Micronet800
Encyclopedia
Micronet 800 was an information provider (IP) on Prestel
, aimed at the 1980s personal computer market. It was an online magazine that gave subscribers computer related news, reviews, general subject articles and downloadable telesoftware
.
Users would log onto the Prestel
network (which was usually a local call) and then access the Micronet 800 home page by entering *800# (hence the name) on their modem or computer. Most Micronet 800 members would have their default main index page set to page 800 automatically.
Micronet 800 derived from the earlier development in 1980 and 1981 of 'Electronic Insight' by Bob Denton. Electronic Insight was a Prestel-based feature-and-price-comparison site listing computers, calculators and other electronic and IT products, whose main page was on page 800 of Prestel. Electronic Insight was acquired by Telemap Group, a part of EMAP, East Midland (note, not Midlands) Allied Press, in 1982 on the recommendation of Richard Hease, a number of whose computer magazines EMAP had just bought. Telemap had been formed in 1981 to explore the opportunities of British Telecom's Prestel videotext service. It had been looking at the horticultural market that EMAP served with a number of magazine titles, notably providing a 'Closed User Group' purchasing network for garden centre businesses, complementing EMAP's printed 'Garden Trade News' magazine. But horticulturalists and IT proved not to be a natural marriage, and the service had insufficient users to make it viable.
Richard Hease, in 1982 Chairman of EMAP's Computer & Business Press which had acquired Electronic Insight, organised a pitch to the Telemap Group by David Babsky of a projected interactive online computer magazine to replace the existing content of Electronic Insight. Babsky showed a 'dummy issue' of the intended online magazine, programmed in Integer BASIC
on an Apple ][
computer. Hease suggested that there be several different 'areas' of the magazine, with titles such as MicroNews, MicroNet (for those interested in networking), etc, and Babsky proposed that the entire project be called 'Micronet 800' to ensure that it could be easily found by anyone using Prestel, as its page number would be part of its name. Hease and Denton negotiated with BT Prestel for a special relationship that would rank it alongside the Nottingham Building Society's plans for its Homelink as the two key thrusts for Prestel.
Hease negotiated with then telecoms minister John Butcher
a £25 subsidy for Micronet subscribers to have their homes equipped free with a telephone jack-socket for the relevant modem.
The Telemap editorial staff was first based at 8 Herbal Hill, Clerkenwell
, London
(after the preliminary discussions and presentation at EMAP's offices in Hatton Garden
), and the technical staff in an EMAP building in Peterborough
. In 1986 the technical staff moved down to the London building.
Telemap was to be the base for Micronet 800 and the editorial development of the site. Hease's and Denton's Prism Micro Products, the exclusive distributor of Sinclair Computers in the UK, was charged with developing the required modems for the enterprise, to ensure that Micronet 800's pages could be accessed by such 'microcomputers' as Apple ][
, Sinclair ZX81, BBC Microcomputer
, Dragon
, IBM PCs, Commodore PET
s, and subsequently the Sinclair Spectrum
and QL
, Lynx
, Commodore VIC 20
and 64
and others of the first wave of '80s home computers
.
Prestel modems were quite slow (1200 baud
download, 75 upload) and the display was just 24 lines of 40 characters, with seven colours and very simple block graphics. Yet Micronet 800 had versions of many of the Internet's subsequent features, especially an interactive 'ChatLine' (similar to Internet Relay Chat) developed by Mike Brown, who joined Micronet 800 from the Council for Educational Technology, where he'd devised a standard UK format for downloadable programs which became known as 'telesoftware'.
Micronet 800 was quite similar in scope to, and compatible with, the German Bildschirmtext and French Minitel services, but Minitel achieved volume sales for its terminals by the simple expedient of replacing paper telephone books with their terminals. Based on its success, Minitel proved resilient against the Internet adoption in France.
For Micronet, Denton negotiated that the interested parties would all agree to adopt the CET, Council for Educational Technology, format for telesoftware - one of two then competing formats. Telesoftware allowed users to download software directly from the Prestel site. Micronet then negotiated with hobbyist computer groups to provide applications and utilities that would be listed on, and be downloadable from, the Micronet 800 site. Approximately 50% of software - for Sinclair, Apple, BBC Micro, IBM, etc - was available at no cost, and the other 50% was paid for by the automatic addition of the cost of the software to the subscriber's telephone bill.
