Seidman's Online Insider - Vol. 4, Issue 42
============================================================================
Seidman's Online Insider - Vol. 4, Issue 42
Visit the Online Insider on the Web < http://www.onlineinsider.com >
============================================================================
Copyright (C) 1997 Robert Seidman. All rights reserved. May be
reproduced in any medium for noncommercial purposes as long as
attribution is given.
IN THIS ISSUE
- Editor's Note
- New Side Rant, New Name!
- What's Happening in Insider Talk?
- Cancellation Day
- AOL to Use Microsoft's Outlook Express
- Prodigy Internet With IE 4.0
- Stock Watch
- Subscription Info
Editor's Note
=============
Well, I couldn't take life at 28.8 any longer. My phone lines won't
accommodate x2 or K56flex (and even though there will now be a 56K modem
standard soon, my phone lines aren't likely to accommodate it either), my
cable provider doesn't offer cable modem service here yet, and I'm not
somewhere where I can put up a satellite dish and take advantage of
DirecPC via direct broadcast satellite. So, I broke down and called Bell
Atlantic (you may remember it bought NYNEX) to set up ISDN. It isn't a
done deal (I may not be able to get the service). But I'll keep you
posted. Whatever the case, I hope my experiences aren't similar to
Dilbert's the week of Nov. 24 (which you can view at
< http://www.dilbert.com >).
Internet World is coming up. Hope to see some of you there! I've got
several meetings scheduled I'm excited about. I'll finally get to meet
with the Netscape Web site team face-to-face, and maybe that will help
me to better understand how Netscape utilizes the home page and how
NetCenter has been designed. I'm trying to keep an open mind, but I
still don't get it!
New Side Rant, New Name!
========================
I've changed the name of "Side Rant" to "SideTrack". I guess I just
didn't find myself wanting to "rant" on a regular basis. So, hopefully
the SideTracks will appear pretty regularly every couple of weeks.
You'll want to check out this week's SideTrack that examines a couple
of recent AOL content exclusives and why these exclusives probably
have a lot more to do with the nature of the Web than the nature
of AOL. You can read it here:
< http://www.onlineinsider.com/html/sidetrack.html >
What's Happening in Insider Talk?
=================================
Thoughts on protecting the children, online summits, and more:
< http://www.wellengaged.com/engaged/seidman.cgi?&c=policy&t=11 >
Will the WorldCom-MCI combo cause Internet rate hikes? Find out what
Dennis J. Crane, former president of America Online's ANS subsidiary,
thinks at:
<http://www.wellengaged.com/engaged/seidman.cgi?c=infrastructure&t=16&q=4>.
This week's post of the week comes from Online Entertainment consultant
Jessica Mulligan, who has lots of online community experience, some of
which is shared at:
< http://www.wellengaged.com/engaged/seidman.cgi?c=online&t=13&q=80 >.
Cancellation Day
================
Well, I'll be the first to admit that managing my money is not my
strength. Instead, I've striven to earn enough not to have to worry
about how lackluster my performance is in this area. But, as funds
deplete, one tends to begin looking at things differently. And so it
was with this month's examination of the bills.
While some online services are provided to me on a complimentary basis,
I pay for a great many of them (I pay for both my current ISP AND my old
ISP; it will be a while before people stop sending mail to
robert@clark.net). Anyway, in the course of the past year or so, I
wound up paying for stuff I never used and never got around to
canceling. Among such services were an extra Microsoft Network account
I'd set up and used once (I still have an MSN account -- it makes a
great backup ISP!), AT&T WorldNet (nothing personal, but how many ISPs
does one guy need?) and a subscription to CBS SportsLine (formerly
SportsLine USA) that I signed up for during a trial offer and never
canceled.
So, I called MSN and made it to an "automated cancellation" processor
fairly quickly. This approach worked very well for me because it just
so happened I was looking at the credit card bill. But I have several
credit cards that I might have opened an account with, and if I was
calling to cancel and didn't have the bill in hand, this method wouldn't
have worked. Overall, I'm not sure the account is really canceled (how
much can I trust a computer?), but I guess I'll know within a bill or
two.
Next I called CBS SportsLine. Within a couple of minutes I was speaking
with a REAL person, who graciously canceled my account.
Then came AT&T WorldNet. The first time I tried, I waited more than
half an hour and finally gave up. I tried again, vowing that no matter
how long it took, I was going to wait it out. It took about 30 minutes.
