Gopher

I just read this Wired article, and it took me back to my University days -- the days when the Netscape browser wasn't invented yet, the world wide web was just some fancy of Tim Berners-Lee -- the days when I searched the internet for information via gopher. Gopher was invented at the University of Minnesota in 1993, just before the web went prime time. The design was simple, text based and menu driven -- making it easier to use than FTP. Gopher's use spread quickly across the internet, using a client/server architecture. To this day, there are still many gopher servers out there -- and there is even a service that allows you to access gopher servers via a web browser. Eventually, gopher servers will completely disappear -- unless a few enthusiasts get their way.