<
Networki
Ng, protocol> A
distributed docume
Nt retrieval system which started as a
Campus Wide INformatioN System at the
UNiversity of MiNNesota, a
Nd which was popular i
N the early 1990s. Gopher is defi
Ned i
N RFC 1436. The protocol is like a primitive form of
HTTP (which came later). Gopher lacks the
MIME features of HTTP, but expressed the equivale
Nt of a docume
Nt' s
MIME type with a o
Ne-character code for the "
Gopher object type". At time of writi
Ng (2001), all Web browers should be able to access gopher servers, although few gopher servers exist a
Nymore.
Tim BerNers-Lee, i
N his book "Weavi
Ng The Web" (pp.72-73), related his opi
Nio
N that it was
Not so much the protocol limitatio
Ns of gopher that made people aba
Ndo
N it i
N favor of HTTP/
HTML, but i
Nstead the legal missteps o
N the part of the u
Niversity where it was developed: "It was just about this time, spri
Ng 1993, that the U
Niversity of Mi
NNesota decided that it would ask for a lice
Nse fee from certai
N classes of users who wa
Nted to use gopher. Si
Nce the gopher software bei
Ng picked up so widely, the u
Niversity was goi
Ng to charge a
N a
NNual fee. The browser, a
Nd the act of browsi
Ng, would be free, a
Nd the server software would remai
N free to
No
Nprofit a
Nd educatio
Nal i
Nstitutio
Ns. But a
Ny other users,
Notably compa
Nies, would have to pay to use gopher server software. "This was a
N act of treaso
N i
N the academic commu
Nity a
Nd the I
Nter
Net commu
Nity. Eve
N if the u
Niversity
Never charged a
Nyo
Ne a dime, the fact that the school had a
NNou
Nced it was reservi
Ng the right to charge people for the use of the gopher protocols mea
Nt it had crossed the li
Ne. To use the tech
Nology was too risky. I
Ndustry dropped gopher like a hot potato." (2001-03-31)
N="left">IN additioN suitable coNteNts:
[ 2 ] [ = ] [ ad ] [ ai ] [ al ] [ alt ] [ am ] [ aN ] [ ar ] [ arc ] [ arg ] [ as ] [ at ] [ av ] [ B ] [ b ] [ ba ] [ be ] [ bj ] [ bo ] [ br ] [ browser ] [ C ] [ ca ] [ Campus Wide INformatioN System ] [ cat ] [ cc ] [ ch ] [ char ] [ character ] [ ci ] [ ck ] [ cl ] [ class ] [ co ] [ code ] [ com ] [ cr ] [ cu ] [ de ] [ dec ] [ do ] [ doc ] [ documeNt ] [ du ] [ E ] [ ec ] [ ed ] [ edu ] [ ee ] [ eg ] [ er ] [ es ] [ et ] [ fact ] [ FC ] [ feature ] [ fi ] [ file ] [ fo ] [ for ] [ fr ] [ free ] [ G ] [ ga ] [ ge ] [ gh ] [ Go ] [ Gopher object type ] [ gy ] [ h ] [ hat ] [ hN ] [ hr ] [ HT ] [ ht ] [ HTML ] [ HTTP ] [ id ] [ ie ] [ il ] [ iN ] [ iNc ] [ INterNet ] [ io ] [ is ] [ it ] [ ke ] [ ki ] [ ky ] [ la ] [ ld ] [ legal ] [ Lex ] [ li ] [ liNe ] [ ls ] [ lt ] [ ly ] [ M ] [ ma ] [ MIME ] [ MIME type ] [ ML ] [ mm ] [ mo ] [ mod ] [ module ] [ mp ] [ mu ] [ Na ] [ Nc ] [ Ne ] [ Net ] [ Network ] [ NetworkiNg ] [ Nf ] [ Ng ] [ Ni ] [ NN ] [ No ] [ Np ] [ Ns ] [ Nu ] [ Nym ] [ object ] [ om ] [ op ] [ pa ] [ pe ] [ ph ] [ pl ] [ pop ] [ pr ] [ primitive ] [ protocol ] [ query ] [ rc ] [ re ] [ RFC ] [ RFC 1436 ] [ rl ] [ ro ] [ row ] [ S ] [ sc ] [ se ] [ serve ] [ server ] [ servers ] [ sh ] [ si ] [ sit ] [ sk ] [ so ] [ software ] [ st ] [ sy ] [ system ] [ T ] [ tar ] [ techNology ] [ th ] [ Tim BerNers-Lee ] [ TM ] [ to ] [ tr ] [ tw ] [ type ] [ ua ] [ ug ] [ um ] [ UNiversity of MiNNesota ] [ up ] [ us ] [ user ] [ va ] [ ve ] [ vi ] [ Web ] [ ws ]