5 ms·

I remember doing internet research before there was the web. For example in the late 1980s I studied California earthquakes. The USGS had a public ftp site wher

I remember doing internet research before there was the web. For example in the late 1980s I studied California earthquakes. The USGS had a public ftp site where they put daily epicenter map images (jpeg?) and text databases of epicenters. I wrote automated scripts to download new stuff. I remember there even internet search engines at the time. People wrote automated scipts to look for public ftp ports and compiledbthe results. The internet only had a few thousand addresses at the time, so it wasnt an ardorous process. I think one of these databases was called archie.

pinko 10y ago
Yes, Archie[1]. Wonderful resource until it was superseded. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_search_engine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_search_engine
- jacquesm 10y ago
  Extremely high signal:noise ratio.
jedberg 10y ago
jpeg wasn't invented until 1991, so probably not. :) Most likely they were GIFs.
- pbhjpbhj 10y ago
  GIF came after patenting of LZW I think in 1985, making it on to the internet in ~1987. PCX, BMP (1985?) or TIFF (1986?) maybe? PBM and PGM I think are slightly earlier but I can't readily find dates for them.
spinlock 10y ago
I personally think it's important to remember how the Internet worked with TBL invented the Web. Most importantly, everyone believed and implemented net neutrality. I think it's a very interesting thought experiment to imagine if we would even have the web had the University of Minnesota decided to drop all http packets to promote their competing gopher protocol. The Web is the best example I can think of for why we still need net neutrality.
- 75dvtwin 10y ago
  I do not share the > The Web is the best example I can think of for why we still need net neutrality. I think the Web is best example of why we need privacy protection as it is a form of communication. I personally pay for a VPN. And I hope my right to use independently implemented (independent from Google/Facebook/ISPs) privacy preservation technology and de-anonymization-resistant technology is not lost, and instead encouraged by the legal system. In my view, the so called 'net neutrality' is simply a deceiving name for 'a subjective favoritism' given away (as political/economic favors) to some web-monetization players vs others. Eg. ISPs cannot favor/unfavor content providers, but yet Search engine company can favor/unfavor/rank content providers. So ISPs are labeled as 'evil' while search and social networking service providers are the 'good doers'.

pinko 10y ago

Yes, Archie[1]. Wonderful resource until it was superseded. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_search_engine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_search_engine

jacquesm 10y ago
Extremely high signal:noise ratio.

jedberg 10y ago

jpeg wasn't invented until 1991, so probably not. :) Most likely they were GIFs.

pbhjpbhj 10y ago
GIF came after patenting of LZW I think in 1985, making it on to the internet in ~1987. PCX, BMP (1985?) or TIFF (1986?) maybe? PBM and PGM I think are slightly earlier but I can't readily find dates for them.

spinlock 10y ago

I personally think it's important to remember how the Internet worked with TBL invented the Web. Most importantly, everyone believed and implemented net neutrality. I think it's a very interesting thought experiment to imagine if we would even have the web had the University of Minnesota decided to drop all http packets to promote their competing gopher protocol. The Web is the best example I can think of for why we still need net neutrality.

75dvtwin 10y ago
I do not share the > The Web is the best example I can think of for why we still need net neutrality. I think the Web is best example of why we need privacy protection as it is a form of communication. I personally pay for a VPN. And I hope my right to use independently implemented (independent from Google/Facebook/ISPs) privacy preservation technology and de-anonymization-resistant technology is not lost, and instead encouraged by the legal system. In my view, the so called 'net neutrality' is simply a deceiving name for 'a subjective favoritism' given away (as political/economic favors) to some web-monetization players vs others. Eg. ISPs cannot favor/unfavor content providers, but yet Search engine company can favor/unfavor/rank content providers. So ISPs are labeled as 'evil' while search and social networking service providers are the 'good doers'.