Micronet 800
{{Short description|1980s online magazine on Prestel}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2013}}
{{Infobox online service
|name=Micronet 800
|title=Micronet 800
|logo=Micronet800-logo.png
|logo_size=250px
|logo_alt=Logo of Micronet 800
|logo caption=Micronet 800 logo
|developer={{ubl |Telemap |Prism Microproducts |ECC Publications}}
|key_people={{ubl |Richard Hease |Bob Denton |David Babsky}}
|type=Information and services provider on Prestel videotex service
|launched={{Start date and age|1983|03|df=yes}}
|discontinued={{End date and age|1991|10|df=yes}}
|pricing=Subscription (quarterly) and usage (time spent on system, some telesoftware, some messaging service actions)
|status=Discontinued
|members={{circa|lk=no}} 25,000 at peak{{refn|group=lower-alpha|The figure reported when Micronet was relaunched in mid-1988.}}
|availability=Closed user group
}}
Micronet 800 was a provider of information and communication services hosted on Prestel, a British videotex service, from 1983 to 1991. It targeted the UK home computer market and operated as an online, subscription-based magazine and database. Subscribers also received Log On, a print quarterly.
{{
cite web
|url=http://www.viewdata.org.uk/index.php?cat=15_Prestel&page=40_Ephemera
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120422002356/http://www.viewdata.org.uk/index.php?cat=15_Prestel&page=40_Ephemera |archive-date=22 April 2012
|title=Log On{{snd}}The Magazine for Micronet Members
|access-date=27 February 2025
}} Scroll down to Log On section and pdfs of issues 1 (July 1987), 2, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 14 (Winter 1990).
Micronet 800 offered computer-related news, reviews of hardware, software, and videogames, access to turn-based and real-time multiplayer games (MUDs), downloadable telesoftware, chatrooms and bulletin boards, business and personal finance advice, and email, telex, and other forms of messaging.
{{
cite web
|title=Micronet 800
|url=https://www.viewdata.org.uk/index.php?cat=15_Prestel&page=12_Micronet-nbsp~800
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230512084738/https://www.viewdata.org.uk/index.php?cat=15_Prestel&page=12_Micronet-nbsp~800
|archive-date=12 May 2023
|access-date=5 March 2025
|website=Celebrating the Viewdata Revolution
}} In addition, a group, club, or individual could rent space on the database.
A subscriber connected to Micronet 800 via the Prestel network using an ordinary phoneline (typically at local call rates){{refn|group=lower-alpha|62% of phone subscribers could access Prestel at local call rates when Micronet 800 launched in March 1983.
{{
cite journal
|journal=Post Office Electrical Engineers' Journal
|title=Prestel: The First Year of Public Service
|first=W. R.
|last=Broadhead
|volume=74
|issue=2
|pages=129{{ndash}}133
|date=July 1981
|url=https://archive.org/details/poeej198107/page/n63/mode/1up
|access-date=15 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}}{{rp|129}} This rose to 94% in April 1984,
{{
cite document
|title=Prestel Briefing
|date=April 1984
|at=Issue 1
|type=brochure
|publisher=Public Relations Department, Prestel
|location=London
}}{{rp|3}} and to 98% in February 1986.
{{
cite document
|title=Prestel Briefing
|date=February 1986
|at=Issue 4
|type=brochure
|publisher=Public Relations Department, Prestel
|location=London
}}{{rp|4}}}} and a microcomputer equipped with a modem.{{refn|group=lower-alpha|A dedicated terminal or an adapted TV set with a keypad or keyboard could also be used to connect to Prestel.}} If their microcomputer had not been set up to access Micronet’s home page automatically, they entered *800# to do so.
History
=Origin=
Micronet 800 stemmed from the development by Bob Denton, in 1980 and 1981, of Electronic Insight, a features and price-comparison site on Prestel listing computers, calculators and other electronic and IT products. Its entry-point was page 800.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Personal Computer World
|title=ACC News
|first=Rupert
|last=Steele
|volume=5
|issue=12
|date=December 1982
|pages=180{{ndash}}181
|url=https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerWorld1982-12/page/180/mode/2up/
|access-date=2 March 2025
|quote=Also at the PCW Show was the Electronic Insight Micronet stand. This was the launch of their new Prestel subscription service, which will be a closed user group, membership of which includes a very simple Prestel adaptor. [...] Watch this space (and Electronics Insight, *800#) for more details.
|via=Internet Archive
}}
In 1982, Electronic Insight was acquired by Telemap, the videotex arm of EMAP (East Midland Allied Press), on the recommendation of Richard Hease, the owner of ECC Publications: EMAP had just bought several computer magazines from him.
{{cite book
|first=Tom
|last=Lean
|title=Electronic dreams: how 1980s Britain learned to love the computer
|date=2016
|publisher=Bloomsbury Sigma
|location=London
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RNaHCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA154
|isbn=978-1-47291-833-8
|oclc=944121056
|access-date=3 March 2025
|via=Google Books
}}{{rp|154}}
Telemap, formed in 1981, was at that time an information provider on Prestel.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Popular Computing Weekly
|title=New Year sees in Prestel-linked Micronet 800 database
|first=David
|last=Kelly
|date=20 October 1982
|volume=1
|issue=28
|page=11
|url=https://archive.org/details/NH2021_Popular_Computing_Weekly_Issue821028.pdf/page/n10/mode/1up
|quote= Telemap gets 60,000 accesses to its pages each month from the 18,000 Prestel users which puts it into the top 20 information providers оп Prestel.
|via=Internet Archive
|access-date=10 March 2025
}} EMAP asked Hease to look into the future viability of Telemap's Prestel presence. In Hease's words, "I thought the only way Prestel was going to work was to make it possible to link micros into it and develop a database micro users would want."{{rp|185}} In autumn 1982, Hease and Denton negotiated a deal with British Telecom that provided substantial investment and positioned Micronet 800 as a key part of a new plan by Prestel for attracting residential users.
