RLWALD@pucc.Princeton.EDU (Robert L. Wald) (08/06/88)
some input as to which one was most worthwhile. (This is cross-posted to
the groups I normally read because I figure we would have some similar
priorities). Like Compuserve, GEnie, ... Which is cheapest or has the
best service? Please E-Mail any responses. Thanks.
-Rob Wald Bitnet: RLWALD@PUCC.BITNET
Uucp: {ihnp4|allegra}!psuvax1!PUCC.BITNET!RLWALD
Arpa: RLWALD@PUCC.Princeton.Edu
"This is MY universe and I'm SICK of people BARGING IN!"Nightstalker@cup.portal.com (08/07/88)
The best computer info service??? Good question. Just to make it easy (and because I presume it's between these two), I'll keep it with only CI$ and GEnie. Both have pros and cons. CI$ has a good comics forum, and has many pros on it (Chris Claremont, Walt Simonson, Steve Grant, Mark Evanier, Dan Mishkin, Marv Wolfman, and Len Wien come immediately to mind) that you can talk to, ask questions of, and carry on conversations with (in the conference area (real-time conferencing)). Unfortunately, CI$ costs an arm an' a leg ($6.00 per hour at 300 baud, $12.00 per hour at 1200 baud. I'm not sure what 2400 baud is, but I think it's higher. This price list is 24-hour. They got rid of primetime/non_primetime). Further, CI$ has other online services: Electronic shopping, many other online forums, online games (even multi-player games), and many other services (very few of which I ever used). GEnie, on the otherhand, doesn't have as good a RoundTable (not as many pros on it last time I looked), but is much cheaper ($5.00 per hour at either 300 baud or 1200 baud from 6pm 'til 7 or 8am the next morning, all day on weekends) It's not as big (read: Not as many services) as CI$, but is a very good info service in it's own right. It's escpecially got a better MacIntosh download section. My advice? Well, I suggest that you buy one of those kits for CI$ that can be found in most bookstores (this will give you some free time on the system). If you dislike it, cancel the service (the kit's are about $30.00). I suggest the same for GEnie, but I'm not sure if they have those. NS
drc@claris.UUCP (Dennis Cohen) (08/08/88)
In article <7926@cup.portal.com> Nightstalker@cup.portal.com writes: > >Unfortunately, CI$ costs an arm an' a leg ($6.00 per hour at 300 baud, $12.00 >per hour at 1200 baud. I'm not sure what 2400 baud is, but I think it's >higher. This price list is 24-hour. They got rid of primetime/non_primetime). 2400 baud is the same price as 1200 baud (12.50 / hr, not $12). There are more access nodes for CI$ than for GEnie that are local calls and a lot more 2400 nodes. I disagree that GEnie has more/better download area. It is just more consolidated, being in only two RTs while CI$ is spread across at least six (plus special Forums such as THINK for LSP/LSC stuff and BORPRO for Turbo). GEnie does have a number of files available that cannot be found on CI$, but the reverse is also true (and to a greater extent). Another advantage to the CI$ user is the availability of CIS Navigator as a comm package which takes advantage of the fast binary download capability (CIS-QuickB?) that just about doubles XMODEM-CRC throughput. Dennis Cohen Claris Corp. ------------ Disclaimer: Opinions expressed above are _MINE_!
