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A capsule history of online news and information
systems
by David Carlson
© 1999-2009 All Rights Reserved
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Select a decade |
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| 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s |
1986-89
| 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 |
| Year | U.K. | U.S. & Canada | Europe | Asia/Other |
| 1986 | Prestel reports 65,000 terminals in use and 1,200 information providers. Users view 8.7 million pages each week. | July 16: The first Freenet (Cleveland) comes online under the auspices of the Society for Public Access Computing. | France: Parisien Libere, a French newspaper, reports 180,000 videotex calls a day via Minitel, averaging 52,000 hours of use per month. | |
| 1986 con't |
First "personal" laser printer, the Apple Laserwriter, is introduced. Price: $7,000. | France: Some 1.4 million Minitel terminals are in use. French Telecom grosses $70 million on the service. | April: Japan's Captain expands to 245 cities and expects to sell 100,000 terminals. | |
| 1986 con't |
Sept. 16: New York Times and Covidea announce New York Pulse, a service for computer users. | |||
| 1986 con't |
The Source hits the 60,000 subscriber mark and becomes profitable. | Spain: Ibertex, the Spanish videotex system, goes public, using the CEPT and Antiope standards. | ||
| 1986 con't |
CompuServe is purchased by H&R Block Co. for $23 million. | |||
| 1987 | January: UK has some 4 million teletext decoders in operation. | The Middlesex (Mass.) News launches Fred the Computer, a single-line BBS system previewing the next day's edition. | France's Intelmatique has sold videotex systems in the U.S., Austria, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Italy, Kuwait, Greece, Holland, New Zealand and Norway. | First E-mail message from China is sent to Germany on Sept. 20. |
| 1987 con't |
April: The Source is bought by a venture capital firm. | Japan: Some 15,000 teletext decoders are in operation. Services are carried on 10 stations in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. | ||
| 1987 con't |
Microsoft ships the 1 millionth copy of Windows. Meanwhile, Apple introduces "Hypercard," a hypertext system. | |||
| 1987 con't |
Ted Turner starts the cable-TV revolution when he launches CNN, Cable News Network. | |||
| 1988 | Sept. 20: Apple and Quantum Computer Services announce AppleLink, a graphical online service for Apple computer users. | Spain: The national teletext system is officially launched. It is called “Telecinco” (Telefive). | ||
| 1988 con't |
June: IBM and Sears change the name of Trintex to Prodigy. | |||
| 1988 con't |
July: Prodigy begins test marketing in Hartford, Atlanta and California with a service for PCs. | |||
| 1988 con't |
Nov. 2: Internet worm burrows through the Net, affecting 6,000 of the 60,000 hosts on the Internet. | |||
| 1988 con't |
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is developed by Jarkko Oikarinen | |||
| 1988 con't |
Oct. 10: New York Times photographers use a Macintosh and 9600 bps modem to send Dodgers-Mets photos from L.A. to New York. | |||
| 1988 con't |
Dec. 6: Covidea announces it will close its videotex services, Pronto and Business Banking. | |||
| 1989 | CompuServe and MCImail test Internet relay of electronic mail. | |||
| 1989 con't |
Prodigy begins rolling out service in various metro areas. Pricing is unique - a flat rate of $9.95 per month plus a $49.95 start-up kit. It also sells modems for $100. | |||
| 1989 con't |
January: New York Newsday adds a second phone line to its online system to handle multiple callers. | |||
| 1989 con't |
January: Quantum and Tandy roll out PC-Link, an online service for IBM-compatible owners and a forerunner of America Online. | |||
| 1989 con't |
The Atlanta Journal and Constitution launch Access Atlanta via a telephone company videotex gateway. | |||
| 1989 con't |
June 29: CompuServe buys The Source for an undisclosed sum and closes it for good on Aug. 1. | |||
| 1989 con't |
Knight-Ridder's PressLink opens services to other newspapers. | |||
| 1989 con't |
October: Omaha World Herald plans videotex system that does not include its newspaper. | |||
| 1989 con't |
October: AppleLink is renamed America Online after Apple pulls out of the partnership. Owner Quantum says PC software is in the works. The company also offers Q-Link for Commodore users and PC-Link for PC users. | |||
| 1989 con't |
Oct. 25: New York Newsday and American CITINET announce an online newspaper on a phone company videotex gateway called Info-Look. | |||
| 1989 con't |
Oct. 31: Prodigy says it has 100,000 customers in households in eight major metro areas. | |||
| 1989 con't |
November: USA Today unveils its USA Today Sports Center, a proprietary online sports news and gaming service, at COMDEX. | |||
| 1989 con't |
The 80486 chip is introduced by Intel. It runs at 25 MHz. |
| 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 |
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