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]