videotex: n. obs. An 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-subsidized, because by the time videotex was practical
the installed base of personal computers could hook up to
timesharing 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.
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