Goofey
Encyclopedia
Goofey was an early instant messaging
program for UNIX
systems, written in the mid-1990s by Tim MacKenzie and Darren Platt. At the time it was seen as an improvement over the UNIX talk and mail
programs and was popular with computer science
students studying at Monash University
in Melbourne, Australia, where it originated. A version of Goofey for Microsoft Windows
was written by three first year Monash University
Computer Science students and released in 1996. The underlying server pluto was originally developed under SunOS and supported thousands of users efficiently with a lightweight non-threaded design. A number of bot clients were developed for Goofey such as Donald, a calendaring client written by Kevin Lentin, and ET, a phone directory application. Mickey, a console ASCII
clock and message taking application was the original inspiration for the project to allow CS honours students to easily leave message for one another. The network chat feature was a natural outgrowth to allow more efficient message delivery. The Mickey features were eventually separated from the core server to allow cleaner separation of components.
Instant messaging
Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...
program for UNIX
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
systems, written in the mid-1990s by Tim MacKenzie and Darren Platt. At the time it was seen as an improvement over the UNIX talk and mail
Mail (Unix)
mail is a command line email client for Unix and Unix-like operating systems.-Example usage:mail -s "You've got mail" -c cc.rider@example.org somebody@example.com anotherbody@example.net...
programs and was popular with computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
students studying at Monash University
Monash University
Monash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL....
in Melbourne, Australia, where it originated. A version of Goofey for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
was written by three first year Monash University
Monash University
Monash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL....
Computer Science students and released in 1996. The underlying server pluto was originally developed under SunOS and supported thousands of users efficiently with a lightweight non-threaded design. A number of bot clients were developed for Goofey such as Donald, a calendaring client written by Kevin Lentin, and ET, a phone directory application. Mickey, a console ASCII
ASCII
The American Standard Code for Information Interchange is a character-encoding scheme based on the ordering of the English alphabet. ASCII codes represent text in computers, communications equipment, and other devices that use text...
clock and message taking application was the original inspiration for the project to allow CS honours students to easily leave message for one another. The network chat feature was a natural outgrowth to allow more efficient message delivery. The Mickey features were eventually separated from the core server to allow cleaner separation of components.