Minitel, France's precursor to the Web, to go dark 30/6/12
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Minitel, France's precursor to the Web, to go dark 30/6/12
1–10 of 33 posts
Re: Minitel, France's precursor to the Web, to go dark 30/6/12
#2How was Minitel different from BBSes in the 80s?
Re: Minitel, France's precursor to the Web, to go dark 30/6/12
#3How was Minitel different from BBSes in the 80s?
It was similar to compuserv (CIS) back then.
Re: Minitel, France's precursor to the Web, to go dark 30/6/12
#4How was Minitel different from BBSes in the 80s?
It was a much larger, integrated, nationwide network. It's more comparable to compu-serv than any BBS.
It also had an integrated terminal that was way cheaper than the microcomputer + modem setup you needed to connect to any of the American services or BBSes, and as a result it had better market penetration in France.
Technically, of course, it wasn't anything special. But it was a great example of an early online service that was useable for non-technical people.
EDIT: PS: The Computer Chronicles did an episode on Minitel: http://archive.org/details/frenchtech1
Re: Minitel, France's precursor to the Web, to go dark 30/6/12
#5How was Minitel different from BBSes in the 80s?
it was run by the French government. And the hardware needed to access it was given away -- no general-purpose computer needed. And it achieved much higher penetration into the non-technical demographic than bbses ever did.
Re: Minitel, France's precursor to the Web, to go dark 30/6/12
#6How was Minitel different from BBSes in the 80s?
One way it may have differed is commercially. The Minitel was a huge economic success generating > $1 billion/year of revenue and presaged the online commerce we see today. Monetization was a piece of cake as "sites" charged per minute. Companies like La Redoute made tons of money selling stuff "online". And, of course, there was plenty of porn. I still remember the suggestive billboard ads for the 3615 CUM -- or something like that.
Re: Minitel, France's precursor to the Web, to go dark 30/6/12
#7I remember that the original idea was to create white/yellow page online (it was very costly to print all these white pages). Then came commercial services. You were billed according to the number you dialed (from free -3613- to very expensive service -3617-).
That was my first online experience and that was magic :-) There was also a hacking scene on pirated servers where you can meet a lot of people (and it was on the free number of course).
Re: Minitel, France's precursor to the Web, to go dark 30/6/12
#8There're still fun hacks to do with minitel, like this webcam extension for example: http://tetalab.org/blog/update-webcam-pour-minitel-%C3%A7a-m...
Re: Minitel, France's precursor to the Web, to go dark 30/6/12
#9How was Minitel different from BBSes in the 80s?
It was a much larger, integrated, nationwide network. It's more comparable to compu-serv than any BBS. It also had an integrated terminal that was way cheaper than the microcomputer + modem setup you needed to connect to any of the American services or BBSes, and as a result it had better market penetration in France. Technically, of course, it wasn't anything special. But it was a great example of an early online se…
It had better market penetration because the terminals were free. FTA, they tried the same service in Ireland, without the subsidies, and market penetration was nil. It was a dismal failure.
Re: Minitel, France's precursor to the Web, to go dark 30/6/12
#10How was Minitel different from BBSes in the 80s?
It was more about commercial services, and it provided integrated billing (users would get billed on their phone line, each site would set its time-based billing)