Date   : Sun, 11 Oct 2009 19:18:20 +0100
From   : robert@... (Rob)
Subject: Electric Dreams last night.

On 11/10/2009, Rick Murray <rick@...> wrote:
> Rob wrote:
>
>> Grating:  1985. "Teletext. The closest the 80s came to the world wide
>> web,"
>
> What? I'm a fan of teletext and all, but I have to disagree. It was
> strictly one-way (except those odd services where you call a number and
> they gave you special pages to go to).

Yes, I agree with you.  I was quoting them!


>
>> What, no mention /at all/ of Prestel,
>
> Prestel wasn't exactly a success. They'd be obliged to mention Minitel
> (which is STILL in use!) and that's not a good thing...
>
>> Micronet 800, Bulletin Boards, et. al. ?

But Micronet/Prestel was due to be a HUGE success, after all "Our
market studies show that there is already a base of some 600,000
personal computers in Britain."  and "They hoped to hit the 100,000
target [subscribers] by March 1983 - by which time an estimated three
million personal computers would be in use."

http://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=vatu-v6i1-p8.pdf


>
> I think BBSing was seen as a bit nerdy and/or a bit subversive. That
> said, didn't BT run a system that was sort of a cross between BBSing and
> Prestel - "Telecom Gold" or something?

Ah, Telecom Gold was a beast of a thing.  Apart from a proper
international email service (you could email anybody on a number of
systems all around the globe - I've a list somewhere) and links to the
Telex network, there were a number of "applications" you could also
run on it to do various financial and office automation tasks.   I've
got several articles describing it I may get around to scanning
sometime.


>
>
>> Certainly they led the way towards the web as we know it..
>
> Interactivity is a prerequisite if you ask me. Teletext, for all its
> features, is basically plunking a broadcast signal out of the air and
> looking at it. The only interaction is between you and the TV.

Indeed.  Micronet and the other more successful IPs relied heavily on
the feedback and interaction with their users.


*90#