http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61058-2003Sep24.html
Telephoned-based visual data services along the lines of Prestel, Minitel, and Telidon were all the rage over two decades ago, but in North America, it turned out they were a solution looking for a problem. They were effectively swamped by the InterNet. In France, it was a different story, and Minitel is still operational, with its terminals now Net-connected.
Reviewing the history of this technology as it played out in France is a useful object lesson in how environments and technologies interact in creating a solution, rather than a technology simply becoming the solution.
Posted by jho at October 8, 2003 11:39 AM