It took me 20 minutes to get a live person who said she couldn't cancel
my account directly and would have to transfer me to someone who could.
I was aghast! After waiting 20 minutes (actually more than 50 minutes,
if you count the call I gave up on) to get a person, the last thing I
wanted to do was get transferred into another queue where I'd have to
wait even more! "It should be less than a minute," the WorldNet
representative told me. About all the waiting, she said, "It could've
been avoided if you'd dialed the cancellation number directly." Hey, I
dialed the only number I had and I pressed the sequence of keys I
THOUGHT would lead me to someone who would cancel my account. "Maybe
you could've played the number I SHOULD'VE DIALED while I was waiting to
speak to someone," I retaliated.
In any event, it was all pretty painless, took less than an hour and
saved me more than $30 a month!
AOL to Use Microsoft's Outlook Express
======================================
On Monday, America Online announced it will integrate Microsoft's
Outlook Express e-mail package technologies, including HTML
capabilities, into its own e-mail client. The AOL news release said the
technologies would become "available to many AOL users in the first half
of 1998." I would've asked exactly what "available to many AOL users"
means, but I have a really good idea it means AOL customers who use the
Windows 95 version of AOL or who will download or otherwise install the
forthcoming AOL 4.0 version for Windows 95.
Now, I'll grant that I've been badgering AOL for HTML e-mail for some
time, but I was still amused to get several e-mails from people praising
me for predicting correctly that AOL ultimately would have to add HTML
e-mail. It's amusing only because that wasn't exactly an out-on-a-limb
prediction. AOL ultimately needs to have HTML e-mail in the same way
that crops ultimately need rain.
I'll work on getting numbers to show how many of AOL's 10 million-plus
subscribers are using the Win 95 version of AOL. I'm guessing, based on
the verbiage in AOL's news release, that the answer will be less than
half of its subscribers. If AOL had said "most AOL users," it would be a
different story. It will be interesting to get a read on how many AOL
users are on the Windows 95 platform but using the 16-bit version of AOL
vs. how many AOL subscribers are still using Windows 3.1.
Just how many folks are on the Windows 95 version of AOL will tell the
tale of how meaningful this news is for either Microsoft or AOL. If it
were all 10 million users, it would be a great story for AOL and a GREAT
story for Microsoft. At 5 million users, it would be a good story for
AOL and a great story for Microsoft. At 3 million users it would be a
so-so story for AOL and a nice story for Microsoft, and so on. I'll let
you know what I find out.
I think this is actually better for Microsoft the company and AOL
subscribers than it is for AOL the company, though it's not necessarily
bad for AOL either. Precisely how the Outlook Express technologies will
be integrated will be interesting. My guess is that AOL isn't just
going to plop Outlook Express into its system -- though it would be
great if it did. If you're an active e-mail user on AOL, there are some
real barriers to switching to another service. First, there's the issue
of your e-mail address. For some of you, this isn't just an issue of
not wanting to tell the people you correspond with that you have a new
address. For some of you, it's an issue of money that's been invested
in business cards and other stationery imprinted with your AOL ID. But
even if you can get around that issue, there's still the issue of the
mail itself (if you keep it around in offline filing cabinets via the
AOL software) and, more important, your address book.
Microsoft did a VERY smart thing with Outlook Express. It included the
ability to import your address book and e-mail folders from popular
software such as Eudora and Netscape. One of the nice things about using
products like Outlook Express, Eudora and Netscape's messenger is that
they're not ISP-dependent. In other words, I can change ISPs tomorrow,
and with the exception of having a new e-mail address, I wouldn't have
to change a thing other than what servers my e-mail program points to
for sending and receiving mail. Everything else stays the same --
address book, filters, e-mail and mail folders. You can't do any of
that today on AOL, and if I'm AOL, it doesn't really bother me so much
that my subscribers have barriers to switching. This is why I'll be
surprised if AOL essentially takes Outlook Express and plops it into its
system, because this would potentially give AOL subscribers the option
to switch services but take their address books, etc., with them.
Why would AOL want to let its users do that?!? :-)
As this "technology" is enabled AOL-wide, it will be a huge bonus not
just for AOL members, but also for people trying to reach AOL members.
No, I'm not talking about spam. I'm talking about how much better
CNET's Digital Dispatch looks in HTML than it does in text. The same is
true for newsletters from CMP Media and Ziff-Davis and IDG and lots of
other companies. And it's also good for companies such as InfoBeat,
whose products just work better in HTML than in plain text.
