In 1995 the Internet really started to take off.  Prodigy was the first at bat, and hit a home run out of the park.  While a handful of users were starting to use Mosaic (the precursor to Netscape), Prodigy had developed an award-winning browser and connected all users to the Internet.  But that award would not help them as AOL became an even more dominant power, and all the power-users switched to Internet Service Providers (ISP). For some the Internet was already here.  Most of these were college students or faculty, and maybe a handful of high school teachers.  Mine was one of them, and he got me on the Internet before most of my classmates, and certainly before anybody in my neighborhood.

I think the real boom occurred in early 1996.  The Internet gained the media's attention and the ISPs began to spring up in large numbers.  The biggest surge were those joining AOL, being the largest online service provider in the world.  They couldn't have websites yet, and their powers were very limited compared to us, the power-users.  As the presence of the Internet began to enter our daily lives at home and work, most of the barriers were broken down.  People jump onto the Internet daily, and many hold their careers there today.  But what about the social impact?

Prodigy's recent ad campaign has addressed this well.  They recently became a true ISP, not just an online service.  With this change, Prodigy developed an excellent Internet guide site that allows people to find what they need and go off-line and use it.  Their message - people are too caught up on their current providers that they ignore some of the pleasures of life just to surf the Internet.  Their solution - get Prodigy, get what you need, then go off-line and enjoy life.  It is ironic that they are providing a total service that can be used the same way as their ads are pushing against, but I agree that the message may be very appealing to those frustrated by the intricacies of the Internet.