Minitel goes offline this Saturday.

[Tupin]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18610692#TWEET165831

This was France's shining star, they bragged as late as 1997 that they could do things no other country could with Minitel. Travel reservations, news, and even shopping. I had no idea it was subsidized by the government there, nor that the government had to approve companies who used it.

Anyone here have any experience with it, in France or otherwise? Anyone have a Minitel terminal?

 

[Ole Juul]

I've always been curious. I remember reading about it in Dvorak's Guide to PC Telecommunications back in the BBS days. I was very impressed but couldn't even Google it because, well, there was no widespread public internet yet.

 

[Jorg]

I've used it a few times when in France. What can you say, it worked.
IIRC we had something similar in the Netherlands (Viditel), but that was not pushed from the government like that.
Somewhere 10 years ago I must have dumped the modem going with that.. a whopping 1200/75 baud was that standard.

Such things are really only imaginable in France. Like putting a quotum on music in foreign language on the radio, f.i.

 

[gerrydoire]

Speaking of technology once on top and now gone from the sight of mankind, Whatever happened to ICQ?

 

[Pepinno]

Speaking of technology once on top and now gone from the sight of mankind, Whatever happened to ICQ?

It died a slow and painful death when Windows XP came in 2001 with a built-in and free "Windows Messenger" client. Incidentally, it seems Facebook has killed the use of "Windows/MSN/Live Messenger"...

 

[Chuck(G)]

Back in the early 80s, Videotex was very hot. I still have the standards documents for NAPLPS and Videotex that I used to write the firmware for a terminal back then. I though that Minitel was very, very cool. Think of all of the trees that were saved by not publishing telephone directories...

 

[Doug G]

When did minitel start? I remember thinking it was "quite cool" when I first read/heard about minitel, but I don't remember when that might have been.

 

[Ole Juul]

When did minitel start? I remember thinking it was "quite cool" when I first read/heard about minitel, but I don't remember when that might have been.

Try here.

The Minitel was a Videotex online service accessible through the telephone lines, and is considered one of the world's most successful pre-World Wide Web online services. Rolled out experimentally in 1978 in Brittany and throughout France in 1982 by the PTT (Poste, Téléphone et Télécommunications; divided since 1991 between France Télécom and La Poste).[1] From its early days, users could make online purchases, make train reservations, check stock prices, search the telephone directory, have a mail box, and chat in a similar way to that now made possible by the Internet.

 

[Bungo Pony]

OMG, you just brought back a memory from childhood for me! I had a videotex terminal when I was a kid, but I couldn't figure out what it was for. Here's a picture of one:

 

[carlsson]

Yes, videotex was hot in the early and mid 80's. We had a number of providers of Datavision within Sweden, and I have two magazines from 1984-85 about the latest news in the business and how fast videotex was growing in the USA. Apparently that wasn't entirely true as you had other telecommunications systems (e.g. Compuserve) that held market shares. However, I must admit Minitel in France has held on much longer than any other system.

Teletext on the TV has a bit similar technology but isn't exactly the same thing. During the switch from analog to digital TV, it seems many broadcasters dropped classic teletext, while others converted and keeps broadcasting the information with the TV signal.

 

[hwarin]

For those who own a V23 compatible modem with Hyperterminal (or any suitable emulation, a real Minitel !) and are curious on Minitel/Videotex display, you can try to dial those free INUM phone numbers : +883510008342614 or +883510008369804 (or dial from any INUM gateway around the world that can be found at inet.net). I have setup 2 VoIP lines with real USR/Courrier modems behind that will show you some demo pages cycling, recorded at the time.

Hervé

 

[Caluser2000]

It died a slow and painful death when Windows XP came in 2001 with a built-in and free "Windows Messenger" client. Incidentally, it seems Facebook has killed the use of "Windows/MSN/Live Messenger"...

Looks more like AOL took control of it. Say no more.

It's pretty cool Minitel managed to last this long.