Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!att!rutgers!ucsd!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!philmtl!philabs!briar.philips.com!brb
From: brb@briar.philips.com (Brian Bertan;6309;4.88;$0202)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: PRODIGY?
Message-ID: <68220@philabs.Philips.Com>
Date: 16 Nov 89 21:26:57 GMT
References: <19530001@hpsemc.HP.COM> <14546@well.UUCP>
Sender: news@philabs.Philips.Com
Reply-To: brb@briar.philips.com.UUCP (Brian Bertan)
Organization: Philips Laboratories, Briarcliff Manor, NY
Lines: 48


I am usually immune to advertising gimmicks, but the PRODIGY commercial broke 
through my defenses.  It was something like

"It's the ninth month [pregnant woman at computer].."

They went on to describe how everything was under control.

Well, my wife is in almost in her ninth month, and she will soon be leaving
work and staying home all day, so I suppose she might benefit from the
service.  I sent in one of the 10 or more free offer forms they have mailed.

I installed it a few days ago, and played around with it.  I like the weather 
service; it's much better than the maps in the local papers.  I went on to read 
consumer reports.

My wife was watching, but she has not yet had the chance to use the system.  
She is completely computer illiterate, so it will be interesting to see how she 
likes it.  I think the graphic display is wonderful for novices.

The Menu system is acceptable, if somewhat unusual.

INSTALLATION:

I am running out of space on my fixed disk, and I have a 1.2 Meg Floppy.  There 
is no procedure for installing prodigy on a single 1.2 Meg Floppy, even though 
it can easily fit.  I called their technical support.  They told me to change 
their batch file, but there advice was incorrect.  I finally got it to work 
anyhow.  

The next problem was that my system died after exiting PRODIGY.  I called tech 
support again and they correctly diagnosed the problem.

OPINION:

(1) Take the month free trial.

(2) Their advertising firm deserves a bonus.

NOTICE:  I have no other dealings with PRODIGY other than trial subscriber.

Brian Bertan
Philips Labs
345 Scarborough Rd.
Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510
(914) 945-6309

brb@philabs.philips.com