The telephone company only provided the white pages, otherwise building infrastructure for others to provide services.
Minicom for mac mac#
France Télécom estimated that almost 9 million terminals-including web-enabled personal computers ( Windows, Mac OS, and Linux)-had access to the network at the end of 1999, and that it was used by 25 million people (of a total population of 60 million).ĭeveloped by 10,000 companies, in 1996, almost 26,000 different services were available. About 6,000 other services were available, with 250 added monthly. The telephone directory received 23 million calls monthly, with 40,000 updates daily. īy 1988 three million terminals were installed, with 100,000 new units installed monthly. Others founded newspapers solely to create Minitel services. Providers advertised their own services in their own publications, which helped market the overall Minitel network. Libération offered 24-hour online news, such as results from events at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles that occurred overnight in France. To reduce opposition from newspapers worried about competition from an electronic network, they were allowed to establish the first consumer services on Minitel. Starting in May 1981, 4,000 experimental terminals with a different design were distributed in Ille-et-Vilaine, and commercial service using Minitel terminals began in 1982.īy early 1986 1.4 million terminals were connected to Minitel, with plans to distribute another million by the end of the year. This expanded to 2,500 customers in other regions in autumn 1980.
Minicom for mac trial#
According to the PTT, during the first eight years of nationwide operation 8 billion francs was spent on purchasing terminals, a profit of 3,5 billion francs was made after deduction of payments passed on to information providers such as newspapers, and an average of 500 million francs annually was saved by printing fewer phone books.Ī trial with just 55 residential and business telephone customers using experimental terminals began in Saint-Malo on 15 July 1980, two days after 13 July presentation by Minitel to President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.
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The white pages were accessible for free on Minitel, and they could be searched much faster than flipping through a paper directory. In exchange for the terminal, Minitel owners would only be given the yellow pages (classified commercial listings, with advertisements). By offering a popular service on simple, free equipment, Minitel achieved high market penetration and avoided the chicken and the egg problem that prevented widespread adoption of such a system in the United States. The telephone company emphasized ease of use one observer wrote that "the Minitel terminal requires slightly more training than a toaster to operate".
Millions of terminals were given for free (officially loans, and property of the PTT) to telephone subscribers. By distributing terminals that could access a nationwide electronic directory of telephone and address information, it hoped to increase use of the country's 23 million phone lines, and reduce the costs of printing printed phone books and employing directory assistance personnel. In 1978, Postes, Télégraphes et Téléphones, the French PTT organisation, began designing the Minitel network. ġ985 TELIC-1 Alcatel Minitel terminal with non-AZERTY keyboard France Télécom retired the service on 30 June 2012. In February 2009, France Télécom indicated the Minitel network still had 10 million monthly connections.
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 what is now made possible by the World Wide Web. The service was rolled out experimentally on 15 July 1980 in Saint-Malo, France, and from autumn 1980 in other areas, and introduced commercially throughout France in 1982 by the PTT ( Postes, Télégraphes et Téléphones divided since 1991 between France Télécom and La Poste). It was invented in Cesson-Sévigné, near Rennes in Brittany, France. The Minitel was a videotex online service accessible through telephone lines, and was the world's most successful online service prior to the World Wide Web.
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