The Minitel, a French government-sponsored minicomputer that was wired into 14 million French homes at its peak in the mid-1990s, had a limited service offering, a black-and-white screen and slow connection speeds that doomed it to near-extinction in the face of the Internet.

Now, a French Internet service provider, Neuf Cegetel, has taken inspiration from the Minitel to develop a computer based on a similar low-cost model, aimed at people who are unable or unwilling to buy a computer. In a gesture to high-technology enthusiasts, however, the system uses the open-source software beloved by many engineers and programmers.

“We wanted to create something as simple and cheap as the Minitel to reach technophobes and people without much money,” said Frédéric Charrier, manager of the Easy Neuf project, which started its first national advertising campaign last week. “For a slightly higher subscription, customers get a simplified computer with all services they might need.”

To Neuf, the issue came down to the difficulty that first-time computer users experience in dealing with Windows.

“Nearly 80 percent of all current customer calls relate to problems with Microsoft Windows,” Charrier said. “We decided it was easier to build our own platform to limit potential problems.”

The business model premises email and the internet, simple and easy. Bare essentials. The article examines the whole system in detail. Typical IHT good read.