The WWW's Precursor; The BBS

A bulletin board system (BBS), also called a computer bulletin board service (CBBS), is a computer server running software that allows users to connect to the system using a terminal or a terminal emulator.

Once logged in, the user performs functions such as uploading and downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging messages with other users through public message boards and sometimes via direct chatting. In the early 1980s, message networks such as FidoNet were developed to provide services such as NetMail, which is similar to internet-based email.

Many BBSes also offered online games in which users could compete with each other.

BBSes with multiple phone lines often provided chat rooms, allowing users to interact with each other.

The World-Wide-Web.

The World Wide Web (also known as WWW, W3, or simply the Web) is a public interconnected information system that enables content sharing over the Internet.

It facilitates access to documents and other web resources according to specific rules of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

The Web was invented by English computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee while at CERN in 1989 and opened to the public in 1993.

It was conceived as a "universal linked information system".