1981 François Mitterrand continues the Minitel project
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Francois Mitterrand
President 1981 - 1995 |
President Francois Mitterrand (1981 Mai 10)
changes many things in France.
But in what concerns French Technology
he
continues to push the TGV (High Speed Trains)
and the Minitel,
both initiated before him by Giscard d´Estaing.
The Minitel is officially launched,
two month after the presidential election
1981 July 10.
11 becomes the acces number (later 3611)
for directory service via Minitel,
12 the number for the renseignements telephoniques via operator.
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The Minitel,
invented by
Jean Yves Pouchard
was in some way
the grandfather
of the Internet |
Screenshot of
a Minitel
Phonebook
page |
|
|
a Minitel
Phonebook
website
designed in 1991
by Ben Solms, editor of
whitepages.fr
and Perrine Adenot
and Romiro Vueira Cuevras
from ODA (now Pagesjaunes SA) |
The Minitel Directory becomes a major commercial success.
Half of the French population is actively using Minitel
by the turn of the century.
In the early 1990s France is ahead in
"Internet"
Telecommunication Technologies.
The Internet itself already exists in the US
but it´s usage is very limited
until the 1992 election of President Bill Clinton
and the 1994 October 20 launch of the website Whitehouse.gov.
NB The US Gouvernment infamously misses the registration
of the may 21 1997 domain Whitehouse.com
(for many years a porn site ... see background story)
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