Prism developed a broad range of modems from a simple acoustic coupler to integrated 'network interfaces' for each of the early home and personal computers. Prism models included the VTX5000, the only modem custom designed for the popular Sinclair ZX Spectrum
, and the more general purpose Modem 1000 and Modem 2000. These were ready-to-use out of a box, so that the buyer would get the modem with all relevant leads, cards (if necessary) and software to connect with Micronet.
Some 25,000 subscribers were eventually signed up to Micronet 800 to make it the largest CUG, Closed User Group, on Prestel; its total user base peaked at 90,000. Micronet achieved over 1.1 million page views a week. Its first subscriber, who joined on its opening day, March 1st 1983, was Jeremy Dredge, an estate agent from Thames Ditton
in Surrey. Its 10,000th subscriber was Tom Corcoran, a director of BBC television's Top Of The Pops
.
In 1985 Telemap saw that Prism was preoccupied with its Sinclair computer distribution agency and in developing Prism's own 'luggable' Wren microcomputer, so prospective Micronet subscribers were then sent a list of several other modem suppliers.
Following Prism's collapse in 1985 and the subsequent purchase of their stock by Telemap, and in a bid to increase take-up, Micronet 800 encouraged users by giving away a free modem to new users subscribing for a year.
However, in a move that saw the demise of Micronet, Prestel priced the home user out of the service with a new pricing structure, adding time charges on top of the phone charges for evening access which effectively killed off home usage even though the network was under-utilized during the 6pm to 8am time-slot. Today this remains the peak usage time of the Internet.
Many of the lessons learned with respect to online publishing and interactive services were pioneered by Micronet 800 and became every bit as important with the growth of the Internet.
BT became the majority shareholder in 1987 (after a previous 19% Telemap stake had been sold to Bell Canada
) initially managing the company as part of BT Spectrum, its Value Added Services Group, before passing the group to BT Prestel. In 1988 the company passed a milestone by becoming the only Value Added Data service to become profitable. In 1989 BT finally acquired the entire company, moved it into a BT building (Dialcom House) in Apsley
, just outside Hemel Hempstead
in Hertfordshire
, and folded the business into first the Dialcom
Group along with the rest of the BT Prestel companies and Telecom Gold
and subsequently BT Managed Network Services.
In 1991 along with all its online services, BT closed the service deciding to focus on providing network services and transferred the subscriber base to Compuserve which subsequently became AOL in the UK.
The Micronet service closed 31 October 1991. It had 10,000 members at closure and was "easily the largest online service in the UK specialising in microcomputing". Despite this apparent success, this was less than 10% of the number of users they were predicting having shortly after launch.
Micronet/Telemap Management:
Micronet editors:
Other editorial staff
Production team:
Other contributors:
Quotes:
"There is no future for online services aimed at domestic computer users" - Michael Collins, the department head of Prestel/Telecom Gold Business Services, stated in a meeting with Paul Needs. [February 1990 - Paul Needs]
"Micronet is to communication in the 80s what the [Gutenberg] Bible was to the Middle Ages" - David Babsky, Micronet Editor, 1984.
Micronet 800 pioneered many public online services, such as Multi User Games, long before the Internet was in widespread use.
Prestel
Prestel , the brand name for the UK Post Office's Viewdata technology, was an interactive videotex system developed during the late 1970s and commercially launched in 1979...
, aimed at the 1980s personal computer market. It was an online magazine that gave subscribers computer related news, reviews, general subject articles and downloadable telesoftware
Telesoftware
The word Telesoftware was coined by W J G Overington who first proposed the idea; it literally means “software at a distance” and it refers to the transmission of programs for a microprocessor or home computers via broadcast Teletext...
.
Users would log onto the Prestel
Prestel
Prestel , the brand name for the UK Post Office's Viewdata technology, was an interactive videotex system developed during the late 1970s and commercially launched in 1979...
network (which was usually a local call) and then access the Micronet 800 home page by entering *800# (hence the name) on their modem or computer. Most Micronet 800 members would have their default main index page set to page 800 automatically.
