On Sun, 24 Dec 2000, Thomas Mueller wrote:
> > Compuserve doesn't require you to use their software.
> >I had a Compuserve account that I accessed only with Linux...
> >(hey, how can you beat 43,000+ minutes a month for $20?)
> >and there are those on this list who access it with Arachne.
> >
> > AFAIK, you do need proprietary ware for the rest.
>
> I remember Compuserve used Javascript in their forum interface, and forum
> messages were accessible only through Javascript.
JavaScript isn't "proprietary" in the sense that it's limited
to a single program, or even a single OS. Even though JS was
developed by Netscape, any browser developer can add JS support
without having to pay a license fee.
That's not to say I'm a JS advocate. I hate the way many people
use it on their pages.
> So how do people get full access to Compuserve with Arachne?
Use Delphi forums instead? ;-)
(Though Delphi is using JS for many of its bells and whistles,
they haven't broken the message boards for non-JS browsers so far.)
> Or do they use Compuserve mainly as an ISP?
When I used Compuserve, it was purely as an ISP. I was running
servers at the time, and my local ISP got peeved that I racked up
500 hours in a month. He said that "unlimited dial-up" account
wasn't for unlimited USAGE and that I needed to buy a "heavy usage"
account, @ $100/month, or be canceled.
Someone on the Unix forum... or maybe it was here... informed me
of Compuserve's ~44,000 minute monthly limit, so I ran out and
signed up before my local ISP canceled me (which they never did).
In no time at all, I was getting tons of junk mail, even without
ever having posted on a forum, newsgroup, or anywhere at all using
my new compuserve id. Either their member list is publicly
available, or their security is extremely lax.
I do plan on getting another such account when we get back to
civilization, (in less than two months now) but I'll just never
bother with their e-mail.
- Steve
