Comments on: Commodore (Siemens) Bildschirmtext II Decoder Cartridge https://www.nightfallcrew.com/31/07/2021/commodore-siemens-bildschirmtext-ii-decoder-cartridge/ Lightning in the Dark Thu, 14 Nov 2024 03:35:05 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: MiaM https://www.nightfallcrew.com/31/07/2021/commodore-siemens-bildschirmtext-ii-decoder-cartridge/comment-page-1/#comment-167480 MiaM Sun, 01 Aug 2021 05:26:02 +0000 https://www.nightfallcrew.com/?p=15519#comment-167480 This is what happens when old men in suits, totally out of touch with what a consumer would want, gets to make important decisions. There is a reson for Videotex being a success in France, as Minitel, and a failure (as a mass market consumer product) elsewhere. I bet that the price were a great reason for it not being a success in West Germany. Meanwhile in Sweden we had a ROM cartridge called Teledata 64 with just an eprom with software for the C64, and a modem mostly consisting of an AMD WorldModem chip, a few switches and a realay, connected to the C64 user port (much like a ram expansion on a ZX81). It still was a failure but that was due to the same kind of old men in suits making poor decisions, filling the major state telecom monopoly Videotex service with stuff that were only of interest to other old men in suits, like stock exchange rates. This is what happens when old men in suits, totally out of touch with what a consumer would want, gets to make important decisions.

There is a reson for Videotex being a success in France, as Minitel, and a failure (as a mass market consumer product) elsewhere. I bet that the price were a great reason for it not being a success in West Germany. Meanwhile in Sweden we had a ROM cartridge called Teledata 64 with just an eprom with software for the C64, and a modem mostly consisting of an AMD WorldModem chip, a few switches and a realay, connected to the C64 user port (much like a ram expansion on a ZX81). It still was a failure but that was due to the same kind of old men in suits making poor decisions, filling the major state telecom monopoly Videotex service with stuff that were only of interest to other old men in suits, like stock exchange rates.

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