History
The name Micronet 800 derives from its home page, 800, on the BT Prestel videotext service.Micronet 800 derived from the earlier development in 1980 and 1981 of 'Electronic Insight' by Bob Denton. Electronic Insight was a Prestel-based feature-and-price-comparison site listing computers, calculators and other electronic and IT products, whose main page was on page 800 of Prestel. Electronic Insight was acquired by Telemap Group, a part of EMAP, East Midland (note, not Midlands) Allied Press, in 1982 on the recommendation of Richard Hease, a number of whose computer magazines EMAP had just bought. Telemap had been formed in 1981 to explore the opportunities of British Telecom's Prestel videotext service. It had been looking at the horticultural market that EMAP served with a number of magazine titles, notably providing a 'Closed User Group' purchasing network for garden centre businesses, complementing EMAP's printed 'Garden Trade News' magazine. But horticulturalists and IT proved not to be a natural marriage, and the service had insufficient users to make it viable.
Richard Hease, in 1982 Chairman of EMAP's Computer & Business Press which had acquired Electronic Insight, organised a pitch to the Telemap Group by David Babsky of a projected interactive online computer magazine to replace the existing content of Electronic Insight. Babsky showed a 'dummy issue' of the intended online magazine, programmed in Integer BASIC
Integer BASIC
Integer BASIC, written by Steve Wozniak, was the BASIC interpreter of the Apple I and original Apple II computers. Originally available on cassette, then included in ROM on the original Apple II computer at release in 1977, it was the first version of BASIC used by many early home computer owners...
on an Apple ][
Apple II
The Apple II is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977...
computer. Hease suggested that there be several different 'areas' of the magazine, with titles such as MicroNews, MicroNet (for those interested in networking), etc, and Babsky proposed that the entire project be called 'Micronet 800' to ensure that it could be easily found by anyone using Prestel, as its page number would be part of its name. Hease and Denton negotiated with BT Prestel for a special relationship that would rank it alongside the Nottingham Building Society's plans for its Homelink as the two key thrusts for Prestel.
Hease negotiated with then telecoms minister John Butcher
John Butcher (British politician)
John Patrick Butcher was a British Conservative Party politician.Butcher was born in Doncaster but grew up in Huntingdonshire where he was educated at Huntingdon Grammar School and the University of Birmingham...
a £25 subsidy for Micronet subscribers to have their homes equipped free with a telephone jack-socket for the relevant modem.
The Telemap editorial staff was first based at 8 Herbal Hill, Clerkenwell
Clerkenwell
Clerkenwell is an area of central London in the London Borough of Islington. From 1900 to 1965 it was part of the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury. The well after which it was named was rediscovered in 1924. The watchmaking and watch repairing trades were once of great importance...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
(after the preliminary discussions and presentation at EMAP's offices in Hatton Garden
Hatton Garden
Hatton Garden is a street and area near Holborn in London, England. It is most famous for being London’s jewellery quarter and centre of the UK diamond trade, but the area is also now home to a diverse range of media and creative businesses....
), and the technical staff in an EMAP building in Peterborough
Peterborough
Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...
. In 1986 the technical staff moved down to the London building.
Telemap was to be the base for Micronet 800 and the editorial development of the site. Hease's and Denton's Prism Micro Products, the exclusive distributor of Sinclair Computers in the UK, was charged with developing the required modems for the enterprise, to ensure that Micronet 800's pages could be accessed by such 'microcomputers' as Apple ][
Apple II
The Apple II is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977...
, Sinclair ZX81, BBC Microcomputer
BBC Micro
The BBC Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, was a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers for the BBC Computer Literacy Project, operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation...
, Dragon
Dragon 32/64
The Dragon 32 and Dragon 64 are home computers that were built in the 1980s. The Dragons are very similar to the TRS-80 Color Computer , and were produced for the European market by Dragon Data, Ltd., in Port Talbot, Wales, and for the US market by Tano of New Orleans, Louisiana...
, IBM PCs, Commodore PET
Commodore PET
The Commodore PET was a home/personal computer produced from 1977 by Commodore International...
s, and subsequently the Sinclair Spectrum
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...
and QL
Sinclair QL
The Sinclair QL , was a personal computer launched by Sinclair Research in 1984, as the successor to the Sinclair ZX Spectrum...
