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BBC Telesoftware Goes Off the Air Technology UPDATE lite weather image relayed as a data file BBC Telesoftware goes off the air from the Meteorological Office. This enabled computer users to receive and BBC television has announced the clo- £100-£200, can still be used to access display high -resolution images of the sure of its Ceefax telesoftware service, teletext pages in the ordinary way. But UK's weather patterns and even to with effect from the end of August. This the closure comes at a time when other assemble them into animated sequ- service, which provided a weekly ration countries appearkto be extending their ences. Another major use of telesoft- of computer programs and data files for teletext systems - Italy. for example. ware was to distribute notes on educa- users of the BBC Micro and IBM PC - began a telesoftware service on August tional radio and television programmes compatibles, was started in 1983 as part 1. to receivers in schools. of the BBC's computer education initia- "It's quite a blow to us", said Ram By ending the service, the BBC ex- tive. Banerjee, managing director of GIS, pects to save about £60 000 each year, Its withdrawal. at little more than a the company which makes the teletext and to gain transmission capacity which month's warning, must be the most adapters approved and supported by it will use to provide, among other abrupt abandonment ever of a UK the BBC. `'Telesoftware is one of the things, additional financial and sports broadcast service. No hint of the closure main reasons why people acquire the news and regional teletext services. is given in the BBC's annual report, card. We only heard about the chopping *BBC Annual Report & Accounts 1988-89. which appeared in the week of the of the service one day before it was BBC, 116 pages A4 format . announcement; and indeed a telesoft- announced." GIS is already receiving ware transmission schedule extending angry letters from disappointed cus- into September had already appeared in tomers the monthly computer press. One feature of the BBC Ceefax ser- Technology - Telesoftware receivers, which cost vice to disappear will be the daily satel- which direction? In West Germany and Japan, the thrust _ a e of technology is towards the develop- ment of products themselves; in the UK, we are still working on how to make them. This view is the outcome of a study conducted by the PA Consulting e Group in Europe and Japan. _ I }L. ' According to John Puttick of PA. "The UK is struggling to catch up in a global marketplace where product availability and quality are 'givens' and the better product will gain market share". UK products, says the report, .05 are not highly rated, either by ourselves or our competitors; manufacturing technology in Germany and Japan con- sistently delivers high quality, short lead times and low costs, process tech- nology no longer being an R&D priority. The report isolates a number of issues of "concern and optimism" for the UK and Europe as a whole. Among those r offering cause for concern, an unwil- lingness to invest and a reluctance to adapt to new technologies emerged as the main reasons for the UK's poor performance in the development of pro- ducts. It also seems that the Japanese are readier to engage in collaboration before the competitive stage than Euro- pean companies, although there is worldwide agreement on the benefits of such co-operation. On the other hand, the UK and West Germany believe that leadership in As part of British Telecom's remit to diversify, the research people at R&D is the appropriate strategy, while have up with a possible solution to the capital's parking Martleshanr come France and Japan choose to follow close use the system to test cellphone problems. And if that doesn't work, they'll behind the development and thereby aerials. attain a competitive position. October 1989 ELECTRONICS WORLD + WI RELESS WORLD 949 .
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