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From: roy%cybrspc@cs.umn.edu (Roy M. Silvernail)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: Re: Prodigy - Conversations with Fred
Message-ID: <0mq6s2w163w@cybrspc>
Date: 24 Nov 90 20:26:44 GMT
References: <90328.104900F0O@psuvm.psu.edu>
Organization: Villa CyberSpace, Minneapolis, MN
Lines: 49

F0O@psuvm.psu.edu writes: [about Prodigy]

>      Why would he want to protest?  I've heard they want to charge $0.10
>     for every email message over 30 a month.  What's wrong with this?

The information I have seen is that Prodigy will be charging
$0.25/message over the 30 allowed per month. What's wrong? Consider that
many Prodigy users, unable to carry on discussions of their choice in
public forums, have formed mailing lists (some at the explicit behest of
Prodigy itself). These mailing lists can number in the hundreds of
recipients, and their structure is such that when each participant sends
a message to the list, the service expands it to _individual_messages_to_
each_list_member_! That adds up to a _lot_ of e-mail.

>     Think about it, you're only paying ten something *a month* to use
>     their service; Compuserve is $12 an hour!  Another way of looking
>     at it is the $12/hr breaks down to $0.10 every 30 seconds.  So,
>     even if you left Prodigy, where could you go to get a better deal?
>     I think all these people are making a big fuss over nothing.

Personally, I have seen the Prodigy demo, played about briefly with the
service, and found it lacking. I also used to subscribe to Compu$erve,
until the first bill came. (Alaska access is even higher than the
Contiguous U.S.) From what I was able to see, Prodigy offers very little
that would interest someone who's used to Usenet. A better deal?
Frankly, I don't see much of a deal at all with Prodigy.

To me, Prodigy looks like the Network TV of online services.

>      The ads are a pain, but at $10 *a month* they have to make up
>     the difference somehow.

So... scoot up the rates they charge the advertisers a little, and make
the system available without charge. If you're going to act like Network
TV, go the whole way.

>      I think the bottom line is, if you don't like the system, then
>     go to some other system.

I believe people will do just that. Certainly, there will be a new
supply of Prodigy users (many of whom got the startup kit with their new
PS/1) coming online, but as those folks with the desire become more
network-literate, they'll move on to more productive services.

As for me, I _don't_ "gotta get this thing."
--
Roy M. Silvernail |+|  roy%cybrspc@cs.umn.edu  |+| #define opinions ALL_MINE;
main(){float x=1;x=x/50;printf("It's only $%.2f, but it's my $%.2f!\n",x,x);}
"This is cyberspace." -- Peter da Silva  :--:  "...and I like it here!" -- me