Date   : Sat, 23 Jul 2011 16:30:07
From   : heyrick.beebsoc@... (Rick Murray)
Subject: [BeebSoc] Re: Minitel in France

On 24/07/2011 01:20, Rob wrote:

> Something about "vintage" stuff being rare (easy bit),

It was an allusion to the crap marked on eBay. ;-)


> Drat  translate.google ...

'tis okay. I use translate a lot, makes it a lot easier.

BUT NOTE VERY WELL - Google translate is notoriously poor at handling 
lazy negatives.

Try <http://translate.google.com/#fr|en|ce%20n%27est%20possible!> and 
notice how:
   Ce n'est possible!
becomes:
   It is possible!

However if you then write it in full ("Ce ne est possible!", 
grammatically awful for two e's in a row there), Google translates it 
correctly.

Don't blindly rely upon Translate. ;-)


> Not bad...

No, not bad at all for 30 year old school day memories.


> I dare say they won't be quite so rare after shutdown though ...?

I would imagine not, but you never know. The Frenchies love their 
Minitel like they love the 2CV.


> Anybody know if there is anything happening about preserving a
> snapshot of the service contents for posterity?

I'm sorry, I wouldn't even know where to look to find out. Any Frenchies 
on csa you could contact privately to ask?


Best wishes,

Rick.