{{
cite newspaper The Times
|title=Prestel plans another offensive
|first=Bill
|last=Johnstone
|department=Computers and Technology
|date=6 September 1982
|page=13
|issue=61330
|column=2
|url=https://www.thetimes.com/tto/archive/article/1982-09-06/13/7.html
|url-access=subscription
|quote=The total Micronet 800 project is a joint venture between three private companies and British Telecom. ... £500,000 has been ear-marked by Telecom ... The chairman of all three companies is Mr Richard Hease, who approached Telecom with the scheme.
}} The Department of Trade and Industry provided additional financial backing.{{rp|185}} The arrangement included the free installation for subscribers of a phone jack-socket in which to plug a modem.
{{
cite web
|url=https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=MicronetSpectrumLetterc1983.pdf
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181115001920/https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=MicronetSpectrumLetterc1983.pdf
|archive-date=15 November 2018
|title=Dear Spectrum User
|first=Beverley
|last=Dellow
|date=c. 1983
|type=Letter from Micronet 800 to Sinclair Spectrum users
|quote=As part of this offer, we will also supply you with a FREE jack socket installation worth £25 should you need one (see enclosed jack socket form).
|quote-page=1
|access-date=11 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
{{
cite web
|url=https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=MicronetJackSocketc1983.pdf
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220204203338/https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=MicronetJackSocketc1983.pdf
|archive-date=4 February 2022
|title=Important: Do You Need A Jack Socket?
|date=c. 1983
|type=Form accompanying offer from Micronet 800 to potential subscribers
|quote= [T]he cost of installation [of a] jack socket will be included in the adaptor package price ... if you apply through Micronet 800.
|quote-page=2
|access-date=11 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}}
=Development=
Telemap was responsible for Micronet 800 and the editorial development of the site.
Prism Microproducts{{refn|group=lower-alpha|The distributor of Sinclair Computers in the UK.}} developed the modems needed to make Micronet 800 pages accessible by a variety of home computers. These included the Apple II, ZX81, BBC Micro, Dragon 32/64, IBM PC, PET, ZX Spectrum, Sinclair QL, Lynx, VIC-20, and Commodore 64.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Viewdata & TV User
|title=Netting personal computer users through Prestel
|volume=5
|issue=1
|date=January 1983
|page=8
|quote=Special adaptors which allow the computers to link to Prestel are being made for the popular computers like Sinclair, Apple, BBC and Commodore.
|issn=0260-6984
|url=https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=vatu-v6i1-p8.pdf
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220311093231/https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=vatu-v6i1-p8.pdf
|archive-date=11 March 2022
|access-date=3 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}} Prism's modems ranged from a simple acoustic coupler to integrated network interface controllers, and included the VTX 5000, custom-designed for the ZX Spectrum.
From 1985, prospective Micronet subscribers were sent a list of other modem suppliers.
{{
cite web
|url=http://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=Cover%20letter%20and%20modem%20suppliers.pdf
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013104759/http://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=Cover%20letter%20and%20modem%20suppliers.pdf
|archive-date=13 October 2022
|title=Dear Micro User
|date=c. 1985
|first=Melanie
|last=Ruse
|type=Letter accompanying brochure sent to prospective Micronet 800 subscribers
|access-date=5 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}} That same year, Prism went into receivership and Telemap purchased their modem stock. In 1986, in a bid to increase take-up, Micronet 800 offered a free modem to new users subscribing for a year.
{{
cite newspaper
|newspaper=The Sunday Times
|title=Prestel offer boxes clever
|first=Jane
|last=Bird
|department=News
|date=29 June 1986
|page=63
|issue=8447
|id={{Gale|FP1801731116}}
|quote=Peter Probert ... has bought 10,000 modems, ... and is giving them away free to anyone who takes out a year's subscription to Micronet ... 'It's crazy,' says Probert, marketing manager of Micronet. 'We're not in the business of selling hardware. We just sell an information service. But we can't wait forever for Prestel to be innovative.'
}}
=Growth=
In March 1983, at the launch of the service, the first subscriber was Jeremy Dredge, an estate agent. There were over 2000 subscriptions during the first two months of Micronet 800,
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Personal Computer World
|title=Micronet 800: an electronic magazine?
|first=Maggie
|last=Burton
|volume=6
|issue=7
|date=July 1983
|at=pp. 184{{ndash}}185, 187
|url=https://archive.org/details/pcw-1983-07-s-ocr/page/184/mode/2up
|quote=The target for subscriptions is 12,000 by the end of the year. ... Over 2000 subscriptions in two months and a 50 per cent reply rate on promotional mailings could hardly be called a failure.
|quote-page=187
|access-date=13 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}}{{rp|187}} rising to over 4000 by October.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Personal Computer World
|title=Micronet adaptors
|first=Peter
|last=Tootill
|at=p. 260 col 3
|volume=7
|issue=8
|date=January 1984
|url=https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerWorld1984-01/page/260/mode/1up
|access-date=13 March 2025
|quote=I hear that, at the time of writing (October [1983]), Micronet subscriptions number over 4000. While this may not be anything like as high as Micronet was forecasting 12 months ago, it is a fairly respectable number, more than many people expected[.]
