CompuServe 6.0: It Comes from a Good Family

Checking out the updated version of Compuserve in a wired world dominated by America Online reminds me of a favorite movie, Twins, starring Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Their obvious physical differences are the running gag. But as the movie develops, we begin to realize how similar they really are, and how much more alike they become every day.

The differences between CompuServe 2000 and its big brother America Online are largely cosmetic--and temporary, too. The just-released 6.0 versions of both services' clients are matching outfits that differ only because AOL 6.0 must stretch over the 26-million-member AOL service. You can still find a few more program features and connection alternatives in AOL 6.0 than in CompuServe 2000 6.0, now the so-called value service of AOL. But this pair was obviously fished out of the same gene pool, and it is headed for Frick-and-Frackhood.

That should be good news to you 3 million CompuServe members, because that means your e-mail/ISP/Internet utility is being pumped up to look just like the biggest, baddest boy on the Internet. No other plain vanilla ISP or e-mail/ISP/Internet utility--no EarthLink or MSN--has been able to duplicate AOL's formula of extreme ease of use and convenient, reliable access or generate even a fifth of its membership. Whatever it is that Internet users like, AOL has figured it out and is cloning it with CompuServe.

An Evolution for New Users

CompuServe is one of the oldest online services, and it has some longstanding members (like me). But most of the million and a half people who have signed up for CompuServe over the past 18 months did so because they got a $400 cash rebate on a new PC, says Bob Kington, CompuServe vice president of programming. They're the network's future, and they're signed up on AOL's little brother, CompuServe 2000. This update's for them.

So, what about CompuServe 2000 6.0? It ain't half bad. I like it, although I'm not 100 percent sure why. The new stuff is tweaks. It looks like the developrs pasted the new feature list from AOL 6.0 right into the CompuServe 2000 6.0 menu.

Most of the real improvements strengthen existing features of the network. For example, what I like the most about CompuServe 2000 is that it just works. It's solid, it's fast, and when you dial in, you get an answer every time. My other ISPs? Very spotty. But CompuServe 2000 uses the same network as AOL, with thousands of local access numbers and roughly 50,000 new modem ports being added monthly.

Like AOL 6.0, CompuServe 6.0 now accepts highly graphical HTML Web pages in messages and pops up the RealNetworks media player for music and videos. And of course, CompuServe Instant Messenger hooks into AIM, with the same AIM-style emoticons and other trivialities. The real payoff is that you can hook up with your AIM buddies--although not orphans of MSN and other competing messaging services (yet).