Prodigy Internet With IE 4.0
============================
So, there I was at CompUSA. I found myself reminiscing about the days
when I lived within a mile of CompUSA, Egghead Software and Computer
City (and AOL, for that matter). Those days are gone, and from the
perspective of my bank account, it's really for the best. But I was
there to upgrade to the new 3Com PalmPilot Professional. A little treat
for myself that I rationalized by saying, "OK, combined with the power
of the Outlook 98 beta, you'll use this Pilot MORE than the old Pilot
and you'll be extremely well-organized!" Nonsense, of course. I just
wanted the newer toy. But, hey, what can you do? Truth is, though,
over the past month or so, with the help of Outlook 98, I HAVE been
extremely organized.
Now, at CompUSA, the Pilots and stuff like that are at the "Upgrade
Center." If you're familiar with CompUSA and your CompUSA is anything
like mine, the Upgrade Center ought to be dubbed the
"You-Shoulda-Brought-a-Magazine, You-Idiot,
Cuz-You're-Gonna-Have-to-Wait-a-WHILE-to-Upgrade Center." But, all
things considered, the wait wasn't too bad (it was less than the wait on
hold with AT&T WorldNet!), and while I was there I noticed a display
giving away CDs to the new Prodigy Internet with IE 4.0*. I sort of
liked the original release of Prodigy Internet, and I'll confess I never
checked out the IE 3.0 version of Prodigy Internet. So, I took the
disk.
Later, while I was thinking about it, I added a task to the Outlook 98
beta to actually install and try out the software. And with the
constant reminder, ultimately I got around to it. And you know what? I
liked it. I think Prodigy Internet is elegant in its simplicity. It's
not the flashiest service I've used and it's not the prettiest, but in
terms of getting me immediately to information that matters to me, it's
very simple.
There are the top news headlines in a scrolling Java applet (which does
slow down the page-loading a little), and I can click a headline or even
play a brief audio update from AP news right from the Prodigy Internet
home page. Links to local weather, movies and restaurants are only ONE
click away. Even with the forthcoming version of AOL (currently in
beta), getting to local weather is a minimum of THREE clicks or
keystrokes. If I put local weather on the new tool bar, I can click it
as soon as I sign on. But then I have to enter my ZIP code (WHICH AOL
ALREADY KNOWS!), hit enter, and select White Plains (WHICH IS THE ONLY
OPTION GIVEN FOR MY ZIP CODE, SO WHY NOT GO DIRECTLY THERE?).
I don't mean to sound like a crank about this (though there's an
argument to be made that it's an unavoidable part of my genetic
makeup). But making things easier and faster IS important. If you
don't think the difference between one and three keystrokes is
meaningful, you're missing the big picture.
I found it humorous that Prodigy Internet has an AOL refugee center
(this is amusing because when AOL began to spank Prodigy back at the
time Prodigy moved AWAY from flat-fee, AOL started a Prodigy refugee
center). I suspect there are more ex-Prodigy folks on AOL than vice
versa, but if I had to pick between the two, unless I was just a
die-hard chat fanatic or there was some particular "ONLY ON AOL" content
I had to have, I'd go with Prodigy Internet and download AOL's Instant
Messenger so I could still harass all my old AOL buds in real time!
Prodigy Internet does have chat and instant messaging, but it isn't as
seamlessly integrated, nor does it have the user base to draw from.
The new Prodigy Internet software leverages Microsoft's Outlook Express
as its e-mail and news client, so you have built-in HTML e-mail as soon
as you install. AOL *will* have this, but Prodigy has it NOW. The
connectivity is pretty good (judging by just over a week of usage), and
e-mail works well. Access to the Web at large seemed as good as with
other ISPs I use. If connectivity, e-mail and Web access are what
you're after, and you aren't happy with what you have, I'd say give it a
look.
In a recent PC World survey of ISPs, Prodigy Internet ranked only fair
(its one con was the lack of ISDN support, which may become an issue for
me soon). The best overall ISP was something of a surprise to me -- IBM
Internet Connection. We tend not to think much about IBM when thinking
of consumer Internet services, so -- way to go, IBM! Bringing up the
rear as the poorest of the 12 national services ranked was America
Online. Major complaints against AOL were system slowness, lack of
response from customer support and loads o' junk e-mail.
