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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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