nelson_p@apollo.HP.COM (Peter Nelson) (07/31/89)
In 1980 I had an account on Compuserve for about 6 months
and didn't find much worthwhile on it. You could have
have lots of conversations and debates with people, sort
of like Usenet only you have to pay. And for a fee you
could get stock quotes and make airline reservations but
I can do these things for free through my broker or my
travel agent. They had a weak encyclopedia with no pictures,
charts or maps.
It's been nine years now and there are a lot more services
out there and I've wondered if things have improved.
How many net.readers have accounts with dial-up services and
how often do you use them? What do you use them for?
Are they worth the expense?
A lot of people say they download software. What kind of software?
In what form? Generally, I have little interest in games or
recreational software. If the software in question is a major
tool then I generally prefer to buy commercial, well-documented,
well-supported software, with a phone number I can call if I have
problems or questions and some means of getting product upgrades.
"Black box" or public domain or orphan software does not interest
me.
The other category of software I'm interested in is source-code
(in 'c') fragments that I can incorporate into my own programs.
Is there much of this? Is it organized or indexed in a useful way?
I have a lot of other hobbies such as photography and ham radio
but there are already discussion groups on Usenet for these, and
even then I don't find them too useful.
What do people actually use these dial-up services for?
---Peter
g-tookey@rocky.cs.wisc.edu. (Richard Schaut) (07/31/89)
In article <44bbdc16.c9b9@apollo.HP.COM> nelson_p@apollo.HP.COM (Peter Nelson) writes: > How many net.readers have accounts with dial-up services and > how often do you use them? What do you use them for? > Are they worth the expense? I subscribe to CIS for one reason: Borland's programming forums. If you're not using Borland's products, you can get good advice elsewhere, but the support I've gotten in that forum has been outstanding and well worth the connect charges. Rick Please send e-mail to: schaut@madnix.UUCP ArpaNet: madnix!schaut@cs.wisc.edu UseNet: ...uwvax!astroatc!nicmad!madnix!schaut {decvax!att}! Madison: an alternative to reality I am posting this through a friend's account. His consent to my use of his account in no way implies his consent to responsibility for the opinions expressed herein.
gcook@cps3xx.UUCP (Greg Cook) (08/01/89)
> In what form? Generally, I have little interest in games or > recreational software. If the software in question is a major I usually download the small utilities that make life with MS-DOS easy. There are hundreds of them from printing utilities, to disk utilities, to calendar programs, etc. etc. etc. The software is usually compressed using the common BBS compression programs such as ZIP, ARC, PAK. The unzippers/unarcers/unpakers are readily available on BBS's. BTW, I don't use the BBS's that charge, i usually call the hundreds of private, local BBS's that are absolutely free. I would look into the Boards in your local area (no telephone tolls). They can be very useful. ========================================================================= Greg Cook All good things come through chemistry! gcook@horus.cem.msu.edu cook@frith.egr.msu.edu
leonard@bucket.UUCP (Leonard Erickson) (08/05/89)
I use Compuserve mainly to access the Forums for various software vendors. No playing telephone tag, and frequently (as on the net) a user will come up with a suggestion before the customer service people can. A few of the companies we deal with this way: Borland, Lotus Ashton-Tate Wordstar Novell Microsoft -- Leonard Erickson ...!tektronix!reed!percival!bucket!leonard CIS: [70465,203] "I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let's start with typewriters." -- Solomon Short