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Frenchman behind Minitel - the online system that preceded the internet - dies aged 88

AFP
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Frenchman behind Minitel - the online system that preceded the internet - dies aged 88
The Minitel, France's precursor to the internet, is displayed at The Museum of Failure in Los Angeles on December 7, 2017. The Museum of Failure at the A+D Architecture and Design Museum is open through February 4, 2018. - The words "Colgate Lasagna" don't sound particularly tasty, so perhaps it's no surprise that the dental care brand's 1980s-era frozen food line is now on the menu at Museum of Failure. The museum was initially unveiled in Sweden in June, before opening in California this month. On display are more than 100 items, including a special section dedicated to US President Donald Trump's ventures -- which museum director and curator Samuel West says is a "shrine" to the president. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP) / TO GO WITH AFP STORY by Javier TOVAR, "Colgate Lasagne, Crystal Pepsi and a Trump board game: all museum-worthy failures"

Gerard Thery, the telecoms engineer whose Minitel project brought internet-style communications to France long before other industrialised countries, has died aged 88, officials said on Monday.

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Thery, who oversaw the development of the Minitel ahead of its commercial launch in 1982, died in Paris on July 18th, the civil registry confirmed.

Developed by France Telecom and freely distributed to households, the Minitel allowed users to check the news, search phone directories, buy train and plane tickets, make restaurant reservations and even engage in online sex chats.

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With its simple interface and easy-to-use payments system, the boxy device is thought to have been an early source of inspiration to Apple founder Steve Jobs.

At its height in the early 1990s the Minitel was installed in nine million French homes, with 26,000 services available and annual revenues of about a billion euros.

But the advent of the internet made its dial-up connection and black-and-white screen obsolete.

Despite the protests of some fierce hold-outs, operator France Telecom-Orange decided to pull the plug in 2012.

French farmers were among those who mourned it the most, as it was still widely used at the time in remote areas without access to high-speed internet.

While the Minitel was a major success at home and a source of national pride, France never succeeded in exporting the technology.

Some critics blamed widespread use of the Minitel for France lagging behind other wealthy countries in adopting internet use.

But others argued that the Minitel gave France early expertise in e-commerce, pointing to successful entrepreneurs such as Xavier Niel of French telecoms network Free, who got their start as service providers on the system.

"I consider it to have been something great, even if it ended at an impasse," Thery said at an event organised by France's Association for ICT History in 2019.

Thery was born in the small town of Sallaumines in France's northern Pas-de-Calais region in 1933 and spent his entire career in telecoms, serving as national telecommunications chief from 1974 until 1981.

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jpq 2021/07/26 20:37
Wow, Minitel was very advanced for its time!

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