FINGER

FINGER and WHOIS hark back to a different time on the internet; a time when the net was a small and friendly town, where people could leave their front doors unlocked.
Here is some old output from my Unix finger program, inspired by MIT ITS and TOPS-20 finger programs;
-User-	   --Full name--	   -What- Idle TTY -Console Location-
budd	 + Philip Budne		   finger      p2  buit2:0; Office: MCS 107
bzs	 + Barry Shein		   csh 	  5:13 p5  bu-cs (Remote Login)
				   csh 	  8:30 p8  buit4 (Remote Login)
jdh	 S Jason Heirtzler	   xemacs 7:45 p0  buit12 (X display 0)
tower	 + Leonard H. Tower Jr.	   csh 	  6:59 p4  buit3 (X display 0)
				   xemacs 4:26 p6  buit3 (X display 0)
				   xemacs+5:02 p7  buit3 (X display 0)

Some more old output, from the last days of ITS at MIT;
tcsh% chsupdup mc
Trying... Open
MIT Mailinglist Central PDP-10

MC ITS.1650. DDT.1545.
TTY 5
2. Lusers, Fair Share = 68%

    ***  IMPORTANT NEWS  ***

    The ITS machines are being shut down.  Read the file SYS;GOOD BYE
    (last updated 12 May 90) for the current details.

:f
(Please Log In)
-User-    --Full name--          Jobnam Idle TTY -Console location-
ALAN   `  Alan Bawden            HACTRN      T04 Bear's House (492-7274)
___017 <  [not logged in]        F           T05 GHOTI (Chaos)
*:f moses
(Please Log In)
JM     L  Joel Moses             Not logged in.  No plan.

*:whois jonl
(Please Log In)
JONL   *X Jon L White            Not logged in.  No plan.
   [edsel!jonl@labrea.stanford.edu] Hacking LISP etc. for Moses
   Lucid, Inc.;  415-329-8400;  Home Phone 415-967-3185
   149 Palmer Avenue; Mountain View, CA 94043


*:whois moon
(Please Log In)
MOON   L  David A. Moon          Last logout 05/10/89 18:27:37  No plan.
   [symbolics] Hacking Red Sea and other miracles for Moses
   Symbolics, Inc.;  617-221-1315;  Home Phone 396-5185
   24 Metcalf St.; Medford, Mass. 02155

   It's too bad technology has regressed to the point where it is
   no longer possible to produce works as great as the ones our ancestors
   left for us, ITS for example.

MOON5  L  David A. Moon          Not logged in.  No plan.
   [moon@MX] Hacking Mundane Things for Moon

$$u

MC ITS 1650  Console 5 Free. 05:47:48

Some output from the SU-AI SAIL system (c. 1990);
buit2% f @sail.stanford.edu
[sail.stanford.edu]
Trying 36.86.0.194...


     Person          Job Jobnam Idle    Terminal
CC  Chris Chafe       30 TELNET      detached
CLT Carolyn Talcott    2 E      434. TTY-44  McCarthy's house
                      13 E      714. TV-143  MJH 362 Lifschitz, Talcott
JMC John McCarthy      1 E      892  TTY-46  McCarthy's house
                       7        892. PTY163  job 1 E
                      14 LOGIN  963. TV-140  MJH 356 McCarthy
                      17        937. PTY161  job 21 E
                      21 E      917. TV-127  MJH 356 McCarthy
SYS System Files      11 FINGER      PTY164  [128.197.20.41]

And finally, some new (June 2002?) output from an old (Stanford TOPS-20) finger program!
home% f @heat.xkl.com
[heat.xkl.com]
Trying 192.94.202.24...
 User    Personal name       Job Subsys Idle TTY Console location
HELLIWEL Dick Helliwell        7 EXEC   4d12. 52 Internet: highland.xkl.com

home% f @fathom.xkl.com
[fathom.xkl.com]
Trying 192.94.202.28...
 User    Personal name       Job Subsys Idle TTY Console location
HAYDEN   Bernie Hayden        11 MM     5:24  30 Internet: kent.xkl.com
HELLIWEL Dick Helliwell        8 GNUEMA 8:10  32 Internet: highland.xkl.com
                               9 EXEC   4:17. 26 Internet: highland.xkl.com
                              10 EXEC      8. 27 Internet: kent.xkl.com
                              21 EXEC     17. 42 Internet: kent.xkl.com
JACKSON  Brad Jackson          7 EMACS  4d05  25 Internet: fife.xkl.com
                              17 EXEC   3d05. 37 Internet: kent.xkl.com
MICHAELS Robert Michaels      19 GNUEMA 3:51  40 Internet: kent.xkl.com
SHAFFER  Phil Shaffer         13 EXEC   8:39. 33 Internet: lancashire.xkl.com

home% f @mathom.xkl.com
[mathom.xkl.com]
Trying 192.94.202.19...
 User    Personal name       Job Subsys Idle TTY Console location
 ???                          20 FTPSRT       35 Internet: net7-115.xkl.com
ALDERSON Rich Alderson        11 EXEC   4:31. 25 Internet: clwyd.xkl.com
ALICIA   Alicia Falsetto      21 EXEC   9:13. 33 Internet: kent.xkl.com
HELLIWEL Dick Helliwell       15 GNUEMA 1d06  37 Internet: highland.xkl.com
                              16 EXEC   1d06. 41 Internet: highland.xkl.com
JACKSON  Brad Jackson         18 MM     5:31  34 Internet: fife.xkl.com
                              22 EXEC   3d11. 40 Internet: fife.xkl.com
MFG-TEST                      13 FTPSRT       27 Internet: envy.xkl.com
                              14 FTPSRT    1  30 Internet: net7-117.xkl.com
                              17 FTPSRT    1  31 Internet: net7-116.xkl.com
                              19 FTPSRT    1  32 Internet: net7-118.xkl.com
NORGAARD Diane Norgaard       12 MM     6:15  26 Internet: kent.xkl.com

home% f @toed.xkl.com
[toed.xkl.com]
Trying 192.94.202.40...
 User    Personal name       Job Subsys Idle TTY Console location
ALDERSON Rich Alderson        12 EXEC   6:57. 31 Internet: clwyd.xkl.com
GORIN    Ralph Gorin          10 EMACS  3:28  30 Internet: fife.xkl.com
                              13 EXEC   3:59. 34 Internet: fife.xkl.com
HELLIWEL Dick Helliwell        7 GNUEMA    9  27 Internet: highland.xkl.com
                               8 EXEC     10. 25 Internet: highland.xkl.com
                              14 EXEC       . 33 Internet: kent.xkl.com

home% f @mrtoad.xkl.com
[mrtoad.xkl.com]
Trying 192.94.202.27...
 User    Personal name       Job Subsys Idle TTY Console location
GORIN    Ralph Gorin           8 FILDDT 3:24  25 Internet: fife.xkl.com

Tom Van Vleck wrote "I believe WHO command on CTSS was the ancestor of all of these programs. I rewrote it in the late 60s; many hands had touched it before that." See his page on the Multics WHO command.


Phil Budne