When this was written the Internet hadn't really been developed very far and the report cited is talking about videotex services (like France's Minitel or the UK's Prestel). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videotex
These services tended to be centralized and look nothing like the current Internet (although France's Minitel network did use packet switching and some service providers ran their own data nodes).
I remember really well playing with Prestel and Minitel in the early 1980s using acoustic couplers and dedicated terminals. The feeling associated with the sudden access to unlimited information at incredible speeds (1200/75 baud) was really amazing (even just being able to look people's phone numbers up on white pages). Wikipedia has a nice example of French Minitel terminal from the year this report was written: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Minitel1.jpg
What's most interesting is that there wasn't much 'future' in this report given that France already had a functioning viewdata system at that time and it was clear from the services that were being offered that the things mentioned in this report were actually available or easy extrapolations.
Also notable was that viewtex services used a subscriber pays model where access was metered by the minute and added to the phone bill. On Minitel some services were free (except for the per minute charge), e.g. white pages, other were premium (access to special databases, for example) and some were very expensive (access to Le Minitel Rose where pornographic chat etc. was available).
As William Gibson might have said: the future was already here, it just wasn't evenly distributed yet.
These services tended to be centralized and look nothing like the current Internet (although France's Minitel network did use packet switching and some service providers ran their own data nodes).
I remember really well playing with Prestel and Minitel in the early 1980s using acoustic couplers and dedicated terminals. The feeling associated with the sudden access to unlimited information at incredible speeds (1200/75 baud) was really amazing (even just being able to look people's phone numbers up on white pages). Wikipedia has a nice example of French Minitel terminal from the year this report was written: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Minitel1.jpg
What's most interesting is that there wasn't much 'future' in this report given that France already had a functioning viewdata system at that time and it was clear from the services that were being offered that the things mentioned in this report were actually available or easy extrapolations.
Also notable was that viewtex services used a subscriber pays model where access was metered by the minute and added to the phone bill. On Minitel some services were free (except for the per minute charge), e.g. white pages, other were premium (access to special databases, for example) and some were very expensive (access to Le Minitel Rose where pornographic chat etc. was available).
As William Gibson might have said: the future was already here, it just wasn't evenly distributed yet.