MindSpring Software Upgrade News

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October 18, 1996

Two months ago MindSpring made a commitment to you to provide a free software patch allowing you to dial into our national POPs. Our target date was mid-October.

We take our commitments to you very seriously, and are dismayed to learn we over-extended ourselves with this one. When our engineers "got under the hood" of this project, they realized that the upgrade simply cannot be accomplished with a patch; it will take a full upgrade of both the Windows and Macintosh software. The PSI POPs use a different login sequence; in order to address the logins for both the MindSpring and PSI POPs, our login sequences had to be completely rewritten, and the systems at our end had to undergo major restructuring as well. What this means is that we are going to release a full upgrade to our software rather than a patch, and that we will not make the mid-October date. The expected ship date for the new software is December 2. I know that many of you are very disappointed with this news, and we are truly sorry to have to deliver it.

We came to the realization this week that to continue with the old schedules would have risked an interruption in service if everything did not go like clockwork. And with systems and servers, things rarely go like clockwork.

There is a silver lining to this cloud... the upgraded software will be version 2.6 for both Windows platforms, and version 2.1 for the Mac. This version will upgrade all subscribers to the latest release of our Access Panel and client bundle (including browser updates) as well as allowing access to our 200+ national POPs.

You will be able to register for this upgrade via a Web Page that will be located in the Members Only Area of the MindSpring Web Site. This will be up on Nov 15.

Since this is more than the anticipated one-diskette patch, our production costs are considerably higher. We are _asking_ you to help us offset the production and shipping costs of the upgrade by offering it at the following fees:

We know we committed a free patch to you, and if you feel strongly that this upgrade should be offered free because of that commitment, you will have an option on the web page to indicate that you would like the software for free. If you select that option, your account will not be charged. If you can understand our situation and are willing to help us offset the cost of the upgrade, we would certainly appreciate your help.

You may be wondering why we don't offer the software via download. This upgrade will simply be too big to expect our users to download it - we need to mail it to you.

Once media starts shipping, you will receive a msxxxxx userid with your kit. For a (yet undetermined) period of time, you will be able to log into the existing MindSpring POPs using either the username/password authentication (as you are currently) or the userid/password authentication (ala PSI POPS). After that period of time has passed, you will be required to log in using the latter method. Please note that this does not affect your email address. Your email address remains the same; your login id changes.

Again, we apologize for our delay and thank you for your patience and understanding.

Regards,

Susan Nicholson
VP-Corporate Communications
MindSpring Enterprises

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