CompuServe 6.0: It Comes From a Good Family
With nips and tucks, the revamped CompuServe 2000 muscles up and starts to resemble sibling AOL.Mike Hogan, special to PCWorld.com
Checking out the updated version of Compuserve in a wired world dominated by America Online reminds me of a favorite movie, Twins, starring Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Their obvious physical differences are the running gag. But as the movie develops, we begin to realize how similar they really are, and how much more alike they become every day.
The differences between CompuServe 2000 and its big brother America Online are largely cosmetic--and temporary, too. The just-released 6.0 versions of both services' clients are matching outfits that differ only because AOL 6.0 must stretch over the 26-million-member AOL service. You can still find a few more program features and connection alternatives in AOL 6.0 than in CompuServe 2000 6.0, now the so-called value service of AOL. But this pair was obviously fished out of the same gene pool, and it is headed for Frick-and-Frackhood.
That should be good news to you 3 million CompuServe members, because that means your e-mail/ISP/Internet utility is being pumped up to look just like the biggest, baddest boy on the Internet. No other plain vanilla ISP or e-mail/ISP/Internet utility--no EarthLink or MSN--has been able to duplicate AOL's formula of extreme ease of use and convenient, reliable access or generate even a fifth of its membership. Whatever it is that Internet users like, AOL has figured it out and is cloning it with CompuServe.
An Evolution for New Users
CompuServe is one of the oldest online services, and it has some longstanding members (like me). But most of the million and a half people who have signed up for CompuServe over the past 18 months did so because they got a $400 cash rebate on a new PC, says Bob Kington, CompuServe vice president of programming. They're the network's future, and they're signed up on AOL's little brother, CompuServe 2000. This update's for them.
So, what about CompuServe 2000 6.0? It ain't half bad. I like it, although I'm not 100 percent sure why. The new stuff is tweaks. It looks like the developrs pasted the new feature list from AOL 6.0 right into the CompuServe 2000 6.0 menu.
Most of the real improvements strengthen existing features of the network. For example, what I like the most about CompuServe 2000 is that it just works. It's solid, it's fast, and when you dial in, you get an answer every time. My other ISPs? Very spotty. But CompuServe 2000 uses the same network as AOL, with thousands of local access numbers and roughly 50,000 new modem ports being added monthly.
Like AOL 6.0, CompuServe 6.0 now accepts highly graphical HTML Web pages in messages and pops up the RealNetworks media player for music and videos. And of course, CompuServe Instant Messenger hooks into AIM, with the same AIM-style emoticons and other trivialities. The real payoff is that you can hook up with your AIM buddies--although not orphans of MSN and other competing messaging services (yet).
Update Harvests From AOL's Fields
Another important CompuServe-AOL connection is the AOL shopping mall. AOL members spent $4.6 billion online last holiday season, accounting for something like 70 percent of all retail traffic online and registering a 90 percent satisfaction rate. CompuServe 6.0 is your ticket to the best shopping experience online.
Version 6.0's new Shopping Assistant tool, with site reviews and price comparisons, is just like AOL's. It appears when you visit participating CompuServe e-tailers. QuickCheckout saves time by delivering your billing and shipping information to a participating e-tailer in encrypted form with just a mouse click.
Other tweaks are an automatic completion function for e-mail addresses and a Web-based calendar and address book. This provides access to them on the CompuServe Web site from any browser-equipped PC, not only the CompuServe client.
Version 6.0 is supposed to have more personalization features, but they're very weak in both AOL and CompuServe. But CompuServe will roll out more than a dozen ways to tailor the content and layout over the next few months, Kington says.
A Nod to Dinosaurs
Of course, the AOL-ification of CompuServe sends chills up the spines of the half-million or so old hands like me. We trembled when AOL took over CompuServe a couple of years ago. We still grouse about AOL's "intrusive ads" and "screen clutter." We protectively clutch our dog-eared copies of "CompuServe Classic" (versions 4.x and earlier), and eye any change in the service with barely contained paranoia. But then, we've never forgiven Microsoft for inventing Windows, either.
Our way of life is doomed, and we know it. But not quite yet. In Kington's words, "There's a bunch of people who don't want to change--people using version 2.0 or what have you--and we don't plan to make them change. We are going to support those guys and we are committed to it."
Whew! We get to live on the original, non-POP3 CompuServe e-mail backbone (which still has more access points than 99 percent of all other networks) with our never-to-be-improved Classic software. Indoor plumbing? Hah! Who needs it?
Here's the Verdict
Yes, CompuServe 2000 is much more graphical and much busier than most CompuServe Classic fans like. It has a lot of ads and offers coming at you at inopportune times. The software updates when you try to log off.
Fellow CompuServe Classic users, let's face it: We're not going to upgrade to CompuServe 2000 (or to Windows 3.1, judging by the traffic in CompuServe chat rooms). I just like the e-mail filing system and news sources of CompuServe Classic too much.
But for the millions who are unhappy with your ISP's busy signal, it won't hurt to download CompuServe 2000 from its Web site and try it free for 30 days. Fees thereafter are $9.95 for 20 hours of Internet service monthly ($2.95 for additional hours) or all the Net you can eat for $19.95 monthly.
And if you're close to buying a new PC, why not get paid $400 for it? Buy a PC at a nationwide retail chain participating in CompuServe's rebate program, commit to three years of CompuServe premium service for $21.95 monthly, and you'll get a check for $400.
If you don't like the ads and promotions coming down inside the software, click the minimize button and use your Web browser for everything but e-mail. At its worst, CompuServe e-mail beats free Web sites like Hotmail and Yahoo.
At the core, you get a demonstrably good e-mail/ISP/Internet utility that's due to get a lot better, because it's in the hands of the same guys who made AOL a star.