French Web Precursor Marked for Termination

In 1982, France Telecom, the French national phone service launched a text-based information service called Minitel. Home and business users across France quickly came to rely on the service to look up information such as phone numbers, operating hours of businesses. Customers were even able to make purchases and chat, which led to a proliferation of pornographic sites. The Minitel terminal can be described as a toaster-sized device that plugs into the phone line.

Users who subscribed to Minitel were no longer given a printed while pages directory, and usage of the system was widespread throughout France. Eventually, France Telecom exported the service to other countries. But on July 25th, France Telecom announced <http://allthingsd.com/20110725/france-telecom-to-bid-adieu-to-minitel/> that they will be ending the service on June 30th of next year. Even though they still have millions of subscribers and the service is profitable, the architecture of the system is built on obsolete technology.