In ranked order from the press release:
Best Overall:
1. IBM Internet Connection
Pro: Fast access, easy setup, good support;
Con: Uninspired site, no personal Web pages.
Good Overall:
2. Concentric Network
Pro: Fast, easy to use, good support;
Con: No ISDN connections.
3. EarthLink Network
Pro: Fun to use, ISDN and 56-kilobit-per-second support;
Con: Slow with Web pages, $25 start-up fee.
4. MindSpring
Pro: Great software, excellent service;
Con: Blacked out in areas, $25 start-up fee.
5. Sprint Internet Passport
Pro: Fast, nice chat rooms, good support;
Con: No personal Web pages, no 56K access.
Fair Overall:
6. AT&T WorldNet
Pro: Reliable, good Web access;
Con: Limited 56K access, no free Web pages.
7. CompuServe
Pro: Great forums, prompt e-mail support;
Con: Uneven performance, poor phone support.
8. Prodigy Internet
Pro: Loads of content, great performance;
Con: No ISDN support.
Poor:
9. MCI Internet
Pro: Comes with PointCast software;
Con: No personal Web pages, bad service.
10. Microsoft Network
Pro: Good connections, ISDN access;
Con: No personal Web pages, bad support.
11. Netcom
Pro: ISDN and 56K access;
Con: Long hold times, $25 start-up fee.
Worst:
12. America Online
Pro: Very easy to use, original content;
Con: Slow, unresponsive support, spam city.
*Note: There's a new version of Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 (IE 4.01)
now available at: < http://www.microsoft.com/ie/ >. While it's billed
by Microsoft mainly as an upgrade that adds the accessibility features
for users with disabilities that were in IE 3 but that didn't make the
first version of IE 4, the upgrade also has some bug fixes for problems
that affected certain systems (Compaq Presario, for one). As of this
writing, I haven't yet installed the upgrade.
Stock Watch for the Week Ended Dec. 5, 1997
===========================================
Unfortunately, at press time, I hadn't received my weekend wrap-up
(Closing Bell from InfoBeat) of quotes. If you're really interested
in this section and don't want to depend on me, go directly to the
source at < http://www.infobeat.com > and you can get the information
on a daily basis and/or the weekly wrap-up.
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Seidman's Online Insider - Vol. 4, Issue 42
Visit the Online Insider on the Web < http://www.onlineinsider.com >
============================================================================
Copyright (C) 1997 Robert Seidman. All rights reserved. May be
reproduced in any medium for noncommercial purposes as long as
attribution is given.
IN THIS ISSUE
- Editor's Note
- New Side Rant, New Name!
- What's Happening in Insider Talk?
- Cancellation Day
- AOL to Use Microsoft's Outlook Express
- Prodigy Internet With IE 4.0
- Stock Watch
- Subscription Info
Editor's Note
=============
Well, I couldn't take life at 28.8 any longer. My phone lines won't
accommodate x2 or K56flex (and even though there will now be a 56K modem
standard soon, my phone lines aren't likely to accommodate it either), my
cable provider doesn't offer cable modem service here yet, and I'm not
somewhere where I can put up a satellite dish and take advantage of
DirecPC via direct broadcast satellite. So, I broke down and called Bell
Atlantic (you may remember it bought NYNEX) to set up ISDN. It isn't a
done deal (I may not be able to get the service). But I'll keep you
posted. Whatever the case, I hope my experiences aren't similar to
Dilbert's the week of Nov. 24 (which you can view at
< http://www.dilbert.com >).
Internet World is coming up. Hope to see some of you there! I've got
several meetings scheduled I'm excited about. I'll finally get to meet
with the Netscape Web site team face-to-face, and maybe that will help
me to better understand how Netscape utilizes the home page and how
NetCenter has been designed. I'm trying to keep an open mind, but I
still don't get it!
New Side Rant, New Name!
========================
I've changed the name of "Side Rant" to "SideTrack". I guess I just
didn't find myself wanting to "rant" on a regular basis. So, hopefully
the SideTracks will appear pretty regularly every couple of weeks.
You'll want to check out this week's SideTrack that examines a couple
of recent AOL content exclusives and why these exclusives probably
have a lot more to do with the nature of the Web than the nature
of AOL. You can read it here:
< http://www.onlineinsider.com/html/sidetrack.html >
What's Happening in Insider Talk?