, Lynx
Camputers Lynx
The Lynx was an 8-bit British home computer that was first released in early 1983 as a 48 kB model. The designer of the Lynx was John Shireff and several models were available with 48 kB, 96 kB or 128 kB RAM...
, Commodore VIC 20
Commodore VIC-20
The VIC-20 is an 8-bit home computer which was sold by Commodore Business Machines. The VIC-20 was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commodore's first personal computer, the PET...
and 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
and others of the first wave of '80s home computers
Home computer
Home computers were a class of microcomputers entering the market in 1977, and becoming increasingly common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a single nontechnical user...
.
Prestel modems were quite slow (1200 baud
Baud
In telecommunications and electronics, baud is synonymous to symbols per second or pulses per second. It is the unit of symbol rate, also known as baud rate or modulation rate; the number of distinct symbol changes made to the transmission medium per second in a digitally modulated signal or a...
download, 75 upload) and the display was just 24 lines of 40 characters, with seven colours and very simple block graphics. Yet Micronet 800 had versions of many of the Internet's subsequent features, especially an interactive 'ChatLine' (similar to Internet Relay Chat) developed by Mike Brown, who joined Micronet 800 from the Council for Educational Technology, where he'd devised a standard UK format for downloadable programs which became known as 'telesoftware'.
Micronet 800 was quite similar in scope to, and compatible with, the German Bildschirmtext and French Minitel services, but Minitel achieved volume sales for its terminals by the simple expedient of replacing paper telephone books with their terminals. Based on its success, Minitel proved resilient against the Internet adoption in France.
For Micronet, Denton negotiated that the interested parties would all agree to adopt the CET, Council for Educational Technology, format for telesoftware - one of two then competing formats. Telesoftware allowed users to download software directly from the Prestel site. Micronet then negotiated with hobbyist computer groups to provide applications and utilities that would be listed on, and be downloadable from, the Micronet 800 site. Approximately 50% of software - for Sinclair, Apple, BBC Micro, IBM, etc - was available at no cost, and the other 50% was paid for by the automatic addition of the cost of the software to the subscriber's telephone bill.
Prism developed a broad range of modems from a simple acoustic coupler to integrated 'network interfaces' for each of the early home and personal computers. Prism models included the VTX5000, the only modem custom designed for the popular Sinclair ZX Spectrum
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...
, and the more general purpose Modem 1000 and Modem 2000. These were ready-to-use out of a box, so that the buyer would get the modem with all relevant leads, cards (if necessary) and software to connect with Micronet.
Some 25,000 subscribers were eventually signed up to Micronet 800 to make it the largest CUG, Closed User Group, on Prestel; its total user base peaked at 90,000. Micronet achieved over 1.1 million page views a week. Its first subscriber, who joined on its opening day, March 1st 1983, was Jeremy Dredge, an estate agent from Thames Ditton
Thames Ditton
Thames Ditton is a village in Surrey, England, bordering Greater London. It is situated 12.2 miles south-west of Charing Cross between the towns of Kingston upon Thames, Surbiton, Esher and East Molesey...
in Surrey. Its 10,000th subscriber was Tom Corcoran, a director of BBC television's Top Of The Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
.
In 1985 Telemap saw that Prism was preoccupied with its Sinclair computer distribution agency and in developing Prism's own 'luggable' Wren microcomputer, so prospective Micronet subscribers were then sent a list of several other modem suppliers.
Following Prism's collapse in 1985 and the subsequent purchase of their stock by Telemap, and in a bid to increase take-up, Micronet 800 encouraged users by giving away a free modem to new users subscribing for a year.
However, in a move that saw the demise of Micronet, Prestel priced the home user out of the service with a new pricing structure, adding time charges on top of the phone charges for evening access which effectively killed off home usage even though the network was under-utilized during the 6pm to 8am time-slot. Today this remains the peak usage time of the Internet.
Many of the lessons learned with respect to online publishing and interactive services were pioneered by Micronet 800 and became every bit as important with the growth of the Internet.