|via=Internet Archive
}}
Just over a year later, in November 1984, the figure had grown to more than 9000, with subscribers to Micronet accounting for nearly 60% of Prestel's residential users.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Personal Computer World
|title=Networks
|first=Peter
|last=Tootill
|at=p. 206 col 2 and fig. 1.
|volume=7
|issue=11
|date=November 1984
|url=https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerWorld1984-11/page/206/mode/1up
|access-date=13 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}} Franchises to run Micronet were given to the Hong Kong Telephone Company and the Swedish PTT.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Popular Computing Weekly
|title=The Net spreads
|page=5
|volume=3
|issue=9
|date=6{{ndash}}12 December 1984
|url=https://archive.org/details/NH2021_Popular_Computing_Weekly_Issue841206.pdf/page/n4/mode/1up
|access-date=24 March 2025
|quote=The Swedish franchise will make Micronet available to users in Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
}} The Micronet news editor stated that in December that year, 1.1 million accesses per week were made to the Micronet database.
By January 1986, there were 18,000 subscribers,
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Sinclair User
|title=Going On-line
|issue=42
|pages=126{{ndash}}127, 132
|first=Chris
|last=Bourne
|date=January 1986
|issn=0262-5458
|url=https://archive.org/details/sinclair-user-magazine-046/page/n125/mode/2up
|access-date=13 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}}{{rp|132}} with 20,000 declared in an advertisement by Micronet published in July that same year.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Sinclair User
|title=How does 20p a day turn your micro into a mainframe?
|author=((Micronet 800))
|issue=52
|at=p. 78 col 1
|type=full-page advert
|date=July 1986
|issn=0262-5458
|url=https://archive.org/details/sinclair-user-magazine-052/page/n77/mode/1up
|access-date=14 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}} 25,000 subscribers and a database of 35,000 pages were reported
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Your Commodore
|title=Widening the Net
|page=7
|date=June 1988
|issue=45
|url=https://archive.org/details/YourCommodoreIssue45Jun88/page/n6/mode/1up
|access-date=23 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}} when Micronet was relaunched under new management in mid-1988.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Acorn User
|title=The Comms Column
|page=13
|issue=71
|date=June 1988
|url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser1988Magazine/AcornUser8806/page/n14/mode/1up
|access-date=23 March 2025
|quote=Micronet 800 has undergone a re-launch with a new managing director, John Tomany; a managing editor, Francis Jago: and a new advertising campaign. The main alterations are a general tidying up of the news and machine-specific areas, which over the past few years have grown in a rather uneven fashion.
}}
Looking back some decades later, David Babsky, Micronet 800's founding editor, observed that:{{rp|157}}{{blockquote|What we found was that there was a high churn rate ... So we kept getting lots of new people, but at the same time about a third of the people we had disappeared.}}
=Incorporation in ''Prestel Microcomputing''=
In May 1984, as one of several specialised services launched on Prestel at the time, British Telecom set up Prestel Microcomputing.
{{
cite web
|url=http://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=PrestelMicrocomputingLaunchLetterMay1984.pdf
|title="Prestel Microcomputing will add a new dimension to your home computing"
|author=British Telecom
|type=Letter to Prestel subscribers
|date=May 1984
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120422001653/http://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=PrestelMicrocomputingLaunchLetterMay1984.pdf
|archive-date=22 April 2012
|access-date=10 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}} This incorporated services from Micronet 800 and the information providers Viewfax 258 (a magazine similar in scope to Micronet 800)
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Personal Computer World
|title=Viewfax 258
|first=Peter
|last=Tootill
|page=261
|volume=7
|issue=8
|date=February 1984
|url=https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerWorld1984-02/1984-02/page/261/mode/1up
|access-date=10 March 2025
|quote= Viewfax 258 [comprises] news and gossip from the micro world, and telesoftware. Much of it is for the BBC Micro, but other systems are supported[.]
|via=Internet Archive
}} and Clubspot 810 (run by ACC, the Association of Amateur Computer Clubs).
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Personal Computer World
|title=ACC News
|first=Rupert
|last=Steele
|page=211
|volume=7
|issue=8
|date=August 1984
|url=https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerWorld1984-08/page/211/mode/1up
|access-date=10 March 2025
|quote=Microcomputing activities on Prestel are now ... in a single ... structure starting on page 456[.] Most of this material will be within a single Prestel Microcomputing CUG (Closed User Group — you'll have to subscribe before you can access the pages). Micronet and Viewfax will be two of the other participants, and ClubSpot[.]
|via=Internet Archive
}}
= Acquisition by British Telecom=
In 1985, Bell Canada bought a 20% share in Telemap, and British Telecom acquired a 25% stake.
{{
cite news
|newspaper=Globe & Mail
|title=Data bases Bell unit's stake
|date=21 June 1985
|page=B14
|id={{Gale|A165611044}}
|quote=Tele-Direct Canada Inc., a unit of Bell Canada ... has bought a 20 per cent share in Telemap, a British company that runs a data base for home computers. British Telecommunications PLC has also acquired a 25 per cent stake.
}} British Telecom became the majority shareholder in 1987, initially managing the company as part of BT Spectrum, its Value Added Services Group, before transferring it to BT Prestel. In 1989, British Telecom acquired the entire company.{{cite magazine |magazine=Log On{{snd}}The magazine for Micronet members |title=Net future secure in BT buyout |issue=9 |page=3 |date=Autumn 1989 |publisher=Telemap |location=London |url=https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=LogOn9Autumn1989.pdf#page=3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181115002846/https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=LogOn9Autumn1989.pdf#page=3 |archive-date=15 November 2018
|via=Internet Archive
|access-date=24 February 2025
}} It moved it to Dialcom House in Apsley, near Hemel Hempstead, and folded the business first into the Dialcom Group (along with BT Prestel and Telecom Gold), and then into BT Managed Network Services.
