BKETWOOS.RVW 930823 Sybex Computer Books 2021 Challenger Drive Alameda, CA 94501 USA 510-523-8233 800-227-2346 Fax: 510-523-2373 or Firefly Books 250 Sparks Avenue Willowdale, Ontario M2H 2S4 416-499-8412 Fax: 416-499-8313 "Exploring the World of Online Services", Resnick, 1993, U$17.95/C$25.95 71333.1473@compuserve.com The "world" part of the title is a bit grandiose. One has come to expect, unfortunately, that a particular work will cover either commercial services or "the nets," but not both. However, even dealing strictly with commercial information services, there is still a lot of room in the cover statement that the book "compares and contrasts the most popular online services, including CompuServe and Prodigy". The *only* services included are CompuServe and Prodigy. The book certainly promises "the world". Chapter one gives the usual "all the business information in the known universe at the click of a mouse" pitch. To be fair, Resnick does suggest a number of rules to try to keep the costs down. For example, she talks about "narrowing" a search with added terms, but doesn't go into the complexity of setting up an appropriate data base search. Part one of the book (chapters two to ten) is the "how to" section with part two being the "what's there". Chapter two, for example, is supposed to tell you about modems and communication software. Except for a brief discussion of the pros and cons of generic terminal software versus service specific "front ends", one wonders why the chapter was included. A section dealing with communications parameters finally comes down to, "Oh, it's all too technical, just use 2400,8,N,1 and it'll probably work." Chapter three talks about logging in: Prodigy users get pretty short shrift here. (In a section titled "Protecting Your Password" the fifth sentence is enough to make any security types shudder: it advises, nay, commands! that you write down your password.) Chapter four purports to help you navigate the services: it reminds you of the chapters in software manuals that give the basics of menu usage. Chapter five talks about the various possible charging and surcharge options but lacks specifics. Chapter six discusses email. This chapter could be used as an example of most of what the book is--and isn't. The contents are mostly a sequence of commands for WinCIM, the Windows version of CompuServe's own "front end" communication program. Seven pages are devoted to sending and receiving mail on CompuServe, less than a page on Prodigy. Nowhere does it tell you how to send a message if you don't have the CIM. One page discusses the difference between public and private messages. Two pages purport to cover online etiquette: this seems to reduce to "don't advertise unless you pay" and "aren't smileys cute!" You are told that CompuServe can send email to the Internet: you are *not* told, as in most other places in the book, that it is a surcharge, nor are you told how to do it. Chapter seven says that you can upload and download. (It also recommends that you use PKZIP version 2.04C. I guess that, in the rush to get the book out, the disasters of that particular version went unnoticed.) Chapter eight briefly looks at topical "bulletin boards" (static conferencing), "real time" conferencing and chat functions. Chapter nine discusses data base searching. Again, Resnick promises more than CompuServe can supply. Many of the examples of valuable information are taken from sources other than CompuServe, *all* of the instructions are for CompuServe. This topic, more than any other, promises big dividends for business. While there are some tentative observations about having to learn where the information is and how to use it, the reality is that data base access is an art in itself, and a lot of time, and money, have to be invested to start getting returns. Chapter ten lists some of the problems you may encounter trying to telecommute while travelling. Unfortunately, the list of horrors mentioned is not exhaustive, as many travelling members of the online community can attest. Part two concentrates more on the services and information that can be found in various places. It starts off, however, with chapter eleven purporting to compare online services. Given the complexity of the offerings, a "spec sheet" type approach seems called for. Instead, we again get an anecdotal listing of various features. Chapter twelve talks first about financial information services, then various online services other than CompuServe and Prodigy, and, finally, online brokerages. Thirteen discusses making business contacts online; fourteen, electronic malls; fifteen, travel services. Sixteen starts out with technical support, then briefly lists some other online services, then gives us some "pie-in-the-sky" speculation about future directions. A final appendix gives a few pages each to GEnie, American Online and Delphi as "The Rest of the Pack". This book would have made a good magazine article. With many repetitions of the same text, a lot of WinCIM screen shots and large print, it has been expanded to a book. Considering the material that could have been included, one can certainly see gaping holes. On the other hand, given the price of the book, it is certainly cheaper to get an idea of what is available "out there" in here, first. For business people who are interested in getting into online systems in a big way, this might be a start. It is by no means the final word. Communication is still a difficult process, likely because of the necessary number of entities (communications software, communications port, cabling, modem, phone line, phone service, etc.) involved. Resnick's brief overview simply does not provide enough information, and this extends to other areas of the book as well. Note also that many of the services, outside of purely commercial data bases, that are listed in the book can also be obtained through local bulletin board systems, Fidonet, Freenet or the Internet, at greatly reduced cost, sometimes even free. If this book contained more about systems other than CompuServe and Prodigy, it might have served as a vehicle for choosing among the various competing online services. As it is, it might almost be worth buying the user guides for the different systems: they contain more information. And they can't be much more biased. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1993 BKETWOOS.RVW 930823 ====================== DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733 Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" (Oct. '94) Springer-Verlag