videotex

2 definitions found

videotex - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  videotex
  
     An obsolete electronic service offering people the privilege
     of paying to read the weather on their television screens
     instead of having somebody read it to them for free while they
     brush their teeth.  The idea bombed everywhere it wasn't
     government-subsidised, because by the time videotex was
     practical the installed base of personal computers could hook
     up to time-sharing services and do the things for which
     videotex might have been worthwhile better and cheaper.
     Videotex planners badly overestimated both the appeal of
     getting information from a computer and the cost of local
     intelligence at the user's end.  Like the gorilla arm
     effect, this has been a cautionary tale to hackers ever since.
     See also vannevar.
  
     [Jargon File]
  

videotex - Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) :

  videotex
   n. obs.
  
     An electronic service offering people the privilege of paying to read
     the weather on their television screens instead of having somebody
     read it to them for free while they brush their teeth. The idea
  bombed
     everywhere it wasn't government-subsidized, because by the time
     videotex was practical the installed base of personal computers could
     hook up to timesharing services and do the things for which videotex
     might have been worthwhile better and cheaper. Videotex planners
  badly
     overestimated both the appeal of getting information from a computer
     and the cost of local intelligence at the user's end. Like the
     gorilla arm effect, this has been a cautionary tale to hackers ever
     since. See also vannevar.