[pyreal]

I built an online computer store for my employer in late '94. It never went anywhere because the guy I worked for kept saying "What are you building this for? Nobody will ever put their credit card into the internet." We were making sales but they didn't have the vision to keep it up-to-date so it died on the vine.

https://github.com/steveclarke/vintage-online-store

At the time there were only two other online stores that I knew of - Internet.net and egghead.com.

[sph]

I've never programmed a CGI-BIN in Perl before but I must say... that code is _elegant_.

Perl and early HTML were a match made in heaven. But notice how HTML and the Web has become so complicated it still looks the same platform, but it ain't. My theory is that Perl died a slow death because the Web grew on a different axis than Perl's ideal niche, which is text manipulation.

At the time, HTML was just marked up text.

[amalcon]

What really "killed"[0] Perl were two main things:

1) PHP: Perl is great for general text processing, but it has warts that really bother people who aren't used to the language. PHP is slightly better for working with HTML (because it is designed for the purpose). While I think PHP's warts are worse, they tend to more bother people who are used to the language. This dynamic will tend to cause PHP to take new users that would otherwise go to Perl.

2) It's hard to overstate how profoundly alien the mid-90's/early-2000's were in terms of web software. In particular, proprietary tools were everywhere, and were just believed to be better for some reason. ColdFusion, ASP, and JSP all saw a ton of use (remember, the JVM was only beer-free at the time). The free software tools were comparatively scarce. There were zero notable free software web browsers until 1998 when Netscape was open-sourced. Even Windows ran on most of the servers. LAMP wasn't even coined until 1998[1]. Perl just wasn't established enough before Ruby on Rails and AJAX took over.

That second point is closely related to what you said, though.

[0]- It's actually alive and well, you just hear about it less often [1]- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAMP_%28software_bundle%29

[coding123]

JSP wasn't proprietary even if it was not yet open source. The writing was on the wall that Java would eventually be open source. Further the Java community process (the JCP) was an open to all. I literally voted a few times. Very different from coldfusion and asp.

[jameshart]

I’m not sure my first reaction to the use of process ids as query params for session identification would be ‘my, that is an an elegant solution’.

I’m curious what aspect of the stacks of print calls outputting strings of escaped HTML with inline variable substitutions strikes you as an ‘elegant’ match between Perl and HTML?

[wtch98]

I use perl on a regular basis to manipulate text and display as webpages via cgi-bin

[ericbarrett]

As soon as I see Perl with & prefixes on functions I know I'm in for a good time. Really awesome piece of history.

[0des]

cgi-bin was comfy

[DonHopkins]

Starting in 1992, DUX Software sold the version of SimCity online that I developed for HyperLook/NeWS/SunOS/Solaris (and then later a multi player version of SimCity for TCL/Tk/X11/various versions of Unix), by distributing a fully functional unlockable demo via FTP, so customers could download it over the internet, play the demo for a while (then the demo melted your city after a few minutes), decide to buy it, then call up (or fax) and read their serial number and credit card number over the phone, and immediately receive a key to unlock the full version of the game.

I got flamed by people who didn't approve of us using the internet for commercial purposes, but they hadn't gotten the memo about how that old rule was now obsolete, since the internet was not longer strictly a military / academic project, so I ignored them.

https://groups.google.com/g/fj.mail-lists.x-window/c/TopRfOj...

    If you don't have a key, SimCity will run in demo mode.
    Run the 'GetKey' script or select 'Get Key...' from
    SimCity's 'File' menu to get a key.

    Now that you have installed SimCity, you can run the "GetKey" shell
    script to get a license key from DUX software, or run "SimCity" in
    demo mode without getting a key. In demo mode, your city will melt
    after 5 minutes, or when you try to save it to disk, so buy a license,
    it's cheap! When you buy a license, DUX will ship you the latest
    version of the software, a nice 100 page manual with lots of nifty
    illustrations, and a handy reference card. And when you're ordering,
    don't forget to ask how to embezzle funds!

    % GetKey
    To get a key for SimCity, contact DUX Software at:

    DUX Software
    4906 El Camino Real
    Suite 1
    Los Altos, CA 94022
    Phone #: [phone]
    or 1-415-967-1500
    FAX #: [phone]

    and give them your server code.

    Your server code is: 1234 5678 9012 3456
    Please enter your key: 9876 5432 1098 7654<return>

    Feature name: 16 [16]
    Number of licenses: 1

    Key successfully installed.
    % SimCity
    Got a license!

    Now you're playing SimCity! An introduction window will pop up while
    the rest of the system loads. Then the startup screen will appear.
    Point the cursor at the controls and pictures and press the "Help" key
    (usually at the lower left corner of the keyboard) to learn how to use
    the user interface!

https://groups.google.com/g/comp.newprod/c/5KWv25ckYHc/m/MgG...

    AVAILABILITY:
    Multi Player SimCity is available directly from DUX Software, and
    via anonymous ftp from ftp.uu.net (192.48.96.9), in the directory
    "vendor/dux/SimCity". You may freely copy it, and play the fully
    functional game in "demo mode" on one display without a license, but the
    city melts every 5 minutes. If you enjoy SimCity, you can buy a license
    over the phone by credit card, without leaving your seat! A single
    player license lets you save and restore your cities, and play for as
    long as you like on one display; a multi player license lets you play
    SimCity with your friends over the net!

    PRICING:
    Single Player Node Locked License: $49
    Multi Player Node Locked License: $89
    Single Player Floating License: $129
    Multi Player Floating License: $149

    PLEASE CONTACT:
    DUX Software, 4906 El Camino Real, Suite 1, Los Altos, CA 94022
    Phone #: [phone] or 1-415-967-1500, FAX #: [phone]
    Email: [e-mail]

https://www.donhopkins.com/home/catalog/simcity/simcity-anno...

https://www.donhopkins.com/home/catalog/simcity/simcity-revi...

>Dux did an excellent job porting Simcity to UNIX. There is little inconsistency between the UNIX version and the PC and Macintosh version. The graphics are fantastic, and the sound effects -- including a ship's whistle -- are realistic. After installing the program, be sure to get the license key. Without it, the computer lets you play awhile, but then destroys your city without warning. [...]

>Simcity for Sun workstations has some added features not available on other platforms. Dux ported Simcity to Unix using Hyperlook from the Turing Institute Ltd. (Glasgow, Scotland), and added a Postscript drawing tool. The tool lets you create simple drawings, and import them into other products such as Framemaker from Frame Technology Corp.

>Simcity also has pie menus, or wheels with a tool on each spoke, for quick access to construction tools. Another nifty feature is zoom windows, which let you choose whether to display more detail or more area in a selected window. With the large monitors common on SPARCstations, zoom windows make it easier to track events in the city. Large monitors also let you open and view many windows simultaneously, which lets you gain easier access to information such as population growth rates and pollution problems. According to Dux, its networked multiuser version, which includes support for audio conferencing, was slated for release by April.

[jaywalk]

I wonder how many times my credit card info was emailed in plain text after entering it into a form just like that one.

[gnulinux]

Oh boy, thousand line Perl script. Here we go again...