=Closure=
British Telecom closed Micronet 800 on 31 October 1991.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Acorn User
|title=Major network closes
|page=15
|issue=113
|date=December 1991
|url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser113-Dec91/page/n3/mode/1up
|access-date=10 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}} A letter to members stated that "With over 10,000 members, Micronet is easily the largest online service in the UK specialising in microcomputing. However, it is still not large enough to enable us to maintain a cost-effective service and provide the extra facilities requested by our customers."
{{
cite web
|url=https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=micronetrip.pdf
|title=Micronet to close from 31st October 1991
|date=27 September 1991
|first1=Sue
|last1=Gilbody
|type=letter
|publisher=BT Tymnet
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120506132636/http://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=micronetrip.pdf
|archive-date=6 May 2012
}} The figure of 10,000 was less than 10% of what was predicted shortly after launch. The letter included a free introductory membership to CompuServe, suggested as "[An] excellent alternative to the many products and services provided by Micronet."
Membership had decreased from a peak of around 25,000. The Guardian attributed the decline to the introduction in mid-1988 of an off-peak Prestel time-charge discouraging the use of the "Chatlines" service.
{{
cite news
|newspaper=The Guardian
|date=31 October 1991
|title=Reaching the end of the line
|first=Mike
|last=Brown
|at=p. 33, col 8
|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/187285975
|id={{ProQuest|187285975}}
}} The Times agreed, and also pointed to a steep rise in subscription charges, opining that "BT's failure to provide even this committed group with an economic ... service means that Prestel is destined ... for businesses."
{{
cite newspaper The Times
|title=Hey Prestel! A disappearing act
|first=Matthew
|last=May
|department=Science and Technology
|date=3 October 1991
|page=30
|issue=64141
|column=1
}}
Services provided
File:Micronet800page.jpg section of the database shows an entry to a story competition, {{circa|lk=no}} 1985]]
=Directories and guides=
Micronet 800 had an A{{ndash}}Z online index, published a directory in its Log On print magazine,
For example, see:
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Log On
|date=Spring 1989
|issue=7
|title=Micronet Directory
|page=20
|url=https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=logon07.pdf#page=20
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181115002855/https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=logon07.pdf#page=20
|archive-date=15 November 2018
|access-date=16 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}} and distributed a guide for users containing a London Tube-style map of the database.
{{
cite web
|url=https://archive.org/details/your-guide-to-micronet-1986/mode/2up
|title=Your Guide to Micronet
|date=1986
|publisher=Telemap
|location=London
|access-date=18 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}}
=Chatlines=
A form of chatroom, Chatlines began in late 1984 as a single online chat service where users could post messages that other users could read and respond to. It was described in the vocabulary of the time as a "Citizens' Band (CB) emulator".
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Sinclair User
|title=Microsoft matters
|issue=36
|page=7
|first=Sid
|last=Smith
|date=March 1985
|quote=Only two months after Chatline's opening, over 15,000 messages were posted on the system during December 1984.
|issn=0262-5458
|url=https://archive.org/details/sinclair-user-magazine-046/page/n125/mode/2up
|access-date=18 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}} A year later, Chatlines was divided into six special-interest sections and moved to a mainframe computer.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Electronics & Computing Monthly
|title=Net News
|page=57
|date=June 1985
|quote=Chatline is already a success{{snd}}registering either first or second most accessed area in the monthly Prestel survey, and publishing around 400 messages per evening.
|url=https://archive.org/details/Electronics_And_Computing_Monthly_1985_06.pdf/page/n35/mode/1up
|access-date=18 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}}
By 1986, eight Chatlines were available: two so-called "Daisychats", each composed of a continuous loop of linked videotex frames where, once full, the newest posting overwrote the oldest; and six online forums, where postings were archived. The forums, known as "lines", included ones for politics and religion (the latter was monitored), "Gay Chatline", and a weekly "Celebrity Chatline" (launched in 1985),
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Micro User
|title=Micronet launches a new Chatline
|page=24
|volume=3
|issue=3
|date=May 1985
|url=https://archive.org/details/eu_The_Micro_User_1985-05_OCR/page/n23/mode/1up
|access-date=19 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}}
which operated like a phone-in{{snd}}users posted questions to a celebrity,{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Those interviewed included Clive Sinclair, Cynthia Payne, Douglas Adams, Fatima Whitbread, Feargal Sharkey, Lord Cardigan, and Terry Pratchett.}} who would answer them during an interview by a Micronet editor.{{rp|127}}
In June 1990, British Telecom suspended Chatlines.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Acorn User
|title=Chatlines suspended
|first=David
|last=Janda
|issue=99
|page=17
|date=October 1990
|url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser099-Oct90/page/n18/mode/1up
|quote=[S]ince June all chatlines have been suspended ... owing to a few people abusing them. ... [British Telecom] states that it is currently reviewing ways of monitoring the chatlines in a more efficient and effective manner. Previously, chatlines were monitored on an ad hoc basis.
