In San Jose, Bob Ratelle runs a system called Netcom, one of the larger systems that offer public Internet access. And, finally, there's a system in Cupertino called Portal run by John Little, which offers a good user interface that keeps you clear of the UNIX learning curve. You can get a UNIX account if you want one instead of the Portal interface. The next step up from a subscription account is an actual Internet connection. In the California spirit, they've set up a network co-op.
People pay a given amount of money for the equipment and phone line, and buy into the co-op.
As each new person joins, the price for the other members drops accordingly. They spread the wealth, and everyone ends up benefitting. A number of new services have popped up in the time since Zen was sent to press. The Wide Area Information Service, or WAIS, will let you do searches on huge bodies of text, including things like the Bible the Book of the Mormon, and even an early edition of Zen . It was first introduced by a company called Thinking Machines, and, among other things, will let you look up words in a thesaurus.