BEFORE THAT, IT WAS A SMALL FIRM CALLED CONTROL VIDEO CORPORATION, AND IT MADE VIDEO GAMES

1992. Before that, it was a small firm called control Video Corporation, and it made video games. Then Steve

Case, a former Pizza Hut marketing executive arrived and took the company online, innovative, fast moving,

and user - friendly, American online appeals to people who want to search the Internet, but who do not have a

lot of experience. For the same reason “teachies”, people who think they are more expert with computers,

look down on American Online and its users. Recently, American Online (or AOL, as it calls itself) joined

with Time Warn – a multi - million dollar movie and magazine company - to create a multi media giant.

Now, AOL has begun to expand abroad. In many European countries, including the United Kingdom, it

is hard to buy a computer magazine that does not have a free AOL introductory offer. The company also puts

advertisements onto the television, and employs people to hand out its free introductory disks at places like

train stations. As the Internet gets faster, AOL is changing. With many homes getting high - speed connection

through fiber optic cables, or the new ADSL technology, the “Cyber - cockroach” will have to show that like

real cockroaches, it can survive in almost any environment.