|access-date=22 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}} Micronet stated that sporadic monitoring had not prevented abuse of the service, and that it would investigate how to operate Chatlines in a "fully monitored" way in future, though without committing to a reinstatement.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Log On
|title=Chatlines and Log On
|issue=12
|page=4
|date=Summer 1990
|url=https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=logon12.pdf#page=4
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181115002842/https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=logon12.pdf#page=4
|archive-date=15 November 2018
|access-date=22 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}} In the event, Chatlines did not return. A year later, Micronet introduced a moderated "Line Noise" forum.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Amiga Computing
|title=Noise on the Net
|first=Eddie
|last=McKendrick
|date=June 1991
|issue=37
|page=135
|url=https://archive.org/details/amiga-computing-issue-37-june-1991-optimized/page/135/mode/1up
|access-date=22 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}}
=Teleconferencing=
DialTalk (briefly "TeleTalk"), a teleconferencing service, opened in 1988. A user could hold live conferences or discussions with up to sixty-three other users in one of 30 "rooms", and convene breakaway or private meetings in other vacant rooms.{{rp|29 col 2}}
=Downloadable software=
In return for a fee or royalties, Micronet 800 encouraged individuals, amateur computer groups and software companies to supply programs that could be stored on Micronet's 800 telesoftware database and downloaded by subscribers.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Sinclair User
|title=Written any good programs lately?
|issue=43
|page=10
|first=Phil
|last=Godsell
|date=October 1985
|type=advert
|issn=0262-5458
|url=https://archive.org/details/sinclair-user-magazine-043/page/n9/mode/1up
|access-date=12 March 2025
|quote=Micronet 800 are currently looking for good quality Spectrum programs to load onto our mainframes and offer direct to our thousands of members. [Y]ou'll earn a substantial fee, or top royalties[.] We'll distribute your programs as 'telesoftware' ... delivered via the phone lines to Micronet subscribers nationwide. Just send us your cassette[.]
|via=Internet Archive
}}
Originally, about half of the programs were free, with the rest available at discounts of around 15% or more.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Commodore Computing International
|title=Micronet{{snd}}a new look
|pages=28{{ndash}}29, 111
|date=July 1988
|volume=6
|issue=12
|url=https://archive.org/details/Commodore_Computing_International_Vol_06_No_12_1988-07_Croftward_GB/page/n28/mode/1up
|access-date=21 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}}{{rp|29}} In early 1989, however, Micronet abandoned paid-for telesoftware and began supplying programs free of charge via a Prestel gateway.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=ST World
|title=Telesoftware
|first=David
|last=Jones
|page=98
|issue=37
|date=March 1989
|url=https://archive.org/details/ST_World_Magazine_Issue_37/page/n99/mode/1up
|access-date=21 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}} Microcomputers for which programs were made available included the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro, IBM PC, and Spectrum.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Log On
|date=Spring 1989
|issue=7
|title=Telesoftware Gateway{{snd}}Top 5's
|pages=18{{ndash}}19
|url=https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=logon07.pdf#page=19
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181115002855/https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=logon07.pdf#page=19
|archive-date=15 November 2018
|access-date=21 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}}
When Micronet 800 launched in 1983, providers of programs on Prestel were using a protocol drawn up by the UK's Council for Educational Technology (CET)
{{
cite web
|url=https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED279288
|title=Telesoftware: CET Information Sheet No. 3
|type=Abstract
|author=Council for Educational Technology
|date=September 1981
|id={{ERIC|ED279288}}
|access-date=11 March 2025
{{
cite document
|title=Format Recommendations for Prestel Telesoftware
|type=booklet
|publisher=Council for Educational Technology
|date=February 1982
|location=London
}} Note: this document was superseded by
{{
cite web
|title=Format Recommendations for Prestel Telesoftware
|type=booklet
|publisher=Council for Educational Technology
|date=June 1986
|location=London
|url=https://ia800107.us.archive.org/0/items/prestel-telesoftware-protocol-CET-1986/Prestel_Telesoft_Protocol_Low_Res.pdf
|access-date=11 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}} after consulting British Telecom, microcomputer manufacturers, users, and educational software agencies.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Practical Computing
|title=Prestel initiative will remove the barriers
|first=Mike
|last=Brown
|date=October 1981
|volume=4
|issue=10
|pages=53{{ndash}}54
|url=https://ia800600.us.archive.org/31/items/practical-computing/PracticalComputing-1981-10.pdf#page=53
|access-date=11 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Several formats for telesoftware downloadable from Prestel and Prestel-compatible videotex systems were trialled in the early 1980s.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Practical Computing
|title=Views on telesoftware display standards
|first=Peter
|last=Blower
|date=August 1981
|volume=4
|issue=8
|pages=100{{ndash}}102
|url=https://ia800600.us.archive.org/31/items/practical-computing/PracticalComputing-1981-08.pdf#page=100
|access-date=11 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}}}} In early 1991, Micronet issued FCET, a revised version of the CET format, that much decreased download times.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Acorn User
|title=It's faster with Fred
|first=Paul
|last=Vigay
|page=17
|issue=113
|date=February 1991
|url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser1991Magazine/AcornUser9102/page/n18/mode/1up
|access-date=14 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}}
Micro Arts, creators of computer art in text and graphic form,
{{
cite web
|title=1984 Computer digital art and music
|url=https://microartsgroup.com/1984-computer-digital-art-and-music/
|first=Geoff
|last=Davis
|publisher=Story Software
|website=Micro Arts Group
|date=15 November 2020
|quote=The art programs were [first] distributed on data cassettes [for the] Sinclair Spectrum and Acorn BBC Micro.
|access-date=17 March 2025
}} published articles and downloadable programs on Micronet 800 from 1985 onwards.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Personal Computer World
|title=Micro who? What a carry-on!
|first=Guy
|last=Kewney
|date=October 1985
|at=p. 110 col 4
|volume=8
|issue=10
|url=https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerWorld1985-10/page/102/mode/1up
|access-date=17 March 2025
|quote=The Micro Arts database and some software is now available on Micronet (Prestel Microcomputing)[.]
