Today in 1985, The Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link (the WELL) opened for business, allowing customers to register on-line to use it for $8 per month plus $2 per hour. The Well was started by Stewart Brand and Larry Brilliant as a dial-up bulletin board system (BBS), became one of the original dial-up ISPs in the early 1990s when commercial traffic was first allowed, and is currently a Web-based community with 4,000 members.