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To the naked eye, there's not much difference these days between online services and the Web. However, the differences used to be a great deal more noticeable.

 Some people wanting access to the Internet would pay America Online (AOL), CompuServe, Prodigy and the Microsoft Network (MSN) for a variety of Internet services. These services provide access to all the information and services available to the public on the Internet and an email account. The online services built and maintained private networks that no one but their customers could use. Each online service had a different interface and customers nearly always paid by the hour or the minute. The companies competed over which one was easiest to use and which one had the best content.