<s>
Dialog	B-Application
is	O
an	O
online	O
information	O
service	O
owned	O
by	O
ProQuest	B-Library
,	O
who	O
acquired	O
it	O
from	O
Thomson	O
Reuters	O
in	O
mid-2008	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Dialog	B-Application
was	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
predecessors	O
of	O
the	O
World	O
Wide	O
Web	O
as	O
a	O
provider	O
of	O
information	O
,	O
though	O
not	O
in	O
form	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
earliest	O
form	O
of	O
the	O
Dialog	B-Application
system	O
was	O
completed	O
in	O
1966	O
in	O
Lockheed	O
Martin	O
under	O
the	O
direction	O
of	O
Roger	O
K	O
.	O
Summit	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
1980s	O
,	O
a	O
low-priced	O
dial-up	O
version	O
of	O
a	O
subset	O
of	O
Dialog	B-Application
was	O
marketed	O
to	O
individual	O
users	O
as	O
Knowledge	O
Index	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
subset	O
included	O
INSPEC	O
,	O
MathSciNet	B-Application
,	O
over	O
200	O
other	O
bibliographic	O
and	O
reference	O
databases	O
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
third-party	O
retrieval	O
vendors	O
who	O
would	O
go	O
to	O
physical	O
libraries	O
to	O
copy	O
materials	O
for	O
a	O
fee	O
and	O
send	O
it	O
to	O
the	O
service	O
subscriber	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
being	O
owned	O
by	O
the	O
Thomson	O
Corporation	O
,	O
Dialog	B-Application
consisted	O
of	O
the	O
Dialog	B-Application
,	O
DataStar	O
,	O
Profound	O
,	O
and	O
NewsEdge	O
businesses	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Dialog	B-Application
and	O
DataStar	O
were	O
consolidated	O
into	O
Dialog	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Prior	O
to	O
being	O
owned	O
by	O
Thomson	O
,	O
MAID	O
purchased	O
Knight-Ridder	O
Information	O
which	O
included	O
the	O
Dialog	B-Application
and	O
DataStar	O
businesses	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
MAID	O
renamed	O
itself	O
to	O
be	O
the	O
Dialog	B-Application
Corporation	O
.	O
</s>
