April Fools on the Net
    Home       The Net       Comics       Links       Stories       Buy Stuff    

1994 Fools: Announcing WSGopher 6.0 

From dob@inel.gov Tue Apr  5 12:06:28 EDT 1994
Article: 2385 of comp.infosystems.wais
Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!news.kei.com!news.byu.edu!cwis.isu.edu!mica.inel.gov!pebbles.tis.inel.gov!dob
From: dob@inel.gov (David L. Brooks)
Newsgroups: comp.infosystems.www,comp.infosystems.wais
Subject: Announcing WSGopher 6.0
Date: Fri, 1 Apr 1994 21:52:57 GMT
Organization: Idaho National Engineering Lab
Lines: 82
Message-ID: <dob.330.2D9C97B9@inel.gov>
NNTP-Posting-Host: pebbles.tis.inel.gov
X-Newsreader: Trumpet for Windows [Version 1.0 Rev B]
Xref: bigblue.oit.unc.edu comp.infosystems.www:11508 comp.infosystems.wais:2385

Announcing WSGopher 6.0

    WSGopher, Inc. is pleased to announce WSGopher version 6.0, the latest
in a long line of information retrieval tools.  The following summarizes
the features of this new version. 

** Network support
    WSGopher 6.0 supports all current WinSock stacks, and includes direct
support for most other networks currently in use today.
    If WSGopher is installed on a computer without a network, it will
attempt to locate a networked machine via the electrical power lines,
and use that machines network access. 

** Additional protocols supported
    WSGopher 6.0 continues to support the Gopher, Gopher+ and Gopher++
protocols.  In addition, a "state of the art" neural net enables
WSGopher to support other information retrieval protocols, including
but not limited to:
    - HTTP; WSGopher is now a full fledged World Wide Web client
    - Z30.50 protocol used by WAIS; WSGopher is now a WAIS client,
      eliminating the need to set up the Gopher server to do this
    - SMTP, POP and IMAP; WSGopher can now send and receive email
      directly, or function as a mail client
    - EDI and related protocols for electronic data interchange,
      including full support for electronic funds transfer; you can now
      do your personal banking with WSGopher, eliminating the need for
      writing checks to pay regular bills (see the section below on
      "Methods of Payment")

    The advanced neural net used by WSGopher is able to "learn" new
protocols by analyzing the messages sent between a client and server.
For instance, we ran WSGopher while using a popular news reader, and
after a week WSGopher was also news client, with the added benefit of
multimedia support.  See for yourself how WSGopher displays images and
movies posted to Usenet!

** "Virtual bookmarks"
    The same adaptive neural net mentioned above also gives WSGopher a
distinct advantage by recognizing not only the full gamut of Gopher
bookmark formats, but the 200+ variations on URLs.  You can now use
every variety of information locator in use today with WSGopher.
    WSGopher can also recognize simple English commands for locating
information, such as "Please play the third song on that 8 track", and
"Is this file on my latest backup?"

** Tachyon network support
    Probably the most important new feature of WSGopher 6.0 is it's support
for the new "tachyon networks".  As you know, tachyon networks allow
server requests to be received before they are sent, and the more tachyon
repeaters in a network, the earlier the delivery.
    WSGopher capitalizes on this in several ways:
    - allows for early delivery times to be scheduled during non-peak
      hours.  This is particularly attractive for those trying to do
      Veronica queries, only to find that every server is busy.
    - whenever you make a request over a tachyon network, WSGopher
      checks the responses that have already arrived, and presents the
      appropriate ones if found.
    - If a response arrives but you've already changed your mind about
      making it, WSGopher will delete the response to avoid a paradox.

** Method of Payment
    You may use WSGopher free of charge for thirty days; after that,
WSGopher will automatically deduct $15.00 from your bank account.  This
new form of payment is called "payware"; you never see an annoying
message, and it keeps our costs down.
    Government and educational users will continue to use WSGopher free
of charge.

** Problem reporting
    Use the Problem Report dialog in the Help menu to report any and
all problems you may experience.  WSGopher will automatically mail it
to the appropriate address, along with a $1.00 handling fee deducted
from your bank account.

** Availability
    WSGopher 6.0 is available for most personal workstation platforms
beginning today, April 1, 1997.; FTP to ftp.wsgopher.com and get the
file wsg-60.exe from pub/aprilfools.

Thank you,
WSGopher, Inc.

Go Back