Calling Up an on-Line Cornucopia

By Philip Elmer-DeWitt.

Peggy Berk, a Manhattan communications consultant, starts her day by turning on her modem-equipped computer, dialing into the GTE Telemail network and reading on her screen any overnight telexes from her clients. Tapping a few keys, she scans the electronic version of USA Today before switching to another network, the Source, and perusing the A.P. and U.P.I. news wires. "I can get along without my morning toast and coffee," she says, "but I can't leave home without going on-line first."

Preparing to take a vacation in Jamaica, Systems Analyst Haig Hovanees logs on to CompuServe, another computer network, calls up Travel Forum and reads all about the political situation on the Caribbean island. He switches to the electronic Official Airline Guide, checks Jamaica flights for departure times, fares and availability of seats and makes his plans. Then, turning to his investment portfolio, he taps into the Value Line Database to flick through quarterly results, Standard & Poor's to see earnings forecasts, and Disclosure II to read official reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission. "The system gives me all the information I need to make strategic decisions," says Hovanees. "It's replaced a file cabinet stuffed with newspaper clips."

Across the country, more and more Americans are logging on to computer information and service networks and discovering an ever enlarging cornucopia at their fingertips. Today anybody with a computer, a modem and a deep line of credit can buy an airline ticket to Cleveland, rent a Hertz car at the airport, book a room at the Sheraton, buy a novel from Waldenbooks, check the closing prices on Wall Street and purchase 100 shares of IBM--without ever getting up from the computer.

Consider some of the features offered on the major commercial computer networks. An on-line catalog called Comp-u-store lists discount prices of as much as 50% on 250,000 brand-name consumer items, from Hickory Farms sausages to Stanley Tools wrenches, and accepts electronic orders for any of them. A-Z Worldwide Hotel Index carries rates and descriptions of 25,000 domestic and international hotels. The Career Network holds 4,000 resumes and 3,000 job openings. Stockvue analyzes the performance of 3,100 common stocks. The IRS provides full-text electronic versions of its 75 most requested tax publications. The FBI prints descriptions of its ten most wanted criminals, complete with digitized mug shots for quick identification. Want to know the weather in Omaha? The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration provides daily reports. Need the Nielsen ratings of the last episode of Dynasty? Hollywood Hotline includes them in its entertainment features. Considering a visit to the Soviet Union? A recent State Department travel advisory warned that hotel rooms were booked solid for the duration of the Communist Party Congress that ended last month.

Subscribers use the computer networks with one eye on the clock. Start-up fees are modest (generally less than $50), but hourly costs can vary from $6 at night to as high as $15 during business hours, plus a surcharge for some features. This discourages many people from fully exploring the myriad services. Says Bill Pytlovany, a computer specialist from Scotia, N.Y.: "You tend to browse less when you know the meter is running."

Still, it is tempting to poke around, especially among the new features that appear with dizzying regularity. For example, during the height of the comet craze, CompuServe users could type GO HALLEY and shop electronically for comet locator maps, reading lists, Halley hats and a T shirt emblazoned with HEAVENLY BODY OF THE YEAR. They could also find directions to prime U.S. viewing spots, sign up for comet-watching ocean cruises, enter weekly comet . trivia quizzes and participate with dozens of other Halley's addicts in an onscreen round-table discussion of comet news and lore.

These discussion groups, which have the flavor of electronic town meetings, are by far the most popular features on the two biggest networks, CompuServe (272,000 subscribers) and the Source (70,000). Their success has spawned a new crop of conference-oriented services that include BIX, Delphi, GEnie, Unison and the WELL. Hundreds of SIGs (special-interest groups) have sprung up on these networks, organized around topics ranging from science fiction to organic farming. The discussions are freewheeling and spontaneous, and the quality of the information, especially in technical matters, is often first rate. In discussing the merits of specific brands of computers, for example, says Hovanees, "they don't pull any punches. They'll tell you if something works or, if it doesn't, why not."

The networkers are equally candid about kinks in the computer services. "It's frequently not very much fun," warns Stewart Alsop, who does much of the research and correspondence for his biweekly P.C. Letter on the networks and still gets lost in their labyrinthine menus. Consumers who shop by keyboard complain that on-line service can be sluggish and undependable. Orders placed electronically may reach retailers in a flash, but they are often filled by hand and thus subject to human inefficiencies. A Sears color TV that Hovanees ordered through CompuServe's Electronic Mall never did arrive. And, as Peggy Berk can testify, there are special risks in relying on computer systems that are shared with thousands of strangers. She once spent three days reconstructing her client contact list after an unidentified hacker broke into a confidential mailbox on The Source and dispatched her private storage files into the ether.

With reporting by Robert Buderi/San Francisco and Thomas McCarroll/New York