StadtNet

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the early 1990s, StadtNet was the largest chat mailbox in Germany and later a network of public Internet terminals , primarily in cafes.

StadtNet Chat Mailbox (1993–1998)

StadtNet was split off in 1993 from the CEUS Shareware Mailbox Munich as an independent chat mailbox. The users were able to dial into the StadtNet via PC and modem and chat with all other users who were present at the same time by typing. There were also some discussion forums, information pages, the first online version of "now" and text-based online games.

The tariff structure of Telekom at the time meant that almost all users came from the local area of ​​Munich. This resulted in numerous user meetings "in real life" with often over 100 users and the first forms of flash mobs . StadtNet is considered the forerunner of today's social networks on the Internet.

Technically, StadtNet was based on the American mailbox software Major BBS . The representation was done in ANSI graphics.

After a cover story in " now " - the youth magazine of the Sueddeutsche Zeitung - 1994 and the subsequent media coverage won StadtNet quickly to public visibility and users.

In 1995, free chat terminals were installed in well-known cafés and clubs in Munich and Berlin (e.g. in the Tresor Club ), financed by the cigarette brand Marlboro . In 1996 the network of local StadtNet mailboxes and club terminals was expanded to include Cologne and Hamburg. A year later, all terminals were equipped with webcams so that users could see a live image from all connected clubs.

In 1998, with the advent of the Internet, the system was converted from mailbox software to an Internet platform. At that time, StadtNet had 184 modem accesses nationwide and over 10,000 users.

StadtNet Internet Terminals (1999 - 2007)

Because of the competition from new, large chat platforms (e.g. Windows Live Messenger ), it was decided in 1999 to continue StadtNet as a free terminal network in cafés and to offer the newly emerging Internet companies the opportunity to advertise their products in public spaces.

To this end, venture capital financing was carried out and a network of around 150 terminals in Germany and test installations in Barcelona and London set up. The software for the terminals was developed in-house on the basis of Windows.

In 2001, the company's own marketing of the advertising space was discontinued and the entire terminal network was operated for AOL . With the sale of the access business from AOL Germany to Hansenet in 2007, the terminal network was also discontinued. In 2008 StadtNet GmbH was liquidated as the operator.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ CEUS mailbox (BBS). Retrieved December 29, 2018 .
  2. ↑ From the centers of the provinces »Berliner Morgenpost. Retrieved December 28, 2018 (German).
  3. ↑ Can reading be cool? Retrieved December 28, 2018 .
  4. ↑ BIRGIT ACKERMANN / NIKOLAUS ALBRECHT: THE CYBER-CLAN - WHO MUTS TO A LONE NERD WHILE SURFING IN FRONT OF THE COMPUTER, HAS A SERIOUS PROBLEM. Retrieved December 28, 2018 .
  5. ^ History of analog telephony via IDSN and DSL to VDSL broadband internet. Retrieved December 28, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Joern Moeller: Party tip . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung (ed.): Now - the youth magazine of the Süddeutsche Zeitung . Issue 21. Munich May 24, 1995.
  7. ↑ The big traffic jam on the data highway . In: Abendzeitung München (Ed.): Edition September 6, 1995 . Munich, S. 8 .
  8. ↑ Stadtnet wants to set up terminals nationwide. Retrieved December 28, 2018 .
  9. ^ Tornado Insider - Radar company - IVC Venture Capital AG. Retrieved December 28, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Internet terminals: eat, drink, surf. Retrieved December 28, 2018 .
  11. ↑ Special Munich Internet Cafés: "Best Public Internet Terminal" The Munich AOL Internet Stations from Stadtnet. Retrieved December 29, 2018 .
  12. ^ German kiosks: For the public good. July 8, 2002, accessed December 29, 2018 .
  13. ↑ AOL brand disappears from the scene gastronomy. Retrieved December 29, 2018 .