BT became the majority shareholder in 1987 (after a previous 19% Telemap stake had been sold to Bell Canada
Bell Canada
Bell Canada is a major Canadian telecommunications company. Including its subsidiaries such as Bell Aliant, Northwestel, Télébec, and NorthernTel, it is the incumbent local exchange carrier for telephone and DSL Internet services in most of Canada east of Manitoba and in the northern territories,...
) initially managing the company as part of BT Spectrum, its Value Added Services Group, before passing the group to BT Prestel. In 1988 the company passed a milestone by becoming the only Value Added Data service to become profitable. In 1989 BT finally acquired the entire company, moved it into a BT building (Dialcom House) in Apsley
Apsley
Apsley is a 19th century mill town in the county of Hertfordshire, England. It is a historic industrial site situated in a valley of the Chiltern Hills. It is positioned below the confluence of two permanent rivers, the Gade and Bulbourne. In an area of little surface water this was an obvious site...
, just outside Hemel Hempstead
Hemel Hempstead
Hemel Hempstead is a town in Hertfordshire in the East of England, to the north west of London and part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2001 Census was 81,143 ....
in Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
, and folded the business into first the Dialcom
Dialcom
Dialcom Inc. was a US corporation which developed the world's first commercial electronic mail service. It was founded in 1970 by Robert F. Ryan and was sold to ITT Corporation in 1982, becoming ITT Dialcom....
Group along with the rest of the BT Prestel companies and Telecom Gold
Telecom Gold
Telecom Gold was an early commercial electronic mail service launched by British Telecom in 1982. It was based on Prime minicomputers running Dialcom software...
and subsequently BT Managed Network Services.
In 1991 along with all its online services, BT closed the service deciding to focus on providing network services and transferred the subscriber base to Compuserve which subsequently became AOL in the UK.
The Micronet service closed 31 October 1991. It had 10,000 members at closure and was "easily the largest online service in the UK specialising in microcomputing". Despite this apparent success, this was less than 10% of the number of users they were predicting having shortly after launch.
Micronet/Telemap Management:
- Richard Hease - Chairman and Co-Founder 1982-1983
- Bob Denton - Co-Founder 1982-1983
- Tim Schoonmaker - Managing Director 1983-1986
- Tom Baird - Part-time Managing Director 1986-1987
- John Tomany - Managing Director 1987-1990
- Michael Weatherseed - General Manager 1990-1991
Micronet editors:
- David Babsky, founding editor
- Simon D'Arcy,Editor then Publisher
- Sid Smith (author of "Something Like A House", Whitbread award winning novel), news editor, then editor.
- Francis Jago (Now CEO of Fingal, a creative communications agency in London)
- Paul Needs, Amstrad & PC staff writer, then editor then managing editor computer and leisure service. Paul is now a professional entertainer and recording artist.http://www.paulneeds.com
- Ian Burley, Micronet's final editor (Now CEO of The Write Technology Ltd, an Internet online publishing business behind Digital Photography Now)
- Barbara Conway (d. 1991), part-time media editor in the early years of Micronet 800
Other editorial staff
- Adam Denning - original Technical Editor
- David Rosenbaum - News Editor
- Chris Bourne - Sunday Xtra editor
- Paul VigayPaul VigayPaul Vigay was a British computer consultant, notable for work in developing and supporting RISC OS software and named as a leading expert on UFOs and crop circles.- Biography :...
- Acorn Editor - Chris Lewis - Sinclair Editor
- Ian Burley - Acorn, then News Editor, then as above.
- Rupert GoodwinsRupert GoodwinsRupert Goodwins is a British writer, broadcaster and technology journalist.He began his career as a programmer for Sinclair Research in the early 1980s, working on the ZX Spectrum ROM...
- editorial assistant - Afshin Rattansi - Music and Arts Journalist
Production team:
- Robin Wilkinson - publisher in Peterborough, handling software acquisition, testing, sales and downloading; previously EMAP's Telemap publisher
- Val Burgess - previously of Prestel, Micronet 800 telesoftware database manager
- Mike Brown - previously of CET, Technical Director
- John Mason - software testing and pricing
- Denise Shemuel - editorial database manager, London
- Roger Cracknell
- Gary Richard Smith
- Robert O'Donnell
- Patrick Reilly
- Daemonn Brody
- Denise Slater - graphic designer for downloadable software pages, in Peterborough
- Anna Smith - editorial graphic designer in London, then Super sub-editor
- Sharon Giles
- Peter Probert - PR Manager.
