Teletext - The internet before the internet

I was going to write about the London Olympics, as we are down to the final 100 days before the biggest sporting event since Euro 96, hits the country but while on my lunch break at work yesterday, I came across the following:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2012/04/from_ceefax_to_digital_text.html

and then this

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17745100

Some may think the title is misleading as you would never find Amazon on Ceefax or Tesco.com but Ceefax and teletext were ahead of their time. You could get all the latest news, weather and football updates, it literally was a world of information at your fingertips but just with basic text. Admittedly I preferred the ITV version which was called Teletext but it is exactly the same thing minus the adverts.

I'm going to refer to to this as Teletext as I did prefer that version to Ceefax and for those that don't know, to gain access to Teletext as long as your TV was compatible, you pressed the text button and then the large number you needed. Football on ITV was 401. (yes I can still remember the number!)

Every day after school, then work, I would come home and read all the latest football news, which included latest news and transfer gossip then I would Digitizer and more lately Gamecentral on Channel 4 as I love my computer games. Then the world changed and moved on and left me behind. Digital TV and the Internet came along. Analogue was to be switched, text service on TV were never to be the same again. The day the news broke I was heartbroken. my daily routine was to change for ever, the one constant in my life was to be taken away. Life was no longer certain. Life continues but in this case for the worst. Of course i'm being a little over dramatic here but this ia story and all stories need a bit of romance.

Firstly the Internet killed Teletext on ITV and channel 4 and then the digital TV is killing off Ceefax on the BBC in its traditional form. It does still exist via the red button but it has lost some of its romance for me.

In my opinion and i may sound like an old man in the making, but I think Teletext is better than the Internet. That's right things were better in my day, you heard right, and to top it off I'm going to list the reasons why.

1) Teletext doesn't crash - That's right it wont crash on you, freeze on you or have your broadband connection drop. The occasional bit of bad weather may get in the way but that was few and fair between.

2) Instant information and no extra rubbish - To your surprise instant information did exist before Twitter  it was called teletext and it had all the latest news. The Internet just came along and did it flashier. You could always get the latest news just as quick as you can these days.

3) Easier to use - There's no having to navigate complicated web pages or using your mobile to view the BBC website which is frankly a pain. Teletext was simple. Enter your number and wait for the page to change to get the next bit of the story. Simple.

4) Constant - The style never changed, every now and again our favourite websites change and its not always for the better, some things are just fine as they are.

5) Just the important information - Because of the limited space it only told you what you needed to know none of this X Factor feud rubbish you get on Digital Spy just so they can fill space on a website. Who really cares which celebrity is doing coke with who?

So that is my opinion on Teletext, no longer a part in my life but still in my heart.

C ya later!