Sam,
Perhaps a little further explanation on access to Compuserve would be
appropriate. Compuserve started out as a bulletin board service (BBS) which
was accessible using *any* communications program as everything on Compuserve
was pure text and *fast*. . It developed into the most diverse BBS of all of
its competitors with a multitude of fora. E-mail could be exchanged only
between Compuserve subscribers and there was no access to the Internet.
Subscribers to the service were assigned prisoner type "User ID" numbers.
Like many others, I used ProComm to access Compuserve.
As windoze entered the scene, Compuserve started going to a graphical
interface called HMI. You could still use a communication program to access
Compuserve, but the fora that went to (were pressured to change to) the
graphical HMI interface were no longer accessible to communication programs.
Compuserve brought out a couple of programs, DOSCIM and WINCIM (DOS/Windows
Compuserve Information Manager) which could be used to access the fora with
HMI graphics. The last version of DOSCIM was, 2.6 (which, I think is still
available). From then on, Compuserve programs were strictly windoze
programs. You still could/can access Compuserve using any communications
program, however, forum access was/is very limited.
At the present time, I can still access Compuserve by using ProComm, but
there are very few fora available. Billing information is available, as well
as dial-up access numbers, but most of the fora have changed to a relay to
the internet.
AOL, which was a very poor, distant cousin of Compuserve in the BBS area
started flooding the country with floppies that had programs that would
permit easy access to AOL and people started loading these and subscribing to
AOL ala the Gilette Safety Razor technique --- give away the razor and make
money selling the blades. Compuserve ignored this activity by AOL as
Compuserve *was* the premier BBS with more fora and subscribers than all the
other BBSes combined. When Compuserve finally realized what was happening,
it was too late.
At one point, Compuserve announced that existing users could register *real*
names and could use either the real name or the user ID number. I registered
a *real* name, but when the conversion took place, it was announced that you
could use the real name only if you committed to an HMI interface. That I
declined to do, hence, I am known as 73527,1356 on Compuserve.
Classic Compuserve, as far as I know, will permit you to access Compuserve
using either a communications program, DOS/WINCIM or any of the subsequent
Compuserve programs, although I don't know about Compuserve 2000. I also
believe that there are several payment plans. Information on them should be
available via the internet (www.compuserve.com "GO RATES"). IIRC, the basic
difference in the rates is the number of "free" hours that can be used, with
additional minutes charged additionally. Before I went to the flat rate plan
(unlimited hours) and was just getting onto the internet, I had a couple of
months when my Compuserve bill was in excess of $150.
Hope that this provides you with additional answers.
Roger Turk
Tucson, Arizona USA
Sam Heywood wrote:
. > Just for the sake of curiosity, can one who has "Compuserve Classic"
. > also use Compuserve 2000 or Compuserve 4.XXXX or greater for no extra
. > charge? Do all the access numbers for Compuserve 2000 and Compuserve
. > 4.XXX or greater also work for Compuserve Classic?