- Phil Godsell - Product Manager
- Lynne Thomas - Exhibitions Manager
Other contributors:
- Steve GoldComputer Misuse Act 1990The Computer Misuse Act 1990 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, introduced partly in response to the decision in R v Gold & Schifreen 1 AC 1063 . Critics of the bill complained that it was introduced hastily and was poorly thought out...
- Robert SchifreenRobert SchifreenRobert Jonathan Schifreen was a UK-based computer hacker, magazine editor, and later became a computer security consultant. He was the first person charged with illegally accessing a computer system, but was acquitted because there was no such specific criminal offence at the time...
- previously 'Bug Buster' columnist in Richard Hease's 'Computer & Video Games' magazine. - David Janda
Quotes:
"There is no future for online services aimed at domestic computer users" - Michael Collins, the department head of Prestel/Telecom Gold Business Services, stated in a meeting with Paul Needs. [February 1990 - Paul Needs]
"Micronet is to communication in the 80s what the [Gutenberg] Bible was to the Middle Ages" - David Babsky, Micronet Editor, 1984.
Services Provided
- Chatlines: Users could post messages that other users could see and respond to. Celebrity Chatline was a weekly feature in which a prominent person was interviewed by Micronet users whose questions appeared onscreen, with Micronet personnel usually typing the answers (if the 'celebrity' couldn't type or format the text themselves). Early 'celebrities' included Sir Clive SinclairClive SinclairSir Clive Marles Sinclair is a British entrepreneur and inventor, most commonly known for his work in consumer electronics in the late 1970s and early 1980s....
, Feargal SharkeyFeargal SharkeyFeargal Sharkey is a singer from Northern Ireland who first found fame as the lead vocalist of pop punk band The Undertones...
, Fatima WhitbreadFatima WhitbreadFatima Whitbread MBE is a British former javelin thrower and multiple medal-winner.-Early life:...
and Lord CardiganDavid Brudenell-Bruce, Earl of CardiganDavid Michael James Brudenell-Bruce, Earl of Cardigan is the heir apparent to the Marquessate of Ailesbury, and its subsidiary titles...
. - Downloadable software: Micronet 800 implemented the CET specification that allowed 8 bit files to be transmitted over a 7 bit medium, with some basic error detection and error correction.
- Online gameOnline gameAn online game is a game played over some form of computer network. This almost always means the Internet or equivalent technology, but games have always used whatever technology was current: modems before the Internet, and hard wired terminals before modems...
s: The longest-running game on the system was StarNet, a Play-by-mail game, whereby the players would send in moves which would be executed once a day (a sort of very slow game of chess, where the aim was to become the emperor of the galaxy) run by Liverpudlian Mike Singleton by inputting the moves he was forwarded by email from Micronet into a Commodore PETCommodore PETThe Commodore PET was a home/personal computer produced from 1977 by Commodore International...
computer. Micronet 800 also hosted SHADES, one of the first MUDMUDA MUD , pronounced , is a multiplayer real-time virtual world, with the term usually referring to text-based instances of these. MUDs combine elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, player versus player, interactive fiction, and online chat...
s - a realtime, highly competitive hack-and-slash game that is still running today. - E-mailE-mailElectronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
: Each Prestel user had a unique number (usually the last nine digits of the subscriber's telephone number), and this could be used to send messages. Micronet users were reported to be particularly enthusiastic about the medium, sending twice as many 'mailbox' messages as regular Prestel users.. On 1st July 1984 users could send a pre-formatted 'Happy Birthday' email to Princess DianaDiana, Princess of WalesDiana, Princess of Wales was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981, and an international charity and fundraising figure, as well as a preeminent celebrity of the late 20th century...
via Prince PhilipPrince Philip, Duke of EdinburghPrince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....
, in whose name the Buckingham Palace press office telephone number had been registered as a Prestel user. - Gallery: An area where users could post their own pages about anything they wished, subject to minor oversight for libel and obscenity.
- News and reviews: Micronet was frequently the first organisation worldwide to report on happenings in the UK computer industry.