=================================
Thoughts on protecting the children, online summits, and more:
< http://www.wellengaged.com/engaged/seidman.cgi?&c=policy&t=11 >
Will the WorldCom-MCI combo cause Internet rate hikes? Find out what
Dennis J. Crane, former president of America Online's ANS subsidiary,
thinks at:
<http://www.wellengaged.com/engaged/seidman.cgi?c=infrastructure&t=16&q=4>.
This week's post of the week comes from Online Entertainment consultant
Jessica Mulligan, who has lots of online community experience, some of
which is shared at:
< http://www.wellengaged.com/engaged/seidman.cgi?c=online&t=13&q=80 >.
Cancellation Day
================
Well, I'll be the first to admit that managing my money is not my
strength. Instead, I've striven to earn enough not to have to worry
about how lackluster my performance is in this area. But, as funds
deplete, one tends to begin looking at things differently. And so it
was with this month's examination of the bills.
While some online services are provided to me on a complimentary basis,
I pay for a great many of them (I pay for both my current ISP AND my old
ISP; it will be a while before people stop sending mail to
robert@clark.net). Anyway, in the course of the past year or so, I
wound up paying for stuff I never used and never got around to
canceling. Among such services were an extra Microsoft Network account
I'd set up and used once (I still have an MSN account -- it makes a
great backup ISP!), AT&T WorldNet (nothing personal, but how many ISPs
does one guy need?) and a subscription to CBS SportsLine (formerly
SportsLine USA) that I signed up for during a trial offer and never
canceled.
So, I called MSN and made it to an "automated cancellation" processor
fairly quickly. This approach worked very well for me because it just
so happened I was looking at the credit card bill. But I have several
credit cards that I might have opened an account with, and if I was
calling to cancel and didn't have the bill in hand, this method wouldn't
have worked. Overall, I'm not sure the account is really canceled (how
much can I trust a computer?), but I guess I'll know within a bill or
two.
Next I called CBS SportsLine. Within a couple of minutes I was speaking
with a REAL person, who graciously canceled my account.
Then came AT&T WorldNet. The first time I tried, I waited more than
half an hour and finally gave up. I tried again, vowing that no matter
how long it took, I was going to wait it out. It took about 30 minutes.
It took me 20 minutes to get a live person who said she couldn't cancel
my account directly and would have to transfer me to someone who could.
I was aghast! After waiting 20 minutes (actually more than 50 minutes,
if you count the call I gave up on) to get a person, the last thing I
wanted to do was get transferred into another queue where I'd have to
wait even more! "It should be less than a minute," the WorldNet
representative told me. About all the waiting, she said, "It could've
been avoided if you'd dialed the cancellation number directly." Hey, I
dialed the only number I had and I pressed the sequence of keys I
THOUGHT would lead me to someone who would cancel my account. "Maybe
you could've played the number I SHOULD'VE DIALED while I was waiting to
speak to someone," I retaliated.
In any event, it was all pretty painless, took less than an hour and
saved me more than $30 a month!
AOL to Use Microsoft's Outlook Express
======================================
On Monday, America Online announced it will integrate Microsoft's
Outlook Express e-mail package technologies, including HTML
capabilities, into its own e-mail client. The AOL news release said the
technologies would become "available to many AOL users in the first half
of 1998." I would've asked exactly what "available to many AOL users"
means, but I have a really good idea it means AOL customers who use the
Windows 95 version of AOL or who will download or otherwise install the
forthcoming AOL 4.0 version for Windows 95.
Now, I'll grant that I've been badgering AOL for HTML e-mail for some
time, but I was still amused to get several e-mails from people praising
me for predicting correctly that AOL ultimately would have to add HTML
e-mail. It's amusing only because that wasn't exactly an out-on-a-limb
prediction. AOL ultimately needs to have HTML e-mail in the same way
that crops ultimately need rain.
I'll work on getting numbers to show how many of AOL's 10 million-plus
subscribers are using the Win 95 version of AOL. I'm guessing, based on
the verbiage in AOL's news release, that the answer will be less than
half of its subscribers. If AOL had said "most AOL users," it would be a
different story. It will be interesting to get a read on how many AOL
users are on the Windows 95 platform but using the 16-bit version of AOL
vs. how many AOL subscribers are still using Windows 3.1.
