securitybreach Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 I've been using the Internet since the 80s. To me, Internet applications were programs most of you have never heard of such as Archie, Gopher, and Veronica. Then, along came the Web, and everything changed. It may not be pretty by our standards, but Netscape was the first browser to bring the Web to the masses instead of just the techies. I was the first writer to cover the Web for a popular audience, and it did prove popular. I mean, it must have had hundreds of thousands of users in 1993! Today, Facebook alone has over a billion users. You see the problem was that it was really, really hard to use the Web in the early days. Unix was the only operating system with real Internet support. If you wanted to use Windows 3.1 to connect to the Web you needed to use a program called Trumpet Winsock. It was an incredible pain-in-the-rump to set up properly. Just getting an Internet connection was a major headache. There were very few ISPs in the early 90s. And, even if you did have a connection, you would be lucky to have a "fast' V.32bis 28.8Kbps connection. And those early Web browsers, such as Lynx and WWW well not as much a pain in the rump to use as Winsock were anything but easy.... http://www.zdnet.com...ape-7000034616/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 Uh-oh... I know what Archie, Gopher, and Veronica are/were. Does that make me... SMART? or just old? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted October 15, 2014 Author Share Posted October 15, 2014 A little of both since I know who they are as well. Loved me some Archie comics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 Umm... no, not the comic book characters. I was talking about the early precursors of the modern Internet. They were early protocols used to link remote systems/databases to facilitate searching, indexing, and communication. I think the University of Minnesota maintained the Gopher index. I was able to experience Gopher at the tail end of its existence back in 2000. Archie --> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_search_engine Gopher --> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopher_(protocol) ARPANET (early forerunner of the modern Internet) --> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Internet Interesting stuff. Read about it if you have the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 What we call the "World Wide Web" today was only a portion of the Internet. The other two legs of the three-legged Internet stool were Gopher (and the other old protocols/databases) and USENET. Thanks to advances in html, other coding languages, and the speeds and intelligence of switches and routers, the WWW has taken over as the de facto Internet. It's a visual thing nowadays, with pretty graphical websites, etc. You'd have liked the old Internet, Josh. It was all command line and ascii characters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted October 15, 2014 Author Share Posted October 15, 2014 I know... I was kind of being a smart***.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt.Crow Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 While I had a peek at Usenet some time ago . I was unaware of Gopher. So I've just had a quick look over there . Mozilla browser works well enough to get the gist / Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 And NCSA Mosaic was before Netscape Navigator (by Netscape Devs) which was before Netscape (acquired and released by AOL). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 I know... I was kind of being a smart***.... Oh, uh... well, I guess I was being dumb*** cuz I didn't catch that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 Gopher is still alive! http://www.cnet.com/videos/surf-the-net-like-its-1991-with-gopher/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 Yep, the web is just a huge island or ship on the sea of the Internet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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