COMPUSERVE HAS KIDS IN MIND\On-line venture to offer parents content control.Byline: Yardena Arar Daily News Staff Writer In a break from traditional on-line industry pricing, CompuServe announced plans Wednesday for a family-oriented service that will offer exclusive content and Internet access See how to access the Internet. for a flat rate of $17.95 a month. WOW!, the new service, will allow up to six users on each account, each with their own e-mail address See Internet address. e-mail address - electronic mail address . User interfaces sporting colorful graphics - one for adults, another for children - are intended to make navigation simple while also providing for parental control of content. Scott Kauffman Scott Kauffman (born 1956) is an American business manager. He was born in Princeton, New Jersey to Ellwood and Shirley Kauffman, and grew up with his sister Jane and brothers Geoffrey and Matthew. In 1973 he appeared briefly in Steven E. , vice president of consumer markets for CompuServe and general manager of WOW!, said the service was created for the growing population of home users with high-end PCs but little high-tech savvy. "We have to deliver all the technological bells and whistles A slang English term for exceptional features in some product. In the computer field, it typically refers to functions in software that may be greatly appreciated by some users, even though they may not be necessary most of the time. out there, but our bells and whistles cannot make noise," Kauffman said. WOW! requires Windows 95 and multimedia capability including at least 8 megabytes of RAM (16 is recommended) and a CD-ROM drive A device that holds and reads CD-ROM discs. CD-ROM drives generally also play audio CD discs by sending analog sound to the sound card via a 4-pin cable. For specifications of 10x, 20x, etc. drives, see CD-ROM drives. See CD-ROM, CD-ROM changer, CD-ROM server and CD-ROM audio cable. to load software, which can be obtained for free by calling 1-800-9GETWOW (a Macintosh version is due in the fall). The service will be available March 25, with a free 30-day trial. The $17.95 rate is guaranteed in perpetuity Of endless duration; not subject to termination. The phrase in perpetuity is often used in the grant of an Easement to a utility company. in perpetuity adj. forever, as in one's right to keep the profits from the land in perpetuity. for users who sign up by the end of June. WOW! does not have the considerable business and technical content available on CompuServe, nor does it allow access to certain Internet tools and resources - for example, IRC (Internet Relay Chat) Computer conferencing on the Internet. There are hundreds of IRC channels on numerous subjects that are hosted on IRC servers around the world. After joining a channel, your messages are broadcast to everyone listening to that channel. (Internet Relay Chat See IRC. (chat, messaging) Internet Relay Chat - (IRC) /I-R-C/, occasionally /*rk/ A client-server chat system of large (often worldwide) networks. IRC is structured as networks of Internet servers, each accepting connections from client programs, one per user. ) and telnet, which allows users to log into other Internet sites. But it does feature the most popular Internet resources - World Wide Web, e-mail, USENET news Usenet news - Usenet groups and gopher - as well as original content in four major categories: entertainment, sports, life and money. For heavy users, the new service will far undercut the basic price formula currently used by America Online, Prodigy and CompuServe itself: $9.95 a month for up to five hours, $2.95 for each additional hour. WOW! arrives at a time when several high-profile on-line ventures, including News Corp.'s Delphi, AT&T's Interchange, Apple Computer Inc.'s eWorld and the Microsoft Network, either have gone out of business or migrated to the World Wide Web. "I'm not optimistic about WOW!," said Robert Seidman, author of the weekly e-mail newsletter, Seidman's Online Insider. He expressed particular concern about the service's high-end system requirements. "If you can't access it, you're not going to use it," Seidman said. "I don't see people going to Windows 95 just to use WOW!" Seidman said WOW! represented "a bet on the future" on the part of CompuServe management at a time when CompuServe's owner, H&R Block, is about to take the service public. "My question is, will the management and the investors give them time to win that bet," Seidman said. CAPTION(S): PHOTO[ordinal indicator, masculine]CHART Photo (1-2--Color) CompuServe's on-line service, WOW!, will have 2 screens, one for kids and one for adults. Box SIGNING ON |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion