQ、AOL Instant Messager、Spinner（流式音乐）和Winamp下载。

　　2009年3月11日，AOL方面通过其在中国公关公司首度向搜狐IT宣布其退出中国大陆，终止北京公司的运营。^[1]

　　美国在线（AOL）的创始人：史蒂夫·凯斯（Steve Case）

　　史蒂夫·凯斯创立了“美国在线”，全美最大的网络服务商，是目前世界上两家真正通过网络赢利的公司之一，第一个被列入《财富》500强的互联网服务公司，个人年收入1.17亿美元，居《福布斯》杂志全美1999年50家高薪大公司主管的亚军。

　　AOL began as a short-lived venture called Quantum Computer Services (or QCS), founded by William von Meister. Its sole product was an online service called Gameline for the Atari 2600 video game console after von Meister's idea of buying music on demand was rejected by Warner Brothers. (Klein, 2003) Subscribers bought a modem from the company for $49.95 and paid a one-time $15 setup fee. Gameline permitted subscribers to temporarily download games and keep track of high scores, at a cost of approximately $1 per hour.

　　In 1983, the company nearly went bankrupt, and an investor in Control Video, Frank Caufield, had a friend of his, Jim Kimsey, brought in as a manufacturing consultant. That same year, Steve Case joined the company as a full-time marketing employee upon the joint recommendations of von Meister and Kimsey. Kimsey went on to become the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the newly renamed Quantum Computer Services in 1985, after von Meister was quietly dropped from the company.

　　Case himself rose quickly through the ranks; Kimsey promoted him to vice-president of marketing not long after becoming CEO, and later promoted him further to executive vice-president in 1987. Kimsey soon began to groom Case to ascend to the rank of CEO, which he did when Kimsey retired in 1991.

　　Kimsey changed the company's strategy, and in 1985 launched a sort of mega-BBS for Commodore 64 and 128 computers, originally called Quantum Link ("Q-Link" for short). The Quantum Link software was licensed from PlayNet, Inc. In May 1988, Quantum and Apple launched AppleLink Personal Edition for Apple II and Macintosh computers. After the two companies parted ways in October 1989, Quantum changed the service's name to America Online.[6][7] In August 1988, Quantum launched PC Link, a service for IBM-compatible PCs developed in a joint venture with the Tandy Corporation.

　　From the beginning, AOL included online games in its mix of products; many classic and casual games were included in the original PlayNet software system. In the early years of AOL the company introduced many additional innovative online interactive titles and games, including:

• Graphical chat environments Habitat (1986-1988) and Club Caribe (1988) from LucasArts.
• The first online interactive fiction series QuantumLink Serial by Tracy Reed (1988).
• Quantum Space, the first fully automated Play by email game (1989-1991).
• The original Dungeons & Dragons title Neverwinter Nights from Stormfront Studios (1991-1997), the first Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) to depict the adventure with graphics instead of text (1991).
• The first chat room-based text role-playing game Black Bayou (1996-2004), a horror role-playing game from Hecklers Online and ANTAGONIST, Inc..

　　In February 1991 AOL for DOS was launched using a GeoWorks interface followed a year later by AOL for Windows. In October 1991, Quantum changed its name to America Online. These changes coincided with growth in pay-based BBS services, like Prodigy, CompuServe, and GEnie. AOL discontinued Q-Link and PC Link in the fall of 1994.

　　Massive growth

　　Case positioned AOL as the online service for people unfamiliar with computers, in particular contrast to CompuServe, which had long served the technical community. The PlayNet system that AOL licensed was the first online service to require use of proprietary software, rather than a standard terminal program; as a result it was able to offer a graphical user interface (GUI) instead of command lines, and was well ahead of the competition in emphasizing communication among members as a feature.

　　In particular was the Chat Room concept from PlayNet, as opposed to the previous paradigm of CB-style channels. Chat Rooms allowed a large group of people with similar interests to convene and hold conversations in real time, including:

• Private rooms - created by any user. Hold up to 27 people.
• Conference rooms - created with permission of AOL. Hold up to 48 people and often moderated.
• Auditoriums - created with permission of AOL. Consisted of a stage and an unlimited number of rows. What happened on the stage was viewable by everybody in the auditorium but what happened within individual rows, of up to 27 people, was viewable only by the people within those rows.

　　There were also text games played in the chat rooms, known as AOL chatroom games.

　　In March 1994, AOL added access to USENET to the features it offered.

　　AOL quickly surpassed GEnie, and by the mid-1990s, it passed Prodigy (which for several years allowed AOL advertising) and CompuServe.

　　Originally, AOL charged its users an hourly fee, but in 1996 this changed and a flat rate of $19.99 a month was charged. Within three years, AOL's userbase grew to 10 million people. During this time, AOL connections would be flooded with users trying to get on, and many canceled their accounts due to constant busy signals. Also, games which used to be paid for with the hourly fee migrated in droves to the Internet.

　　AOL was quickly running out of room in 1996 for its network at the Vienna, VA campus and moved to Dulles, VA a short distance away. The move to the Dulles took place in 1997 and provided room for future growth.

　　AOL was relatively late in providing access to the open Internet. Originally, only some Internet features were accessible through a proprietary interface but eventually it became possible to run other Internet software while logged in through AOL. They were the first online service to seamlessly integrate a web browser into content.

　　AOL introduced the concept of Buddy Lists, leveraging their one-on-one instant messaging technology.

　　Change in focus

　　Since its merger with Time Warner, the value of AOL has dropped from its $200 billion high. It has seen similar losses among its subscription rate. It has since attempted to reposition itself as a content provider similar to companies such as Yahoo! as opposed to an Internet service provider which delivered content only to subscribers in what was termed a "walled garden". In 2005, AOL broadcasted the Live 8 concert live over the Internet, and thousands of users downloaded clips of the concert over the following months.

　　In 2004 along with the launch of AOL 4.0 optimized, AOL also made available the option of personalized greetings. Which would enable the user to hear his or her name while accessing basic functions, mail alerts and logging in or out. America Online users can access the greetings recorded by the female voice of Patricia Walden or the male voice of Chris Kepics (http://chriskepics.googlepages.com) by installing version 9.0 optimized which can be done online by going to AOL Keyword: Upgrade. Once the user is running the current program, go to Keyword: Event Sounds, then select "Change" and "Add Your Name" to access the voices.

　　AOL eventually announced plans to offer subscribers classic television programs for free with commercials inserted via its new IN2TV service. At the time of launch, AOL made available Warner Bros. Television's vast library of programs, with Welcome Back Kotter as its marquee offering. Other shows include Scarecrow and Mrs. King, The F.B.I., F Troop, and Growing Pains.

　　In 2006, AOL informed its American customers that it would be increasing the price of its dial-up access to $25.90. The increase was part of an effort to migrate the service's remaining dial-up users to broadband, as the increased price was the same price they had been charging for monthly DSL access.[8] However, AOL has started offering their services for $9.95 a month for unlimited dial-up access.[9]

　　On April 3, 2006, AOL announced that the full name "America Online" will be retired, and that the official name of the service is now "AOL".[10]

　　On August 2, 2006, AOL announced that they will give away e-mail accounts and software previously available only to its paying customers in a strategy shift likely to accelerate the decline in its core Internet access business. The decision removes the few remaining reasons for many AOL subscribers to keep paying when they already have high-speed Internet access through a cable or phone company. AOL hopes that by making services free, it can draw Internet users to its ad-supported Web sites and keep them from defecting to Microsoft and Yahoo!, which have offered free e-mail for years.