 | |
| Developer | Post Office Telecommunications |
|---|---|
| Key people | Samuel Fedida |
| Type | General-purpose public videotex service |
| Launch date | 1979 |
| Discontinued | 1994 |
| Platform(s) | GEC 4000 minicomputers in a star network configuration with packet-switched connections |
| Operating system(s) | OS4000 operating system supporting BABBAGE high-level assembly language |
| Status | Discontinued |
| Members | c. 90,000 subscribers at peak |
| Pricing model | Subscription (quarterly) and usage (time spent on system, some pages, some messaging service actions) |
Prestel was the brand name of a videotex service launched in the UK in 1979 by Post Office Telecommunications, a division of the British Post Office.[a] It had around 90,000 subscribers at its peak,[2] and was a forerunner of the internet-based online services developed in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.[3] Prestel was discontinued in 1994.
A subscriber to Prestel used an adapted TV set with a keypad or keyboard, a dedicated terminal, or a microcomputer, to interact with a central database via an ordinary phoneline. Prestel offered hundreds of thousands of pages of general and specialised information, ranging from consumer advice to financial data, as well as services such as home banking, online shopping, travel booking, telesoftware, and messaging.
In April 1984, British Telecom won a Queen's Award for Technological Achievement for the development of Prestel.[4]
- ^ a b Reid, Alexander (24 September 2021). "Alexander Reid : Autobiographical life story" (PDF). www.livesretold.co.uk. See section "Prestel", pp. 120–129. Retrieved 24 October 2024. Alexander "Alex" Reid was the first Director of Prestel at Post Office Telecommunications / British Telecom, holding the post during the service's initial development and for the first few years after its commercial launch.
- ^ "History of Computing: Prestel". Parker Shaw. Retrieved 21 October 2024.
- ^ Davenport, Lucinda D. (2023). "The Viability of Viewdata as a Mass Medium: A Case Study of Prestel, the Prototype for Computerized Information Systems, the Internet". TMG Journal for Media History. 26 (2): 1–29. doi:10.18146/tmg.845. ISSN 1387-649X. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
- ^
"The Queen's Award for Technological Achievement 1984". The London Gazette (Supplement). No. 49713. 21 April 1984. p. 2.
Her Majesty the Queen has been graciously pleased to confer Her Award for Technological Achievement in 1984 upon ... : The Videotex Section of BT Research Department and the Prestel Executive of British Telecommunications, Martlesham Heath, Ipswich and London, E.C.4. Nature of product or development: 'Prestel' viewdata system.
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