Gemini might go away, but Gopher is forever.
The overlap is much smaller than gemini proponents would have you think.
E.g. I wouldn't touch gemini with a 15ft pole.
>Gemini gives you methods to display your media on nearly any size of screen.
But it still requires SSL and it still doesn't tell you the size of the resource you're fetching.
The Gemini protocol can't be fixed, as by design it cannot be modified.
Overall, Gemini just smells like an expression of the authors' narcissism.
On TLS, you can get an RPI far cheaper than a second hand 486 machine back in the day in 2001. Starting from a Pentium MMX (better a Pentium II) you can TLS just fine. Heck, even an Amiga with a 68030 can do TLS with a bit of ptience (few seconds on handshake/deal).
And any competent hoster would provide both services for its site, as lots of Gemini users do, not leaving anyone behind.
For instance, gopher://midnight.pub and gemini://midnight.pub
Really, look that up.
The point is that browsers used to be able to browse the Internet, but major players such as Google have been working hard to limit all of these things to just HTTPS. Excusing things away by saying "well I don't use it, so it's useless" has only helped to narrow this path
We've moved beyond that now, why worry about a browser being able to read Gopherspace or Gemini pages? Putting those into dedicated browsers of their own has been the perceived action for some time.
People aren't doing that, I realize it, but maybe we should fix that instead of abandon the dream.
2023 me doesn’t want to install a client for WAIS or Gemini but I would do it if it made sense.
Think more of hypercard and go back and visit the computer Chronicles episodes on YouTube for a refresh if you want
The difference between the two is TBL's WWW was good for browsing citation based research data that's spread across a network of global institutions while hypercard was more about information organization and presentation.
The distinction is subtle in theory but in practice it manifests as inherently different patterns.
For instance, the fidelity of a WWW link is coarse. It could be richer, but it's not. I'm familiar with the W3C semantics group btw and I've read their literature.
The modern web is neither of these systems but it's also something I believe most people would agree is lacking.
Perpetuating the suboptimal anarchy of the present by reinforcing it isn't going to help. More agency needs to be exercised.
I don’t think there’s much to be had from a suboptimal experience.
If you want or need to use FTP you use FileZilla or Transmit.
Also, it's not like browsers are any less complicated now. They support things like 3D rendering and even MIDI device interfacing which are arguably more complicated for less benefit than supporting alternate protocols and technologies