|via=Internet Archive
}}
=Games=
The longest-running online game on Micronet 800 was Starnet, a turn-based game, with players sending in moves{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Using a "response frame", a preformatted Prestel message page.}} that would be executed once a day.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Log On
|title=Starnet
|first=Chris
|last=Bourne
|issue=7
|page=8
|date=Spring 1989
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181115002855/https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=logon07.pdf#page=8
|archive-date=15 November 2018
|url=https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=logon07.pdf#page=8
|quote=There are normally three moves a week, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, sent in by response frame. This leaves plenty of time for plotting and organising your strategies, and to aid this Micronet provides a special chatline for Starnet players.
|access-date=16 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}} Micronet 800 also hosted Shades, one of the first real-time multiplayer games.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Commodore Computing International
|title=Micronet's Multi-user Game
|at=p. 16{{snd}}launch on Micronet
|volume=5
|issue=4
|date=November 1986
|url=https://archive.org/details/Commodore_Computing_International_Vol_05_No_04_1986-11_Croftward_GB/page/n15/mode/1up
}} {{
cite magazine
|magazine=Commodore Computing International
|title=Micronet Enhances Shades
|at=p. 5{{snd}}scrolling version announced
|volume=6
|issue=7
|date=February 1988
|url=https://archive.org/details/commodorecomputinginternational198802_202003/page/n5/mode/1up
}} Retrieved 16 March 2025{{snd}}via Internet Archive.
Other multiplayer games offered included The Round Britain Yacht Race,
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Sinclair User
|title=Voyage round my modem
|issue=43
|page=6
|date=October 1985
|issn=0262-5458
|url=https://archive.org/details/sinclair-user-magazine-043/page/n5/mode/1up
|access-date=23 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}} Trash ("The game puts you in the role of a pan-dimensional dustman"), and Casino, which featured simulations of slot machines and games such as roulette, blackjack, keno, baccarat, and poker.
Janda, David (June 1990). [https://archive.org/details/AcornUser1990Magazine/AcornUser9006/page/n18/mode/1up "A pile of trash"] and [https://archive.org/details/AcornUser1990Magazine/AcornUser9006/page/n18/mode/1up "Dynamic flutter"]. Acorn User. No. 95. p. 17. Retrieved 23 March 2025{{snd}}via Internet Archive.
=Email=
Each Prestel user had a unique Mailbox number{{snd}}usually derived from the last nine digits of their phone number{{snd}}that was used to address and send messages to others on Prestel. Reportedly, Micronet 800 subscribers were particularly enthusiastic about the medium, sending twice as many Mailbox messages as regular Prestel users.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Sinclair User
|title=Micronet matters
|issue=37
|page=8
|first=Sid
|last=Smith
|date=April 1985
|issn=0262-5458
|url=https://archive.org/details/sinclair-user-magazine-037/page/n7/mode/1up
|quote=Net members proved a talkative lot ... sending twice as many mailbox messages as other Prestel users.
|via=Internet Archive
}}
In 1984, Mailbox was connected to the telex system via Prestel's Telex Link: telexes could be sent and received like standard messages.
{{
cite book
|url=https://archive.org/details/prestel-customer-handbook-1987/
|title=Prestel Customer Handbook
|chapter=Message Services
|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/prestel-customer-handbook-1987/page/n5/mode/1up
|page=8
|quote=Telex Link enables you to send telexes worldwide, and receive them too.
|date=September 1987
|access-date=20 March 2025
|author=British Telecom
|author-link=BT Group
|via=Internet Archive
}} From mid-1987, Micronet's "Interlink" facility offered subscribers direct access to the Telecom Gold email, chat, and information service.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Commodore Computing International
|title=Micronet goes for Gold
|date=October 1987
|issue=31
|page=32
|url=https://archive.org/details/commodore-computing-international-1987-10/page/n31/mode/1up
|access-date=24 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Log On
|title=Interlink: the golden gateway
|issue=2
|date=Autumn 1987
|page=7
|quote=But Interlink isn't just about email ... The Financial Times and Datasolve are just two of many companies who provide business information, and for the home user there's a 'Chat' feature and hundreds of programs you can run on Telecom Gold's mainframe.
|url=https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=LogonIss2.pdf#page=7
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181115002846/https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=LogonIss2.pdf#page=7
|archive-date=15 November 2018
|access-date=20 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}}
=Magazines=
Micronet created separate online magazines{{snd}}"micromags"{{snd}} for owners of a range of popular home computers,{{refn|group=lower-alpha|In Spring 1989, Micronet listed these as Spectrum (with a new edition issued each Monday), PC & Compatibles (Tuesday), Commodore 64/128 (Wednesday), Atari ST (Thursday), Commodore Amiga (Thursday), Amstrad CPC (Friday), and BBC Micro (Friday).
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Log On
|title=Micro Magazines
|issue=7
|date=
|at=See foot of p. 20
|url=https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=logon07.pdf#page=20
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181115002855/https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=logon07.pdf#page=20
|archive-date=15 November 2018
|access-date=21 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}}}} adapting its offering according to levels of ownership of particular modelsFor example, see:
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Log On
|title=Inside the ST Micromag
|date=Christmas 1989
|issue=10
|page=14
|url=https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=logon10.pdf#page=14
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181115002847/https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=logon10.pdf#page=14
|archive-date=15 November 2018
|access-date=21 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}} and market developments.{{rp|28}}
Bizznet, the first non-microcomputer section in Micronet's database, launched in 1986 with guidance for small businesses on accounting, law, tax, insurance, and finance.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Acorn User
|title=Bizznet new on Micronet
|date=January 1986
|issue=42
|page=129
|url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser1986Magazine/AcornUser8601/page/n130/mode/1up
|access-date=21 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}} In 1988, it was renamed Money Xtra
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=8000 Plus
|title=Down to Business
|first=Andrew
|last=Bibby
|at=p. 30, "Comms çi, comms ça"
|issue=23
|date=August 1988
|url=https://archive.org/details/8000-plus-magazine-23/page/n29/mode/1up
|access-date=21 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}} and refocused on personal finance,
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Acorn User
|title=Micronet set for carve-up
|date=April 1988
|issue=69
|page=9
|quote=The Bizznet section, originally aimed at small businesses, is being renamed and revamped into a personal finance section.
