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Minitel Hits Twenty

Posted by michael on from the antiques dept.

An anonymous submitter writes "Minitel is now 20 years old, according to this article from BBC News: 'Calling Minitel a proto-internet may be a bit of a stretch, but it is not far off. Unlike the internet, Minitel is a closed network, based on the phone system of its owner, France Telecom. Using one of its prehistoric-seeming terminals, users can access a labyrinth of proprietary content, all of it determinedly low-graphics and designed for speed.' Slashdot has reported on Minitel before."

5 of 222 comments (clear)

  1. Business Models or "Developers, developers!" by Scoria · · Score: 5, Funny

    Calling Minitel a proto-internet may be a bit of a stretch, but it is not far off. ... all of it determinedly low-graphics and designed for speed.

    All right, aspiring web developers and disgruntled dot-bomb employees. Your objective today is to modernize this archaic service: develop a functional implementation of Flash and JavaScript pop-under advertisements, then ensure that all original content is publicly inaccessible. Finally, schedule a decadent yacht party. We're going to party like it's 1999!

    --
    Do you like German cars?
  2. Amazon to sue Minitel? by IainHere · · Score: 4, Funny

    From the article:
    One new venture for example, known as w-HA, is working on a scheme that will allow online payments to be made within two mouse clicks

    Phew! For a second there, I thought they were in trouble.

  3. It inspired Al Gore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "'Calling Minitel a proto-internet may be a bit of a stretch, but it is not far off."

    It has been said that Al Gore saw one of these when he visited Paris, and it inspired him to create the Internet when he got home.

    Thank you, France! For the fries, and now for the 'Net!

  4. Hey, they solved the accessibility problem! by ader · · Score: 4, Funny

    > "...all of it determinedly low-graphics and designed for speed."

    So when will the Internet be upgraded to support the same features?

    Ade_
    /
    --
    Big Bubbles (no troubles) - what sucks, who sucks and you suck
  5. porn on minitel by lovebyte · · Score: 4, Funny

    In the mid 80's I used to work during the summer in a bank in France. When suddenly all the computers went dead. No more network. The reason for this was that the minitel and the bank network were using the same lines and the minitel suddenly had a surge in communication. Why ? Because the first "minitel rose" services had appeared. The minitel rose was some rather expensive porn chat services and they became very popular.
    So there you go. Internet, minitel, same thing.

    Plus ca change, plus c'est pareil.

    --

    I'll do it for cheesy poofs.