Micronet 800

It was an online magazine that gave subscribers computer related news, reviews, general subject articles and downloadable telesoftware.

[1][2] 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.

Babsky showed a 'dummy issue' of the intended online magazine, programmed in Integer BASIC on an Apple II 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 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.

Hease's and Denton's "Prism Micro Products",[3] 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 II, ZX81, BBC Micro, Dragon 32/64, IBM PCs, PET, and subsequently the ZX Spectrum, Sinclair QL, Camputers Lynx, VIC-20, Commodore 64, and other 1980s home computers.

Although fast by contemporary standards, Prestel modems were quite slow from today's point of view (1200 baud download, 75 upload) and the display was just 24 lines of 40 characters, with seven colours and very simple block graphics.

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.

Its first subscriber, who joined on its opening day, 1 March 1983, was Jeremy Dredge, an estate agent from Thames Ditton in Surrey.

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.