Two questions inspired by a co-worker: when was the last time you used telnet, and when was the last time you used Gopher?
Telnet’s a tough one for me to remember but I’m going to throw out a guess of 2002, before I was exposed to the glory of SSH. Telnet has no other big memories for me.
Gopher, on the other hand… I remember distinctly using that on AOL back in the Olden Days before the web took off. It was mildly frustrating to use it via their GUI but also kinda neat. Very hierarchical. And I remember thinking that gopher was the future. I knew I was right!
Posted in Technology
COD September 16, 2008, 3:20 pm
I had a hosting account with Telnet access as recently as last year, so I was still using it with some regularity. They sold out though so now it’s a VPS hosting solution with a locked down SSH interface that doesn’t allow me to do anything useful via the CL.
Ryan September 16, 2008, 4:11 pm
telnet, not recently due to its insecurity, but I use ssh every day.
Gopher… probably 1995. I remember working with the comp sci department at my college to post a letter protesting a decision by the administration.
Hytelnet… a few years ago when I played with a Java-based client just to see what it was like. Never used it back when it was first introduced.
Dave Walls September 22, 2008, 11:47 am
Telnet was all the rage in my first two years of college (95-97), where friends of mine were creating new MUDs and MOOs that we connected through Telnet. I haven’t really used it since.
Gopher: 1996. Can’t remember much about Gopher, to be honest.