(from mashable.com)

When we think about the spectacular collapses of once untouchable Internet properties, companies like MySpace and Pets.com come to mind. The rise and fall of AOL Instant Messenger rivals them all. Once the dominant force in digital messaging and a source of innovations other companies spun off into billions of dollars of businesses, AIM is now mostly dormant. Mashable sat down with three of the early engineers of the program to learn about its origins, why AOL never quite embraced the concept of a free messaging service, getting hacked by Microsoft and the features that never quite made it to users. The 1990s belonged to America Online.

It had risen above competitors in Prodigy and CompuServe to become the dominant Internet service provider for American households. Millions of subscribers paid AOL monthly for the ability to sign online. Its disks could be found almost anywhere. The “You’ve got mail” notification became the sound Americans associated with their first email accounts, as well as a movie with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. (MORE HERE)