Intitially, applications were primitive. They operated in text mode, using a command language (often different for each tool) and simple transfer techniques. For example, to transfer a file using ftp, you would have to know the syntax for the commands for setting the file type (`asc' or `bin'), navigating to the correct directory (`cd <directory>'), listing the available files (`ls') and finally uploading or downloading files (`put' or `get'). Most of the commands were based around the UNIX operating system, which was designed to be a powerful and flexible toolkit for programmers, rather than a system for ordinary, everyday users to do simple tasks. Hence, the early tools were powerful, but difficult to learn.
The three major applications that were usually provided were:
remote login (e.g. telnet) — allowing you to log in to a net-host, and use it as if you were sitting at its own keyboard;
file transfer (e.g. ftp) — allowing data to be transferred between systems;
messaging (e.g. email) — allowing simple asynchronous communication.
There were other tools used to augment these basic services, such as finger and ph (both remote directory services), talk (a forerunner of chat and IRC, allowing you to communicate in real-time) and others. Many of these supplementary services provided the basis for new ways of using the Internet, and contributed partially to its success in the coming years.
And there were diagnostic tools, such as ping (for checking if a net-host is
`alive') and traceroute (for finding out how your packets of data were travelling
through the Internet). These two commands are still around—in a command prompt
window (usually found in start > programs >
accessories), you can type
ping woozle.ex.ac.uk
to see if my desktop PC is switched on, and you can type
tracert www.av.com
to see the route that information takes from AltaVista's server to your PC. Try it and see!
The introduction of WIMP-(Windows, Icons, Menus and Pointers) -based tools made things easier to use, with graphical displays of files and folders on remote computers, user friendly email programs, and menu-driven access to data through a new `gopher' application, a forerunner of the web.