Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!decwrl!nsc!pyramid!leadsv!zech From: zech@leadsv.UUCP (Bill Zech) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc Subject: Re: PRODIGY -----> Reviews wanted..... Message-ID: <13244@leadsv.UUCP> Date: 4 Oct 90 17:57:10 GMT References: <90274.131757JJL101@psuvm.psu.edu> <4466@apricot22.UUCP> <90275.182407JJL101@psuvm.psu.edu> <2540@polari.UUCP> Reply-To: zech@leadsv.LEADS.LMSC.COM.UUCP (Bill Zech) Organization: LMSC-LEADS, Sunnyvale, Ca. Lines: 39 In article kristoff@genbank.bio.net (David Kristofferson) writes: >There was a mention in Business Week some time back (if I remember >correctly) that Prodigy carries any story that Dow Jones news service >has released in the last day or two in connection with any stock of >interest. Is this accurate? >-- I'm not sure of the above, but I can state that the various new service features are updated every few hours. I have found it a good means of staying on top of the Gulf crisis. It is much more matter-of-fact that the sound-bite crud on TV. Prodigy gets a bad rap that really isn't deserved. It's not Usenet, nor does it try to be. It's biggest problem is attempting to appeal to such a wide audience. True, the public forums are censored, and many object to this. However, for a family-oriented service, I don't think that's out of line as long as people like Jesse Helms are around. One poster claims the forums operate at an eight-year-old level. Certainly some topics might, but keep in mind many of the users may be children. Each family gets an ID for each family member. I have found some of the discussions to be quite adult. The same could be said for Usenet, except that few of its users are actually children. I considered dropping Prodigy a while back, but with the new VGA level software and faster operation via look-ahead and more caching, it is much improved. I use it every day, much as I would scan a newspaper. I'm more interested in news and stock quotes, movie reviews, road & track, the encyclopedia, and other services than I care about email. None of those are available on Usenet, and I don't end up with piles of newpaper in my garage. Each service has its good and bad points. That's why I use 3 or 4 of them. Choose the ones that suit you best, and keep an open mind. - BZ