Steve Case (born 1958) is the co-founder of America Online, an Internet provider service that boasted its own unique content as well. It was instrumental in leading a vast number of people onto the "information superhighway." The company experienced rapid growth early on, and despite some stumbles, continued to be the most popular of its kind in the industry, capturing roughly 60 percent of the world market after its acquisition of CompuServe in 1998. By the end of 2000, America Online had 24.6 million subscribers, and the company was connecting more than 11 percent of the U.S. population to the Internet.

Before the rise in online services, the Internet could be a confusing technological jumble to most users. Generally, only the savvy "computer geeks" were accessing its communicative powers, using modems to reach other users. However, companies soon began tapping into this unknown territory, and began offering computer users a logical, easier-to-use interface...