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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 |
The 1970s
| 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 |
| Year | U.K. | U.S. & Canada | Europe | Asia/Other |
| 1970 | Dec. 14: First mention of the concept behind teletext is made in a BBC internal memo. | |||
| 1971 | Feb. 9: The BBC files for a patent on "Teledata," the first teletext system, later renamed Ceefax. | Commission of the European Community passes resolution to create a network to be called Euronet. | ||
| 1971 con't |
The first U.S. teletext system is tested in Reston, Va., by Mitre Corp. Funded by the National Science Foundation, it closes in 1973. | |||
| 1972 | Feb. 9: Patent application for teletext is filed by the BBC in London. | The first e-mail program for Arpanet is created by Ray Tomlinson of BBN. | ||
| 1972 con't |
Oct. 23: Ceefax is announced by the BBC, which outlines a series of tests to be conducted. | First public demonstration of Arpanet takes place at a computer conference in Washington, D.C. | ||
| 1972 con't |
First TV program ever captioned with teletext: Julia Child's "The French Chef." | |||
| 1972 con't |
November: Atari is founded and ships Pong, the first commercial video game. | |||
| 1973 | January: First public demonstration of the Ceefax system, takes place in London. | Boston: WGBH begins same-day teletext captioning of news programs. | First international connections to Arpanet are created in England and Norway. | |
| 1973 con't |
April: Oracle, a competing teletext system, is described by Britain's Independent Broadcasting Authority. | New York Times Information Service provides online search of six databases via telephone access. | ||
| 1974 | The British Post Office's Research Laboratory demonstrates "Viewdata," the world's first videotex system, later called Prestel. | First Use of term "Internet" appears in a conference paper by Vinton Cerf and Bob Kahn. | ||
| 1974 con't |
December: The microcomputer age takes off when Popular Electronics publishes a cover story on the Altair 8800, a lights-and-switches computer that costs $439 in kit form. | |||
| 1975 | Manhattan Cable Television, first in New York City, opens prompting Reuters to start "Newsview," a teletext news service on two cable channels. | France: An ambitious project to update the telephone system is begun. Leads to creation of electronic phone book, mass-fax and videotex systems. | ||
| 1975 con't |
Canada begins development of Telidon, an advanced videotex system. | |||
| 1975 con't |
Bill Gates, 19, and Paul Allen, 22, start a software company in Gates' dorm room at Harvard. It comes to be called Microsoft and its first product is BASIC, a simple programming language. | |||
| 1976 | Jan. 13: First public demonstration of "Viewdata," later renamed Prestel. | Ethernet, which allows coaxial cable to move data extremely fast, is described by Robert M. Metcalfe. This is a crucial component in development of LANs. | February: Japan's NHK publishes a proposal for a text television system. | |
| 1976 con't |
First known E-mail from a head of state: Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom, sends a message via Prestel. | April 1: Steve Wozniak incorporates Apple Computer and introduces the Apple I. Cost: $666.66 | ||
| 1976 con't |
Gary Kildall and Dorothy McEwen form Digital Research Inc., in Kildall's Pacific Grove, Calif., toolshed. They market CP/M. | |||
| 1976 con't |
Washington: FCC rules in December that a portion of the TV signal can be used for teletext. | |||
| 1977 | Several British newspapers begin experimenting with information delivery via Prestel. | Dow Jones opens Dow Jones News/Retrieval. It provides Wall Street Journal articles and information on publicly held companies. | Finland: Telset videotex system is announced. | |
| 1977 con't |
First computerized word processor introduced by Wang Laboratories. Price: $30,000. | Spain: Telefonica, then the only telephone company in Spain, creates Ibertex, a videotex service. It can connect with other countries using Teletel or Prestel. Access is via a dedicated terminal or installing a card in the computer. | ||
| 1977 con't |
Tandy Corp., owner of Radio Shack, introduces a "personal computer." | |||
| 1978 | October: Prestel test service opens in London. | Feb. 16: The first computer Bulletin Board System is launched in Chicago by Ward Christensen and Randy Seuss. | Germany: Bildschirmtext, a videotex system based on Prestel technology begins technical trials. | Japan: field trials of Captain start in March in Tokyo. Among the services is an electronic newspaper. |
| 1978 con't |
Hayes begins to sell the first commercial modem, capable of 300 baud. | |||
| 1978 con't |
Financial Times and Extel form partnership called Fintel to deliver business information via Prestel. | Salt Lake City: KSL-TV uses Ceefax software to start an over-the-air teletext system. It was the first example of local teletext creation in the U.S. | Finland: Trials of Telset begin in June. It goes public in 1982 as the only non-government owned system in Europe. | Japan: Philips and Sony unveil the music CD. |
| 1978 con't |
Liverpool Post and Echo makes a brief appearance on Prestel. | CBS tests both Ceefax and Antiope software on KMOX-TV in St. Louis. CBS settles on Antiope and starts a service on KNXT in Los Angeles. | Netherlands: Viditel, a national videotex service is introduced. It's based on Britain's Prestel technology. | |
| 1978 con't |
Eastern Counties Newspapers, a consortium, launches Eastel on the Prestel service. | The Source is founded by William von Meister to do for computing "what AT&T did for telephones." At around the same time, CompuServe begins offering dialup services to the public. | France: First trials of videotex begin in Velizy, Versailles, Val de Bievre while electronic phone book is tested in Ille et Vilaine. | Japan: NHK goes on the air with an experimental teletext system late in the year. |
| 1978 con't |
August: Telidon is first demonstrated in Canada. | Spain: Spanish Videotex Project enters trials with 200 terminals. | ||
| 1978 con't |
The first "hypermedia" presentation, the Aspen Movie Map, is created by MIT researchers. | |||
| 1978 con't |
Intel ships the 8086, a 4.77 MHz chip containing 29,000 transistors. | |||
| 1978 con't |
October: Birmingham Post and Mail launches its Viewtel 202 service on Prestel. | Apple introduces the Apple II, the first computer in a beige plastic case and first to display color graphics. Cost: $1,298. | ||
| 1979 | Spring: Prestel trials open in Norwich and Birmingham, England. | Canada: Telidon, the Canadian answer to videotex, opens. The system uses the Antiope standard. | Sweden: Test-TV, a teletext system is implemented by Sveriges Radio, and Televerket, a versatile videotex system are under development. | Japan: Captain, an ambitious videotex system trial is launched in December. The system can display some 3,500 characters of Japanese language. |
| 1979 con't |
September: Prestel, the world's first videotex system, is launched commercially. It operates until spring 1994. | Infocast, a closed-user-group electronic mail service debuts in the U.S. using FM radio signals and packet-switched networks for data transmission. | Euronet Diane (Direct Information Access Network for Europe) opens late in the decade. | |
| 1979 con't |
USENET (the decentralized news group network) is developed at the University of North Carolina. | Japan: The first cellular telephone network is built in Tokyo. | ||
| 1979 con't |
After a year of testing, Fintel takes its company information off Prestel to create a private database called Newsbase. | April 17: Knight-Ridder becomes the first U.S. newspaper publisher to announce it will undertake a videotex project. It will be called Viewtron. | ||
| 1979 con't |
Intel ships the 8088, a 4.77 MHz chip that can address 1 MB of memory. | |||
| 1979 con't |
Two extremely successful early PC software programs, WordStar and dBase II hit the market. Then, VisiCalc is released in October. |
| 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 |
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