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Have you heard of the Internet? This is the online service of the future. It's taking the world by storm and there doesn't seem to be any signs of letting up. In fact, thousands more computers are connecting to the Internet every month, computers from all over the world. Once you've played on the Internet, services such as CompuServe and GEnie pale in comparison. They just can't match the resources available when you pool the collective efforts of computers from all nations and people from all walks of life.
My home town of Port Townsend, Washington has just been connected to the Internet via a local commercial provider. For a nominal monthly fee, I can call a local telephone number and reach out and touch computers all over the world. It's an amazing feeling sending mail to someone in Finland and receiving a reply within hours. What's even more amazing is that you can also send files back and forth. For example, an entire issue of Open Mike can be sent in minutes to anyone who has access to the Internet.
Many commercial services offer some sort of access to the Internet, usually through an electronic mail gateway. For example, America Online, BIX, CompuServe, Delphi, GEnie, MCI Mail, and WELL all offer email access to the Internet. So, if you subscribe to any of these services, you can communicate with people from all over the world, not just the users of these commercial services. If you'd like more information, check with your commercial service provider. Or better yet, find out about local access to the Internet. You may be able to get an account in your own town. If you'd like more information about local access, send me email to any of the electronic addresses you've seen elsewhere in this issue, and I'll tell you all I know.
