Fred the Computer

Fred the Computer

Fred the Computer was launched in 1987 by the "Middlesex News" in Framingham, Massachusetts. A single-line BBS system, it was used to preview the next day's edition with news headlines and weather information.

Sometimes called Fred the Middlesex News Computer, it was also designed so that press releases and letters could be submitted to the editor. The original sysop for the system was Sharon Machlis, now an online editor at Computerworld, who built the system out of TBBS and a dual-floppy Leading Edge PC. Adam Gaffin (now an online editor at Network World), took over after Machlis left and upgraded the system to a 286. Subscriptions from readers enabled him to purchase a 19.2k modem and a second phone line for the system. Later, Fred was used to organize and display the newspaper's archive of film reviews.

This was one of the earliest online transmissions of news from a newspaper to its readers. This is indicated by Karen McKelvey's 1991 guide [http://alimentarus.net/internet_guides/internet.libraries.txt] to dial-up libraries and newspapers which lists only five: Fred the Computer, "Newsday"'s Newsday Online, StarText ("Fort Worth Star-Telegram"), Omaha CityNet ("Omaha World-Telegram") and the Electric Newspaper ("Long Beach Press-Telegram").

With the expansion of Fred the Middlesex News Computer to the Internet in 1993, the "Middlesex News" became the first general-circulation paper in the U.S. to establish an Internet presence, offering daily headlines, movie reviews and restaurant reports through its gopher site. In 1998, the "Middlesex News" became the MetroWest Daily News which launched its online edition September 2001.

External links

* [http://www.textfiles.com/digest/TELECOMDIGEST/vol11.iss1051-1061.txt Adam Gaffin at the "Middlesex News"]
* [http://www.eff.org/Net_culture/Net_info/Resources/newspapers_online.list Commercial Online Newspaper Services (2/26/95)]
* [http://alimentarus.net/internet_guides/internet.libraries.txt Karen McKelvey: CERFnet: No-fee dial-ups (1991)]
* [http://www.textfiles.com/bbs/libcat.pro Public Access to Library Catalogs]


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