reiver, 1 year ago

2/

Back in the 1990s it was not uncommon to still see Computer Terminals in use.

A Computer Terminal kind of looks like a computer; but they aren't computers.

You can kind of think of them as a combined monitor & keyboard.

They connected to a computer located somewhere else.

Sometimes many Computer Terminals connected to the same computer all at the same time.

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reiver, 1 year ago

3/

An important thing about many Computer Terminals is that — a lot of them (probably most) could only display text!, and only in a single color!

Although I suppose it is 2 colors, if you also count the dark color of the screen.

And also, that 1 color of different Computer Terminals could be a different color from each other.

So (with some exceptions) the Computer Terminal world was very monochromatic & text oriented!

reiver, 1 year ago

4/

Why is that important‽ —

Because, back then, even when computers that supported graphics were common — software, protocols, and other computer technology were still designed for this monochromatic text-oriented world.

This includes early Internet protocols such as telnet, gopher, and others.

And even though gemini is a newer protocol — by being heavily inspired by gopher — gemini is also designed for this monochromatic text-oriented world.

reiver, 1 year ago

5/

So let's talk about gopher (before we talk about gemini ).

Before the 1990s, text-oriented applications that showed some screen of text, and gave (menu) options for going to other screen of text, etc, were common.

It is during this era that gopher was created.

One can speculate that gopher may have been yet another Internet protocol that copied things that already existed elsewhere.

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reiver, 1 year ago

6/

Gopher was created back in the early 1990s.

I remember using it back then — during the 1990s.

The World Wide Web was also created in the early 1990s.

For whatever reasons, the Web became the popular thing, and gopher didn't.

Back in the mid- to late 1990s and early 2000s — things that people used to do with gopher, got replaced with the Web-based systems.

The Web became ubiquitous, gopher didn't.

reiver, 1 year ago

7/

Over time what the World Wide Web is was expanded.

The Web started off as a simple monochromatic text-based system with options for going to other text screens, etc — just like gopher.

But over time the Web incorporated more and more and more features. Today the Web is a cross-platform application platform.

But this increased ability of the Web made certain things possible that has made many people unhappy —

reiver, 1 year ago

8/

This is why —

You get spied on.
You get tracked.
You get your privacy taken away from you.
You get turned into a product, and sold.
You get your online identity taken from you.
You get censored.
You get manipulated.
You get your source of income taken from you, because it suits someone else's interests.
You get controlled.
You get everything taken away from you.

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https://mastodon.social/@reiver/109286852247165614

reiver, 1 year ago

9/

Many people feel the Internet is broken.

Many people feel the Web is broken.

Many people feel Social Media is broken.

https://mastodon.social/@reiver/109286852247165614

reiver, 1 year ago

10/

Some people who feel the World Wide Web is broken reacted to this.

They left the Web.

They left the Web and went to gopher

This caused a small revival of gopher.

But —