The source of it all: William F. von Meister.(Biography)

Information professionals--accustomed to searching premium content databases such as Dialog, Factiva, and LexisNexis--know that these services have a long history, stretching back 3 decades. They're well aware that online information predates the Internet, but they tend to forget about the parallel universe of electronic information sources geared toward the personal computer user, something we used to call "consumer online." In the January/February 2007 issue of ONLINE ("The Internet, ARPAnet, and Consumer Online"), I profiled Compuserve, one of the earliest online systems. It offered email, online chat, forums, and data downloads. At one point, it even had a low-priced subset of Dialog databases, available only outside of normal working hours. Compuserve (aka Compu-Serve and Compu-Serv) wasn't the only consumer online pioneer, however. So, to continue my story, think back several decades.

As Ohio microcomputer owners tested Compu-Serve's MicroNET in the late 1970s, a Virginia M.B.A. named William F. von Meister was pondering his next business move. The 36-year-old had recently been ousted from his position as CEO of a high-tech startup that he had founded less than 2 years earlier.

This was not a new experience for von Meister, who was surprisingly inept for an entrepreneur. His business practices were questionable (and sometimes questioned in court). He started nine companies in 10 years; the longest he stayed with any of them was 2 years, and he was forced out of most of them.

But he had some good ideas, one of which became Western Union's Mailgram service. And he was good at finding backers for those ideas. So, despite his business ineptitude, von Meister made money--enough to support eight children, a rambling mansion in suburban Virginia, and his hobbies. Coming from a wealthy family tinged with royalty, he may have felt entitled to living well.

After high school, he enrolled in Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service but spent most of his time buying and racing exotic sports cars. Five years of alternating school and racing produced no profit but did produce an ultimatum from his father. So at the age of 25, von Meister returned to school full time--this time at American University where he earned a B.A. …