Co-author of Internet Gopher protocol speaks:
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Bob Alberti writes (partial letter);
"When in the dawn of the Third Millennium people, misguided
or simply ignorant, are still using 'anonymous' FTP for file servers;
and as cell phone developers reinvent the wheel by whittling HTML
down to more compact protocols rather than building upon what exists;
then it is clear that greater understanding and awareness of the
Gopher and Gopher+ protocol is sorely needed."
"FTP is a 1960's-era solution designed to communicate between
'dumb' terminals and mainframes. Having written the FTP-to-Gopher
gateway, I can attest that the FTP protocol is incredibly primitive
and vulnerable to abuse. And the conventional overloading of the
protocol for 'anonymous' FTP service is an example of speed and
patchwork overcoming design limitations. FTP is notoriously insecure,
requiring in many cases bidirectional firewall holes for support, and
communicating in cleartext. FTP can be used to damage its own server,
and FTP cannot serve forms, and only serves banners with clumsy
patchwork."
"Gopher servers can share filesystems quickly and easily.
Gopher allows for 'cap' files to modify the appearance of the
directories being served. It allows for cgi-style scripts, form
submission, and multiple languages. And Gopher easily overlays
existing FTP service directories, providing freedom of choice."
"Gopher+ was a bridge spanning the world of its existence
with the future. When a severe communications bottleneck exists
between the server and the client, then the quick, clean and efficient
Gopher+ protocol provides a feasible solution."
"Gopher+ will benefit from greater exposure: ignorance of
the Gopher protocol does not serve the greater Internet community."
"Wireless communications developers would be well-advised to
look at this venerable Internet protocol when seeking ways to
communicate with wireless and handheld devices such as PDAs and cell
phones. The Gopher+ protocol could be a quick, efficient,
standardized open-source solution to the problem of handheld clients."
