Anno IX - Numero 10
Non è sufficiente parlare di pace. Bisogna crederci.
Eleanor Roosevelt

giovedì 5 ottobre 2017

Encoded, decoded

How Usenet—a protocol intended for conversations—was forever changed once the public figured out you could transfer binary files through it

di Ernie Smith

As I pointed out earlier this year, people love free stuff when it comes to the internet. Beyond communication, it may be the most popular use of the internet around. But what happens when a platform intended for communication becomes overwhelmed by free stuff? To put it simply, that’s what Usenet is. The protocol, with a history that goes back nearly 40 years, evolved from its arcane roots as a place for technically minded college students and sysops to communicate into a newbie-overrun protocol, then into a major hub for file sharing. Why did Usenet see its digital role shift so dramatically over time?



Usenet’s creation was based around the idea that computers were becoming sophisticated enough that they could be used to hold conversations, and there was plenty of conversation going on. It was basically Reddit, except decentralized and without a true owner.

But the protocol’s roots in UUCP, effectively a peer-to-peer file-sharing mechanism when you break it down, meant that it was also an effective way of sharing files. Usenet was designed to only share text, but programmers continued to improve on the technology. One particularly pivotal figure was Mary Ann Horton, a University of California Berkeley graduate student who was involved in building up UUCP’s early protocols, and helped create a connection between the protocol and the broader internet.

Continua la lettura su Tedium