NETWATCH . . . COMPUSERVE BUYS SPRY

The race to offer Internet access and services to just plain folks has gone up another notch: CompuServe last night announced it will purchase software company Spry Inc. -- maker of the popular "Internet in a Box" -- for $100 million. The acquisition mirrors the strategies followed by several online competitors. Last fall, America Online bought Booklink Technologies Inc., which had developed its own World Wide Web browser software; Prodigy now offers Web access, and Microsoft plans to do so through its as-yet unlaunched Microsoft Network. Spry will now become CompuServe's Internet Division.