There exist many different tools for accessing some of the vast stores of data on the internet. These include, but are not limited to: usenet news, archie, ftp, internet relay chat, gopher, and the world wide web. In the process of exploring available resources concerning virtual reality and related technologies, it became clear that a revolution is underway in information dissemination. (For detailed, tool-by-tool evaluations, see below.) The first five tools mentioned above are fairly archaic, dating to the times when the only people using the internet wore white lab coats and thick glasses. They were not intended for an environment where the amount of information available is increasing at an exponential rate. At present, it is clear that these utilities are no longer a time-efficient manner of searching for information. Aiding in their declining usefulness is the expansion of the world wide web (WWW or web). The web is clearly the medium of choice to provide small to medium-sized pieces of information. For larger files, most WWW browsers allow a user to ftp files in a friendly manner. This allows a user to have rapid transfers of large files while maintaining the WWW's rich interface and powerful searching abilities.
Given the fact that WWW HTML files are easier to create, find, and access, it is clear to anyone using the internet for research that it will absorb all of the other tools to make one easy-to-use research tool.
FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
IRC (Internet Relay Chat)