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CompuServe 2000: AOL in a Three-Piece Suit

With its new access software, this online pioneer still isn't AOL--just a remarkable simulation.

By Mike Hogan, PCWorld   

Let's get my prejudices out on the table right up front. I'm one of those CompuServe troglodytes who had heart palpitations when America Online bought the online pioneer last year. I've blessed AOL president Steve Chase every day since for not sucking CompuServe into the vortex of time-wasting downloads that constitute AOL and many Web sites.

Steve has graciously decided not to kick old-timers out of the CompuServe cave, but he's also taking CompuServe into the sunlight with a new system built on a faster AOL network backbone and with a new interface that more closely matches popular tastes. The new CompuServe 2000 software, which should be available by month's end, is as close as you can get to AOL without actually signing up.

This approach is just good business. The CompuServe user base has withered to 2 million by focusing on guys like me, while AOL serves about as many millions every year as McDonald's and figures it will get the biggest chunk of the 17 million newbies due to come online this year.

If we can characterize past CompuServe software versions and services as primarily for business and technical frequent flyers, then CompuServe 2000 is for the Web's leisure travelers.

As with AOL, you get a hefty helping of chitchat, Clinton-Monica polls, get-rich-quick tips, and vitamin offers. But you also have access to CompuServe forums, Computer Library, Executive News Service, and other great CompuServe content.

Making a Portal Choice

In the beta version I looked at, CompuServe 2000 resembles less than ever the online utility from which it sprang and looks more than ever like a Web portal.

The main menu is broken up into little boxes--news headlines, market news on the right, channels on the left, and other stuff going on all over. In the middle of the screen is a list of links--some to CompuServe services, some to news stories, but most to ads. CompuServe 2000 could benefit hugely from the ability to customize this main page, but then you'd lose the ads.

Not So Fast

CompuServe bills this version as "faster." Uh-uh--not in the beta, anyway.

The new CompuServe network gains more points of presence with 56-kbps access, which should make the service operate faster. But with all that graphical overhead, it takes about as long for these screens to download as it does for AOL or any Web portal.

Then there are the AOL-like program updates when you try to exit--the same UTF files and warning messages that keep you captive. The first time I used CompuServe 2000, I got two downloads, the second of which took 11 minutes while I waited just to get out of the program. Then I waited for the software to update on my hard drive.

CompuServe has swept many of the familiar shortcut icons off the Menu Bar in favor of alternatives in Channels or nested within other menus. For example, the Mail Menu has become the Mail Center, which also holds your Personal Filing Cabinet. It sounds like a commonsense marriage, but it will take more steps and time to perform mail functions. And CompuServe's uniquely powerful Filing Cabinet now becomes a not-easy-to-customize tree directory in the style of--you guessed it-- AOL.

Mostly Improved Mail

CompuServe 2000 e-mail has AOL's look and most of its command options. There is no option for saving mail in different folders as you read it; you have to manage that from your Personal Filing Cabinet--just as in AOL.

Enough curmudgeoning already. On an up note, you can schedule background downloads of your e-mail and read your messages offline at your leisure. CompuServe 2000 also has spelling and grammar checkers, as well as a broader selection of fonts. You can insert pictures and other images into the body of a text message--not just attach them--and you can have multiple file attachments.

You also can have multiple family members per account. CompuServe 2000 supports up to five password-protected mailboxes and a 2MB Web page for each, which is a generous amount compared to most Internet access accounts. While the current network frequently chokes on file attachments, I sent a 400KB attachment with CompuServe 2000 lickety-split.

There are other conveniences, such as parental controls, the ability to switch among member names without disconnecting, and a new contacts list you use in conjunction with the Instant Messages feature. This is common in other consumer-oriented services that enable you to tell if a friend or relative happens to be online so you can chat with them. (This has business uses too, but not many.)

I won't be upgrading to CompuServe 2000, but I really like its look and feel (except for the ads). I wish many of its under-the-hood improvements were retroactive to the version I'll keep using.

But for new users, CompuServe 2000 will feel comfortable and will sell like the Big Mac. It gives you all you could want in an online service for the new low price of $19.95 a month or five hours for $9.95, with each additional hour $2.95.