JAZBO%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (James H. Coombs) (08/17/86)
I have been participating in the BIX conferences for about a month now and am finding it quite valuable. BIX provides an excellent "microbytes" conference of news, and a number of vendors provide on-line support, including MicroSoft and Lattice. There are others as well, but I don't follow them. So, if you are having trouble getting the attention of some of these big companies, you might find that BIX helps solve that problem. You might also appreciate the bug reports and fixes. Lattice, for instance, just announced a major bug in the latest version of their C compiler (3.01?). [Sorry, I don't use Lattice, so I didn't record the information.] If you are concerned about the cost ($11 an hour with Tymnet charges), be reassured that you can keep them down by being selective about the conferences that you join and by doing your reading and writing off line. Use a ProComm script, for example, to get all of the new postings in just a few minutes. Write responses off line and upload them into the editor when you are ready to post them. Also, if you are only mildly interested in a conference, follow the digest and read only those messages that are of interest to you. Finally, don't upload or download files. These procedures keep my billable time down to about five minutes a day, and I expect to get it down even further. --Jim P.S. BIX information is published in each issue of Byte. Don't judge the conferences by what they publish in the "Best of BIX" though. The best of BIX for me is the recommendations and the decommendations, and you know that Byte can't afford to publish those. P.P.S. I looked into CompuServe, but they started pulling a bait and switch on me. [If you want to duplicate this, just call them up with your Hayes free introductory offer in hand; they have turned those poor operators into machines. Make sure you get a full night of sleep before you do this if you want to understand what they are saying.] So, anyway, IS CompuServe worth it? Acknowledge-To: James H. Coombs <JAZBO@BROWNVM>
robj@ur-tut.UUCP (Bob Johnson) (08/20/86)
I've almost completely left CompuServe in favor of GEnie, the General Electric service. GE only charges $5/hour at 1200 baud and upload time is free, so I expect them to take some market share away from CompuServe.
lbl@druhi.UUCP (LocklearLB) (08/22/86)
In article <609@ur-tut.UUCP>, robj@ur-tut.UUCP writes: > I've almost completely left CompuServe in favor of GEnie, the > General Electric service. GE only charges $5/hour at 1200 baud > and upload time is free, so I expect them to take some market > share away from CompuServe. Just as an aside, CompuServe upload time is free also. This change in their policy occurred in the last month or so. Barry Locklear
gardner@kodak.UUCP (dick gardner) (08/25/86)
My interest in Compuserve has dwindled, too. The cost can get
out of hand very quickly.
How about giving us more information on the GE network? It sounds
like it is more affordable. How about the data? does it compare to
Compuserve? Is there a local phone number?
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Dick Gardner
Eastman Kodak Co.
Rochester, New York 14650
(716) 477-1002
UUCP: rochester!kodak!gardner
To err is human -- to really screw it up
you need a computer!
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robj@ur-tut.UUCP (Bob Johnson) (08/26/86)
Distribution:usa I tried out GENIE because they sent me a discount signup offer. The service (for me) is about the same as Compuserve since I only use the PC section. There are more articles than I can read and more programs than I would ever have time to download and try, so even if it is smaller than Compuserve it really doesn't affect me that much. GE doesn't seem to have as many flashy features (e.g. electronic banking) as of now, but I never use those things anyhow. The bottom line for me is approximately the same functionality at much lower cost; I'll probably get more information since I can afford to browse it longer.
al@infoswx.UUCP (08/30/86)
GEnie also has PC-Sabre, so you can make airline, hotel, etc. reservations.