COMPUSERVE RELENTS : ON-LINE SERVICE PLANS TO ADOPT WEB STANDARDS.

Byline: Peter H. Lewis The New York Times

Deciding to flow with the relentless tide of the Internet rather than fight it, CompuServe Inc. is expected to announce today that it is rebuilding its entire on-line service on the standards of the World Wide Web, people briefed by the company said Monday.

CompuServe's decision to embrace the open standards of the Web follows similar moves by Prodigy Services Co., Microsoft Network and AT&T's Interchange Online Network, all of which started as closed, proprietary services.

But CompuServe, the world's second-largest consumer on-line service, with more than 4 million subscribers worldwide, is by far the largest network to acknowledge that it cannot compete against the rapidly growing Web.

``This leaves America Online as the last bastion of the proprietary world,'' said Gregory Wester, research director for the Yankee Group of Boston. ``But even AOL will back away from its proprietary software at some point. It's just a matter of time.''

America Online Inc., the No. 1 service, in the past expressed confidence that its proprietary model would continue to be attractive. At the same time, the company has become one of the largest Internet service providers, offering its 6 million customers access to the World Wide Web.

``Over time, all on-line services will become Internet services,'' said Mary Modahl, a senior analyst with Forrester Research in Cambridge, Mass. ``We expect AOL to be last because they have the strongest position in the flood, and they'll hold out longer.''

CompuServe, a unit of H&R Block, was the first on-line service to use the proprietary software model, which requires subscribers to use special software and network access points provided by the service. It also requires that information providers use custom software tools to prepare information to be displayed on the network.

According to people briefed by CompuServe in advance of today's announcement, CompuServe has begun rewriting its existing services in the hypertext markup language, HTML, the industry standard of the World Wide Web.

Allen Weiner, an analyst with Dataquest in San Jose, said the HTML model was attractive to information publishers because it allowed them potentially to reach millions of customers without having to write a different version of the same material for each on-line service.

``In the past, content developers were forced to decide whether to develop for the CompuServe standard, for example, or for the World Wide Web standard, and now there's just one,'' Weiner said.

The Web is also appealing to subscribers because it offers more advanced features than any proprietary on-line service can provide. Hundreds of companies worldwide are developing such Web-based features as audio, video, interactive chat sessions, multiplayer games and secure electronic commerce.

CompuServe will continue to support existing versions of the DOS, Windows and Macintosh software used to gain access to the CompuServe Information Service and Wow

on-line businesses, the people briefed by the company said. But beginning this summer, the company will distribute new software that more fully integrates access to the World Wide Web.

CompuServe declined to comment on its plans.