Online Services (1987)

The Computer Chronicles - Online Services (1987)


Original Air Date: January 1987


Join Stewart Cheifet and George Morrow as they explore the burgeoning world of online databases and electronic information services. In this episode, the Chronicles team looks at how personal computers are being used to "dial in" to the world's knowledge, from financial data and news to early social networking and international systems like France's Minitel.


In this episode, you’ll see:


The Digital Newsroom: A visit to the San Francisco Chronicle to see how they use "Data Times" to archive and retrieve news stories electronically—replacing traditional paper files.
The "Big Players" of 1987: Demonstrations of CompuServe, The Source, and Delphi, showing how users navigated menus to find weather, news, and stock quotes.
Quantum Link: A look at the Commodore-exclusive service that would eventually evolve into America Online (AOL).
Dow Jones News/Retrieval: How professional investors used specialized online services to get real-time financial data.
Minitel: A rare look at the French Minitel system, which was years ahead of the U.S. in providing a terminal to every household for electronic "Yellow Pages" and messaging.
The Modem Revolution: Discussion on the transition from 300-baud to "high-speed" 1200 and 2400-baud modems.
Random Access: Stewart Cheifet covers the week's top tech news, including the latest on IBM clones and the "laser chip" breakthrough in Scotland.

Featured Guests:


Nancy de Gennaro: From Delphi (General Videotex Corp).
Clayton Bullard: From Dow Jones News/Retrieval.
Stephen Messinger: From CompuServe.

About The Computer Chronicles:
Hosted by Stewart Cheifet and Gary Kildall (with George Morrow), The Computer Chronicles aired on PBS from 1983 to 2002. It serves as the definitive video archive of the PC revolution, documenting the hardware and software that changed the world.


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