Microtex 666 was an Australian

Prestel Prestel was the Brand#Brand names and trademark, brand name of a videotex service launched in the UK in 1979 by BT Group#Post Office Telecommunications, Post Office Telecommunications, a division of the British Post Office Limited#History, Po ...

-based videotex system that operated from 1986 to 1989. The service was accessed through a text based dialup service from Telecom Australia known as

Viatel Viatel Inc., founded in the United States in 1991, was a Nasdaq-quoted technology company which operated fiber optic networks in several countries, including in the United Kingdom during the mid-1990s. Viatel Technology Group, a Dublin-based te ...

. Microtex 666 was dedicated to

microcomputer A microcomputer is a small, relatively inexpensive computer having a central processing unit (CPU) made out of a microprocessor. The computer also includes memory and input/output (I/O) circuitry together mounted on a printed circuit board (P ...

enthusiasts and included a large

telesoftware The term telesoftware was coined by W.J.G. Overington who invented the concept in 1974; it literally means “software at a distance” and it often refers to the transmission of programs for a microprocessor or home computer via broadcast telete ...

download library, a semi-realtime

online chat Online chat is any direct text-, audio- or video-based (webcams), one-on-one or one-to-many ( group) chat (formally also known as synchronous conferencing), using tools such as instant messengers, Internet Relay Chat (IRC), talkers and possi ...

, and a 1,000-user massively multiuser game known as the Great Galactic Conflict. It was owned and founded by

Sean Howard Sean Martin Howard is an Australian entrepreneur, founder of OzEmail, at one time Australia's largest Internet company. In the 1980s Howard founded '' Australian Personal Computer'', Australia's top-selling computer magazine. He also develope ...

, and promoted through '' Australian Personal Computer'' magazine. For much of its existence, Microtex 666 was externally managed by Scott Sanderson at Information Solutions, which also sold a package consisting of modem plus software, since few people owned modems at that time. Microtex 666 was eventually purchased by Telecom. Howard went on to found

OzEmail OzEmail Pty Limited was a major Internet service provider (ISP) in Australia, until it was acquired by iiNet on 28 February 2005. History In the early 1980s, Sean Howard was the editor of the '' Australian Personal Computer'' magazine and sub ...

, Australia's largest ISP.

References

{{Videotex Videotex Telstra History of telecommunications in Australia