AOL Turns 25

Company that helped start the D.C.-area tech industry marks a quarter-century of dynamic change today by renaming buildings after founders.

By Bob Keefe | May 24, 2010

Happy Birthday, AOL.

The company that helped get the D.C. metro area's technology cluster going turns 25 today.  AOL is officially based in New York now, but at its former headquarters near Dulles, Va. company officials will mark the anniversary at a celebration with current and former AOL employees and friends. They'll be treated to lunch and entertainment (and birthday cake, no doubt) and the company will pay homage to three of its millionaire founders - Steve Case, Jim Kimsey and Ted Leonsis - by renaming several buildings after them.

AOL - and technology in general - of course, have come a long way since America Online hooked up subscribers around the world and announced the coming of the e-mail age with a cheery (and for some, annoying) "You've Got Mail!"

Today, after plenty of bumps and bruises and one of the most studied and maligned business mergers in recent history, AOL is more about content than email.  Its more than 80 content sites - such as Engadget.com, PoliticsDaily.com - have become must-reads for its fans. Its sprouting startup called SEED promises to change community news and networking.

Despite massive layoffs over the past several years, AOL is still a huge employer, with more than 5,000 employees, most in the D.C. metro area.

As AOL looks forward, here's a look back at its first 25 years:

1985: AOL is formed, under the name Quantum Computer Services. Quantum's first offering - Q-Link launches on the Commodore 64 platform.

1989: Members hear "You've Got Mail" for the first time.

1991: Quantum renamed America Online Inc.

1992: AOL goes public; ubiquitous startup disks start arriving in (snail) mail boxes everywhere

1997: AIM 1.0 instant message service debuts

1998: AOL acquires CompuServe

2001: AOL and Time Warner complete their much vaunted - and later, much maligned -  merger

2006: Struggling for direction (and survival) in a changing Internet landscape, AOL starts offering free email to users and begins to launch new niche content sites

2009: Noting failed expectations, Time Warner spins off AOL as an independent company.

2010: AOL launches SEED, a news-driven services to assign, buy and distribute works to its content network.

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