Viewtron
Viewtron was an early online service offered by Knight-Ridder and AT&T. It started as a videotex service requiring users to have a special terminal, the AT&T Sceptre, then became a computer-based service as Commodore and other personal computers became important in the marketplace.[1] Viewtron used the NAPLPS graphics language to provide a user interface that was graphically sophisticated by the standards of the time.
Viewtron began offering its service on October 30, 1983, featuring news from the Miami Herald and Associated Press. It also offered airline schedules from the Official Airline Guide (OAG), and limited online banking services. Viewtron expanded to include all of Florida in 1984 and to other U.S. cities by 1985. At its height, Viewtron was operated in at least 15 cities by various newspaper companies. After an investment reportedly in excess of $50 million, Viewtron closed on March 31, 1986, after a final attempt by the Independent Commodore Users Group to save the service failed.[2][3]
[edit] References
- ^ Finberg, Howard I. (2003-10-29). "Before the Web, There Was Viewtron". Poynteronline.com. http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=52769. Retrieved 2007-09-03.
- ^ "Viewtron". University of Florida Interactive Media Center. http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/CARLSON/history/viewtron.htm. Retrieved 2007-09-03.
- ^ Negotiations to buy Viewtron fail: Knight-Ridder shuts down service, Infoworld, April 7, 1986, p. 16
[edit] External links
- David Carlson's Online Timeline - The 1980s
- Understanding Viewtron (flash)
- Henry Urrows, Floridians experiment with videotex buying, Infoworld, April 9, 1984
