Date: Sat, 12 Sep 92 13:31:57 GMT
From: vixen!jadams@uunet.UU.NET (26070-adams)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Here We Go Again :-(
Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 702, Message 8 of 9

In article <telecom12.700.6@eecs.nwu.edu>, Jack.Winslade@ivgate.
omahug.org (Jack Winslade) writes:

> Well, gang, it's HWGA time.  Will U.S West EVER Learn ??

> Tonight, one of the stories on TV news (KETV, ABC affilliate) was US
> West starting Yet Another electronic yellow pages service (with other
> information services coming Real Soon Now) in Minneapolis.  Yes, they
> are using that Minitel 'High-tech French method'.  

About three career moves ago, I worked for a very large firm who was
determined to introduce Videotex services in the US (Much to the
consternation of the American Newspaper Publisher's Association ANPA).
Fortunately, we cut our losses and left what some people still call an
"industry" (Videotex).  During our period of financial hemoraging, one
of our really top officers (Name witheld to prevent a personal
vendetta against me) returned from a trip to Paris and promptly
requested a full blown inquisition into why the French are successful
with this and we were not.  I'll spare you the 40 some viewgraphs of
meaningless market data and get to the punch line(s).

The impetus of the French minitel and its supporting system was the
completely horrid state of the French directory services in the
sixties.  Paper directories were hopelessly inaccurate (when you were
privileged to have one).  Information operator services were severly
under traffic engineered (Might have something to do with the state of
the directories ;-).

Thus arose a system where individual subscribers could (with a FREE
Minitel by the way) access the same database that information
operators used and viola: Videotex became a household word in France.
Over time, Information Providers (specifically those that deal in
material which would never fly in the Bible belt) found a ready market
for "blue" information.  Can you say "French Postcards"?  Moreover,
the French telecom offered a 50/50 split on the revenue THEY obtained
from these subscribers accessing such services with the service
providers. Not a bad deal, eh?  By the way, in case someone feels that
I am completely naive, the FREE minitel terminal cost was adequately
recovered in their equivalent of a tariff.

Among the "softer" market factors was the French propensity for prose
and the like.  Much like netnews, many people simply enjoyed sharing
their written thoughts with others.  I must conclude that we had one
hell of a time convincing our fearless leader that "Videotex won't
play in Paduca".  To his credit, he managed to disengage our involve-
ment with Videotex shortly thereafter.

The bad news (As Jack and Dave point out) is that this idea keeps
popping up every so often.  I guess whenever the latest bunch of MBA's
get off the boat, a few of them try to beat this dead horse all over
again.  Oh well, those who fail to learn from the mistakes of history
are doomed to repeat them.


Jack (John) Adams		| Bellcore NVC 2Z-220
(908) 758-5372 {Voice}		| (908) 758-4389 {Facsimile}
jadams@vixen.bellcore.com	| kahuna@attmail.com