[10706] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Internet vs Minitel : a futuristic view of the network evolution ?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Miles R Fidelman)
Sun Mar 6 11:27:16 1994
Date: Sun, 6 Mar 1994 07:36:06 -0500 (EST)
From: Miles R Fidelman <fidelman@civicnet.org>
To: com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: <199403060100.RAA12825@Mordor.Stanford.EDU>
Two observations about Minitel, for what they're worth:
i. it has always amazed me that there is no system-wide email system
(what you'd expect from a national telco), nor are the myriad of
individual email systems on Minitel interconnected in any way -- as a
result, its pretty hard to correspond via email with anyone in France
other then Internet users [last time we planned a trip to visit some
French friends, we asked a. do you use Minitel - answer "of course," b.
what's your email address - answer was essentially "huh"]
ii. when we were last over there, I wanted to log into the terminal
server in BBN's local office (I worked for BBN at the time) - not only
are Minitel terminals incompatible with basic vt100, there is no
connectivitiy available
So, while Minitel may be great as an electronic shopping mall, as
infrastructure for serious inter-organizational enterprise networking, it
seems pretty useless.
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Miles R. Fidelman mfidelman@civicnet.org
Executive Director 91 Baldwin St. Charlestown MA 02129
The Center for Civic Networking 617-241-9205 fax: 617-241-5064
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Information Infrastructure: Public Spaces for the 21st Century
Let's Start With: Internet Wall-Plugs Everywhere
Then We Can Worry About: "Switched, Interactive, Broadband Services"
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