jwhitnell@cup.portal.com (08/09/88)
Dennis Cohen writes... | | Another advantage to the |CI$ user is the availability of CIS Navigator as a comm package which takes |advantage of the fast binary download capability (CIS-QuickB?) that just about |doubles XMODEM-CRC throughput. This is an important feature of Compuserve. With QuickB and Navigator, I often average 220 to 230+ characters per second download on a 2400 baud modem. You can also logon, collect your mail and forum messages and logoff and then read and reply at your leaisure. Compuserve w/ Navigator at 2400 baud is probably as good, if not better, deal as Genie at 1200 baud. Jerry Whitnell -- Jerry Whitnell jwhitnell@cup.portal.com ..!sun!cup.portal.com!jwhitnell
manis@faculty.cs.ubc.ca.UUCP (08/11/88)
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chuq@plaid.Sun.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) (08/11/88)
> The best computer info service??? Good question. Yeah. Frank Catalano and I wrote on it a few months ago in Macintosh Horizons. Mazazine has also written about it. There's been at least one other magazine article about it, but I don't remember who did it offhand (MacWorld? Publish?) >I'll keep it with only CI$ >and GEnie. Both have pros and cons. I'll chime in a bit about Delphi, also. A LOT of it depends on what you want. I use four different timesharing services: CIS, Delphi, USENET and GENie, with the amount of time spent on each being in about that order (CIS and Delphi are about the same. I'm currently co-running a writer's workshop on CompuServe in the Sci-Fi SIG, and that takes up a fair amount of time). What do I use them for? Here's a quick list: CIS: Sci-Fi SIG Litforum (writers/editors SIG) Appdev (CE Software & Acius/4D support) Aldus SIG (Freehand support) Ashton-Tate SIG (Fullwrite support) Delphi: Science Fiction group Writer's group Icontact (Macintosh Support) USENET: Macintosh Support SF-Lovers rec.arts.comics GENie: Red Ryder 'support' (big quotes on that one...) Letraset support (Ready, Set, Go!) Macintosh libraries For macintosh stuff, my preference is USENET (it's the only thing on USENET I think still, generally, works. That and the comics group). If it didn't exist, I'd be on Delphi for it. The best/cheapest libraries are definitely on GENie, but I find the mac group on GENie disappointing, and the RoundTable software sucks, so I avoid using GENie as much as possible except for downloading. I've completely given up on the CIS Macintosh stuff except for a few specific vendor support groups because it's too large, too noisy, and has an even worse signal-to-noise ratio than USENET does. For comics, I use USENET. I probably ought to hook up over on CIS, too -- it DOES have a good group. The comics groups on GENie and Delphi are essentially non-existant. Dr Who: Pretty good on CompuServe. Non-existant on Delphi. I don't know about GENie, but their entire SF SIG is pretty boring, and I gave up on it weeks ago. I don't see that it would change for Dr. Who related stuff. GENie's main advantage is it's cheap. The software is horrible. It uses half duplex on the modem lines, doesn't allow type-ahead and drives me crazy. I wrote better BBS software than that on a Cyber in college years ago. The only reason to use GENie is if you can't afford a real timesharing service (and for the Macintosh libraries, where the interface isn't around enough to bother you). Delphi's advantage is that it's as cheap (or cheaper) than GENie. it's disadvantage is that it isn't as well known, so it's smaller and less complete -- which becomes a real advantage if what you want to do is sit down and talk with folks and get to know them. Amongst the SF folks on Delphi are myself, jack chalker, pat cadigan, dean r. lambe, joel rosenberg, joel davis, susan casper, mike banks (the sysop) and a number I'm sure will be mad at me for forgetting them. On an irregular basis, you'll see folks like Orson Scott Card and Frank Catalano on it. CompuServe is the big brother of all of this. It's also more expensive, but with things like Navigator and some judicious topic pruning, you can usually keep the bills under control. Regulars in the SF Sig include Mel. White, David Gerrold, Mike Resnick, Ray Feist, John Stith and a host of others. If I had to limit myself to a single service, it would be a tossup between Delphi and Compuserve. If I was budget limited, it'd be Delphi. I may well drop my GENie account soon -- I'm just not getting anything out of it except the Letraset support, which I don't really need. The Red Ryder 'support' is ludicrous, and I'm beginning to think that 'upgrading' to Red Ryder was a mistake -- so if/when that program goes, so will GENie. Notes: I'm involved with the SF SIG's on both CompuServe and Delphi, and the Mac SIG on Delphi, so I'm not completely an impartial observer. But the limit of my involvement is that they don't make me pay for the time I spend in those SIGs, so the time savings aren't enough to make me sell my soul or anything. Honest. -- Chuq Von Rospach chuq@sun.COM Delphi: CHUQ I don't work for no 'Toon!