|url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser069-Apr88/page/n10/mode/1up
|access-date=21 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}} providing consumer, financial, and tax advice, together with a legal advisory service.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Log On
|title=Online Law with Legal Eagle
|pages=5{{ndash}}6
|issue=9
|date=Autumn 1989
|url=http://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=LogOn9Autumn1989.pdf#page=5
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227144353/http://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=LogOn9Autumn1989.pdf#page=5
|archive-date=27 February 2012
|access-date=21 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}}
Xtra!, described as a leisure magazine, also began in 1986, and contained music reviews, analysis of current affairs, restaurant and bar reviews, and letters from users.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Log On
|title=Xtra{{snd}}Read All About It
|first=Chris
|last=Bourne
|page=6
|volume=2
|issue=2
|date=Winter 1989
|url=https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=logon202.pdf#page=6
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181115002916/https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=logon202.pdf#page=6
|archive-date=15 November 2018
|access-date=21 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}} Separate sections covered TV and radio (Waveguide),
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Log On
|title=Four Years On the Box
|first=Chris
|last=Bourne
|page=9
|issue=12
|date=Summer 1990
|url=https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=logon12.pdf#page=9
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181115002842/https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=logon12.pdf#page=9
|archive-date=15 November 2018
|access-date=21 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}} and consumer electronics (Voltage).
Computers, music, and MIDI-music were the subject of MidiSpot,
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Log On
|title=MidiSpot moves to Micronet
|issue=11
|page=4
|date=Spring 1990
|url=https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=logon11.pdf
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181115002920/https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=logon11.pdf
|archive-date=15 November 2018
|access-date=21 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}} which incorporated Micronet's earlier Music City magazine, launched in 1988.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Your Commodore
|title=The Net Gets Musical
|first=David
|last=Janda
|pages=13{{ndash}}14
|volume=4
|issue=5
|date=February 1988
|url=https://archive.org/details/YourCommodoreIssue41Feb88/page/n11/mode/1up
|access-date=21 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
|quote=Micronet ... is inviting submissions from all subscribers, and if the tune is good enough you'll get paid for it as well.
|quote-page=14
}}
=Gallery=
This was an area of the database where, for a fee, users could rent pages and publish anything they wished, subject to monitoring by Micronet for instances of libel or obscenity.
{{cite magazine
|magazine=Log On
|title=Gallery
|first=Julian
|last=Hayward
|issue=7
|pages=13{{ndash}}14
|date=Spring 1989
|url=https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=logon07.pdf#page=13
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181115002855/https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=logon07.pdf#page=13
|archive-date=15 November 2018
|via=Internet Archive
|access-date=24 February 2025
}}
Personnel
; Management : Richard Hease (co-founder 1982{{ndash}}1983){{snd}}Bob Denton (co-founder 1982{{ndash}}1983){{snd}}Tim Schoonmaker (managing director 1983{{ndash}}1986){{snd}}Tom Baird (managing director 1987){{snd}}John Tomany (managing director 1988{{ndash}}1990){{snd}}Michael Weatherseed (general manager 1990{{ndash}}1991){{fact|date=March 2025}}
; Editors : David Babsky (founding editor){{snd}}Simon D'Arcy (later, publisher)
{{
cite web
|url=https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=PrestelOfflineMicronet800April1986.pdf#page=3
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013104808/https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=PrestelOfflineMicronet800April1986.pdf#page=3
|archive-date=13 October 2022
|type=Letter to Micronet 800 subscribers
|title=Dear Member
|first=Peter
|last=Probert
|date=April 1986
|access-date=5 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}}{{snd}}Sid Smith{{snd}}Francis Jago (managing editor){{snd}}Paul Needs{{rp|3}}{{snd}}Ian Burley{{rp|3}}{{snd}}Barbara Conway
; Other editorial staff : Ken Young (journalist){{snd}}Adam Denning (technical editor){{snd}}David Rosenbaum (news and music editor){{snd}}Chris Bourne (Sunday Xtra editor){{snd}}Paul Vigay (Acorn editor){{rp|3}}{{snd}}Chris Lewis (Sinclair editor){{snd}}Rupert Goodwins (editorial assistant){{snd}}Afshin Rattansi (music and arts journalist){{snd}}David Farmbrough (music journalist){{fact|date=March 2025}}
; Production : Robin Wilkinson (software manager){{rp|315}}{{snd}}Val Burgess (telesoftware database manager){{snd}}Mike Brown (technical manager){{rp|187}}{{snd}}Richard Tyner (software sales and acquisition){{snd}}John Mason (software testing and pricing){{snd}}John Prout (technical helpdesk){{snd}}Denise Shemuel (editorial database manager){{snd}}Colin Morgan{{snd}}Roger Cracknell{{snd}}Gary Smith{{snd}}Robert O'Donnell{{snd}}Patrick Reilly{{snd}}Daemonn Brody{{rp|6}}{{snd}}Denise Slater (graphics designer, telesoftware pages){{snd}}Anna Smith (editorial graphics designer){{snd}}Sharon Giles{{fact|date=March 2025}}
; Marketing : Ian Rock (marketing manager){{snd}}Peter Probert (public relations manager) {{snd}}Phil Godsell (product manager){{snd}}Lynne Thomas (promotions manager)
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Log On
|title=A day in the life of ...
