The French government is to ask France Telecom to come up with ways of moving information currently stored in the nationwide Minitel network over to the internet, reports Les Echos. The move is part of a proposed plan of action by the French government to supposedly push France ahead in the internet age, with the initial emphasis on getting multimedia software into French classrooms. Minitel is a terminal-based service that is free to French citizens, although they pay per-minute access charges. The text-based system was ahead of its time when it was introduced in the early 1980s, but is generally considered to have been superseded by the explosive growth of the internet.
