CompuServe Closes Off Access to Amiga, AmigaZone Invites Orphaned Users to Join Its Amiga-friendly Service

An Invitation to Compuserve AmigaForum customers to join the AmigaZone - get the best Amiga online service for only $12.95 a month, and receive a free gift!

Greetings, I'm Harv Laser, and since 1985 I've run an online service for Amiga owners called AmigaZone. You may also recognize my name from the hundreds of Amiga reviews and articles I've written for Amiga magazines for many years.

A few days ago, you may have logged into CompuServe in your usual way, with your usual terminal program or telnet client and tried to go to one of the Amiga Forums, only to be hit with this disturbing message:

> On Thursday, December 3, This forum was closed.  All of the
> sections and libraries from this forum were moved to the new HMI
> forum, AmigaForum.  You can find everything there that was here,
> but in new sections of the HMI-only forum.  You will need Mac or
> PC emulation to reach us there in the HMI view, or you can use
> AWEB II with JavaScript to reach our visitor area there, or you
> can get there with PC or Mac running Netscape or Internet
> Explorer.

Well isn't that a kick in the face? You can't access the Amiga Forums with your Amiga anymore, except as a "visitor."

Basically, CompuServe (bought out by AOL earlier this year) has decided that rather than make a version of their new AOL-like custom front end software for its faithful Amiga-owning customers, they tell you to go get a Gates Crate or a Mac if you still want access. How nice of them. Is this a company you want to keep giving money to?

Well I'm here to invite you to come and join AmigaZone, and I'll tell you why..

AmigaZone can be accessed with ANY type of computer, especially your Amiga.

We have different interfaces depending on how you want to log in.

You can telnet to amigazone.com from any internet-connected account, and log into our easy BBS/Text style interface, all menu driven, with context-sensitive help everywhere. This interface works with any terminal program you own, or any Amiga telnet client. Trust me, I own them all and I've used them all. I've been doing and writing about Amiga telecommunications since 1985! I currently access the Zone myself using AmTelnet, MiamiTelnet, Amiga terminal programs, and even with my hand-held PDAs' terminal programs!

You can also log into AmigaZone with our Web interface. You don't need Netscrape or Internet Exploder either! Your AMIGA browsers: IBrowse, AWeb, Voyager, and any future new ones, give you complete and total access to our Web interface. Member's Web site does not have banner ads, Java or Javascript anywhere on it. It has frames capability which you can turn on or off, your choice.

And what does membership in AmigaZone get you?

Here's just a partial list of what we offer:

Over 40,000 files in our library, from the latest hot stuff to the classics, going back to the Amiga's birth. We have about 20 GIG of redundant, mirrored storage, so we never have to delete old files to make room for new ones. Plus, we have a CD-changer mounted with Amiga CDs always in it for downloading. Download using Zmodem in our BBS interface, or using HTTP in our Web interface, or snag files using our members-only FTP site.
Over 40,000 messages to read at any time. We carry all the Amiga Usenet newsgroups, all the Amiga Fidonet echoes, and over a dozen popular Amiga internet mailing lists, plus our own local discussions, all in their own convenient message bases. Read them in our BBS interface or our Web interface. Or even download them as .qwk packets, and use an offline reader. Do you know any other service where you can read Amiga Fidonet in a Web interface? How easy can we make it? :)
You get your own email address of [yourname]@amigazone.com
You get AmigaZone's own POP3 mail server.
Live, nightly chats, with other friendly Amiga owners, seven nights a week. Special guest chats scheduled frequently.
Live, Sunday chat contests, with at least two winners guaranteed each week, in a fair-to-all random chance contest. New prizes added constantly.

I could go on, but you get the idea. AmigaZone is a professionally maintained, full service system, wholly dedicated to the Amiga and Amiga users. You can access it with the oldest Amiga you can find and a simple terminal program, or the most full blown system you own. It's up to you. No proprietary, Windoze/Mac interface required.

Interested? Want to join? Okay, here's how:

a) Phone our host, CalWeb Internet Services, any time, 24 hours a day at 1-800-509-9322 and say "I want to join AmigaZone for $12.95/month!" You can join with any major credit card, or be invoiced in the mail monthly. The price is the same either way, and there is NO signup fee.

b) Use our SECURE SSL Web site to sign up. Just go to http://www.amigazone.com/, and click the horribly obvious "JOIN NOW" graphic at the top. This will take you to the SSL site, which works fine with Amiga web browsers, where you can enter all your signup and payment information.

And while supplies last, if you join AmigaZone, when your signup is verified, I will mail to you absolutely FREE a brand new copy of Dale Larson's book, "Connect Your Amiga!", a $24.95 value.

I've only scratched the surface of what AmigaZone offers. It's an online community, a resource, a vast wealth of information, and a very friendly place to be. There are NO extra-cost areas. Never have been, never will be. Your membership gets you UNLIMITED access to the Zone, 24 hours a day, every day, whether you telnet in, Web in, or FTP in.

For those of you who are disappointed and disgusted with what Compuserve has done to you, I offer you a new online home. Come join us!

Best Regards,
Harv Laser
AmigaZone Founder and Sysop

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