|page=6
|date=Autumn 1987
|issue=2
|url=https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=LogonIss2.pdf#page=6
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181115002846/https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=LogonIss2.pdf#page=6
|archive-date=15 November 2018
|access-date=23 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}}{{snd}}Claire Walker (advertising and public relations executive){{snd}}Lynne Bennett (marketing executive){{fact|date=March 2025}}
; Other contributors : Steve Gold{{snd}}Robert Schifreen{{snd}}David Janda{{fact|date=March 2025}}{{snd}}Richard Poynder, Bizznet editor
In the run-up to Micronet 800's launch in March 1983, staff worked out of EMAP's offices in Hatton Garden in London.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Sinclair User
|issn=0262-5458
|title=More ideas than a think-tank. More programs than a software house. Less money than you'd expect.
|author=((Micronet 800))
|pages=16{{ndash}}17
|issue=9
|date=December 1982
|url=https://archive.org/details/sinclair-user-magazine-009/page/n15/mode/2up
|type=Double-page advert
|quote=Send to: Micronet 800, Petersham House, 57a Hatton Garden, London ECIB IDT
|quote-page=17
}} [coupon text]. Retrieved 14 March 2025 {{snd}}via Internet Archive. Subsequently, editorial staff were based in London's Clerkenwell.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Sinclair User
|issn=0262-5458
|title=Adaptor opens up the Micronet world
|first=Stephen
|last=Adams
|pages=56{{ndash}}57
|issue=20
|date=November 1983
|url=https://archive.org/details/sinclair-user-magazine-020/page/n55/mode/2up
|quote=Micronet 800 is at Scriptor Court, 155 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3AD.
|quote-page=57
}} Note: staff later moved to 8 Herbal Hill in the same area. Technical staff were first based in Peterborough.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Sinclair User
|issn=0262-5458
|title=Dock your games software into Britain's largest home-user database ... one cassette reaches thousands of enthusiasts.
|author=((Micronet 800))
|page=76
|type=Full-page advert
|issue=16
|date=July 1983
|url=https://archive.org/details/sinclair-user-magazine-016/page/n75/mode/1up
|quote=Send your disk or cassette, together with the coupon to Micronet 800 [at] Bushfield House, Orton Centre, Peterborough PE2 0UW
}}
=Quotes=
"The thing that inspired me most was looking at the Gutenberg Bible, the first book to be printed using moveable type. Micronet is to communication in the 80s what that Bible was to the Middle Ages."{{snd}}David Babsky (1984), Micronet 800 founding editor.
{{
cite magazine
|magazine=Sinclair User
|title=The Micronet Story
|issue=32
|pages=65, 70
|first=Chris
|last=Bourne
|date=November 1984
|issn=0262-5458
|url=https://archive.org/details/sinclair-user-magazine-032/page/n64/mode/1up
|via=Internet Archive
}}{{rp|70}}
"Long term, I see being able to program your computer with various names of journalists you particularly like, various sports that you have a habit of looking at, and being able to program your computer at 4 o'clock or 5 o'clock in the morning to log on to Prestel Micronet and then download very rapidly information which will then be printed out. So instead of sitting on the train in the morning with your Times, Guardian, Telegraph, or whatever, you will have a printout with all your favourite journalists, your sports pages, cartoons ... you can make up your own newspaper."{{snd}}Simon D'Arcy (1986), Micronet 800 publisher.
{{
cite episode
|title=Micro Live 17th Feb 1986 part 3
|type=TV broadcast
|series=Micro Live
|network=BBC2
|first=Simon
|last=D'Arcy
|date=February 1986
|url=https://archive.org/details/vhsvault_Micro_Live_17th_Feb_1986_part_3
|time=07:02
|time-caption=Quote starts at
|access-date=4 March 2025
|via=Internet Archive
}} This is a segment from season 2, episode 15: "Long-Distance Information", first aired on 14 February 1986. The interviewer is Andrew Neil.
See also
- {{annotated link|Email}}
- {{annotated link|Home computer}}
- {{annotated link|Online game}}
- {{annotated link|Prestel}}
- {{annotated link|Telesoftware}}
- {{annotated link|Viewdata}}
Notes
{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite book
|first=Tom
|last=Lean
|title=Electronic dreams: how 1980s Britain learned to love the computer
|date=2016
|publisher=Bloomsbury Sigma
|location=London
|chapter=Chapter 6: Two Information Revolutions That Weren't
|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RNaHCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA143
|pages=143{{ndash}}174
|isbn=978-1-47291-833-8
|oclc=944121056
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RNaHCgAAQBAJ
}} The section on Micronet 800 (pages 153{{ndash}}157) describes its history in the twin contexts of the 1980s boom in Britain of home computing and the genesis, growth and decline of the Prestel videotex service.
External links
- [https://bobdenton.com/electronic-insight/ The origin of Micronet 800] as told by Bob Denton, co-founder.
- [https://db.viewdata.org.uk/*/s/Micronet Micronet videotex frames] archived by [https://db.viewdata.org.uk/about The Viewdata Database], a sub-project of [http://www.viewdata.org.uk/ Celebrating the Viewdata Revolution]
- [https://nosher.net/archives/computers/?type=source&value=Micronet Micronet adverts] in [https://nosher.net/archives/computers/ A history of the microcomputer industry in 300 adverts]
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