Just how many folks are on the Windows 95 version of AOL will tell the
tale of how meaningful this news is for either Microsoft or AOL. If it
were all 10 million users, it would be a great story for AOL and a GREAT
story for Microsoft. At 5 million users, it would be a good story for
AOL and a great story for Microsoft. At 3 million users it would be a
so-so story for AOL and a nice story for Microsoft, and so on. I'll let
you know what I find out.
I think this is actually better for Microsoft the company and AOL
subscribers than it is for AOL the company, though it's not necessarily
bad for AOL either. Precisely how the Outlook Express technologies will
be integrated will be interesting. My guess is that AOL isn't just
going to plop Outlook Express into its system -- though it would be
great if it did. If you're an active e-mail user on AOL, there are some
real barriers to switching to another service. First, there's the issue
of your e-mail address. For some of you, this isn't just an issue of
not wanting to tell the people you correspond with that you have a new
address. For some of you, it's an issue of money that's been invested
in business cards and other stationery imprinted with your AOL ID. But
even if you can get around that issue, there's still the issue of the
mail itself (if you keep it around in offline filing cabinets via the
AOL software) and, more important, your address book.
Microsoft did a VERY smart thing with Outlook Express. It included the
ability to import your address book and e-mail folders from popular
software such as Eudora and Netscape. One of the nice things about using
products like Outlook Express, Eudora and Netscape's messenger is that
they're not ISP-dependent. In other words, I can change ISPs tomorrow,
and with the exception of having a new e-mail address, I wouldn't have
to change a thing other than what servers my e-mail program points to
for sending and receiving mail. Everything else stays the same --
address book, filters, e-mail and mail folders. You can't do any of
that today on AOL, and if I'm AOL, it doesn't really bother me so much
that my subscribers have barriers to switching. This is why I'll be
surprised if AOL essentially takes Outlook Express and plops it into its
system, because this would potentially give AOL subscribers the option
to switch services but take their address books, etc., with them.
Why would AOL want to let its users do that?!? :-)
As this "technology" is enabled AOL-wide, it will be a huge bonus not
just for AOL members, but also for people trying to reach AOL members.
No, I'm not talking about spam. I'm talking about how much better
CNET's Digital Dispatch looks in HTML than it does in text. The same is
true for newsletters from CMP Media and Ziff-Davis and IDG and lots of
other companies. And it's also good for companies such as InfoBeat,
whose products just work better in HTML than in plain text.
Prodigy Internet With IE 4.0
============================
So, there I was at CompUSA. I found myself reminiscing about the days
when I lived within a mile of CompUSA, Egghead Software and Computer
City (and AOL, for that matter). Those days are gone, and from the
perspective of my bank account, it's really for the best. But I was
there to upgrade to the new 3Com PalmPilot Professional. A little treat
for myself that I rationalized by saying, "OK, combined with the power
of the Outlook 98 beta, you'll use this Pilot MORE than the old Pilot
and you'll be extremely well-organized!" Nonsense, of course. I just
wanted the newer toy. But, hey, what can you do? Truth is, though,
over the past month or so, with the help of Outlook 98, I HAVE been
extremely organized.
Now, at CompUSA, the Pilots and stuff like that are at the "Upgrade
Center." If you're familiar with CompUSA and your CompUSA is anything
like mine, the Upgrade Center ought to be dubbed the
"You-Shoulda-Brought-a-Magazine, You-Idiot,
Cuz-You're-Gonna-Have-to-Wait-a-WHILE-to-Upgrade Center." But, all
things considered, the wait wasn't too bad (it was less than the wait on
hold with AT&T WorldNet!), and while I was there I noticed a display
giving away CDs to the new Prodigy Internet with IE 4.0*. I sort of
liked the original release of Prodigy Internet, and I'll confess I never
checked out the IE 3.0 version of Prodigy Internet. So, I took the
disk.
Later, while I was thinking about it, I added a task to the Outlook 98
beta to actually install and try out the software. And with the
constant reminder, ultimately I got around to it. And you know what? I
liked it. I think Prodigy Internet is elegant in its simplicity. It's
not the flashiest service I've used and it's not the prettiest, but in
terms of getting me immediately to information that matters to me, it's
very simple.
There are the top news headlines in a scrolling Java applet (which does
slow down the page-loading a little), and I can click a headline or even
play a brief audio update from AP news right from the Prodigy Internet
home page. Links to local weather, movies and restaurants are only ONE
click away. Even with the forthcoming version of AOL (currently in
beta), getting to local weather is a minimum of THREE clicks or
keystrokes. If I put local weather on the new tool bar, I can click it
as soon as I sign on. But then I have to enter my ZIP code (WHICH AOL
ALREADY KNOWS!), hit enter, and select White Plains (WHICH IS THE ONLY
OPTION GIVEN FOR MY ZIP CODE, SO WHY NOT GO DIRECTLY THERE?).
I don't mean to sound like a crank about this (though there's an
argument to be made that it's an unavoidable part of my genetic
makeup). But making things easier and faster IS important. If you
don't think the difference between one and three keystrokes is
meaningful, you're missing the big picture.
I found it humorous that Prodigy Internet has an AOL refugee center
(this is amusing because when AOL began to spank Prodigy back at the
time Prodigy moved AWAY from flat-fee, AOL started a Prodigy refugee
center). I suspect there are more ex-Prodigy folks on AOL than vice
versa, but if I had to pick between the two, unless I was just a
die-hard chat fanatic or there was some particular "ONLY ON AOL" content
I had to have, I'd go with Prodigy Internet and download AOL's Instant
Messenger so I could still harass all my old AOL buds in real time!
Prodigy Internet does have chat and instant messaging, but it isn't as
seamlessly integrated, nor does it have the user base to draw from.
The new Prodigy Internet software leverages Microsoft's Outlook Express
as its e-mail and news client, so you have built-in HTML e-mail as soon
as you install. AOL *will* have this, but Prodigy has it NOW. The
connectivity is pretty good (judging by just over a week of usage), and
e-mail works well. Access to the Web at large seemed as good as with
other ISPs I use. If connectivity, e-mail and Web access are what
you're after, and you aren't happy with what you have, I'd say give it a
look.
In a recent PC World survey of ISPs, Prodigy Internet ranked only fair
(its one con was the lack of ISDN support, which may become an issue for
me soon). The best overall ISP was something of a surprise to me -- IBM
Internet Connection. We tend not to think much about IBM when thinking
of consumer Internet services, so -- way to go, IBM! Bringing up the
rear as the poorest of the 12 national services ranked was America
Online. Major complaints against AOL were system slowness, lack of
response from customer support and loads o' junk e-mail.
In ranked order from the press release:
Best Overall:
1. IBM Internet Connection
Pro: Fast access, easy setup, good support;
Con: Uninspired site, no personal Web pages.
Good Overall:
2. Concentric Network
Pro: Fast, easy to use, good support;
Con: No ISDN connections.
3. EarthLink Network
Pro: Fun to use, ISDN and 56-kilobit-per-second support;
Con: Slow with Web pages, $25 start-up fee.
4. MindSpring
Pro: Great software, excellent service;
Con: Blacked out in areas, $25 start-up fee.
5. Sprint Internet Passport
Pro: Fast, nice chat rooms, good support;
Con: No personal Web pages, no 56K access.
Fair Overall:
6. AT&T WorldNet
Pro: Reliable, good Web access;
Con: Limited 56K access, no free Web pages.
7. CompuServe
Pro: Great forums, prompt e-mail support;
Con: Uneven performance, poor phone support.
8. Prodigy Internet
Pro: Loads of content, great performance;
Con: No ISDN support.
Poor:
9. MCI Internet
Pro: Comes with PointCast software;
Con: No personal Web pages, bad service.
10. Microsoft Network
Pro: Good connections, ISDN access;
Con: No personal Web pages, bad support.
11. Netcom
Pro: ISDN and 56K access;
Con: Long hold times, $25 start-up fee.
Worst:
12. America Online
Pro: Very easy to use, original content;
Con: Slow, unresponsive support, spam city.
*Note: There's a new version of Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 (IE 4.01)
now available at: < http://www.microsoft.com/ie/ >. While it's billed
by Microsoft mainly as an upgrade that adds the accessibility features
for users with disabilities that were in IE 3 but that didn't make the
first version of IE 4, the upgrade also has some bug fixes for problems
that affected certain systems (Compaq Presario, for one). As of this
writing, I haven't yet installed the upgrade.
Stock Watch for the Week Ended Dec. 5, 1997
===========================================
Unfortunately, at press time, I hadn't received my weekend wrap-up
(Closing Bell from InfoBeat) of quotes. If you're really interested
in this section and don't want to depend on me, go directly to the
source at < http://www.infobeat.com > and you can get the information
on a daily basis and/or the weekly wrap-up.
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