<s>
A	B-Application
News	I-Application
,	O
or	O
Netnews	B-Application
Version	O
A	O
,	O
originally	O
known	O
simply	O
as	O
news	O
,	O
was	O
the	O
first	O
widely	O
distributed	O
program	O
for	O
serving	O
and	O
reading	O
Usenet	B-Application
newsgroups	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
program	O
,	O
written	O
at	O
Duke	O
University	O
by	O
Steve	O
Daniel	O
and	O
Tom	O
Truscott	O
,	O
was	O
released	O
on	O
a	O
tape	O
given	O
out	O
at	O
the	O
June	O
1980	O
USENIX	B-Operating_System
conference	O
held	O
at	O
the	O
University	O
of	O
Delaware	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Steve	O
Daniel	O
from	O
Duke	O
offered	O
a	O
presentation	O
on	O
the	O
then-new	O
Usenet	B-Application
network	O
and	O
invited	O
attendees	O
to	O
join	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Seventh	B-Operating_System
Edition	I-Operating_System
Unix	I-Operating_System
included	O
a	O
"	O
message	B-Operating_System
of	I-Operating_System
the	I-Operating_System
day	I-Operating_System
"	O
facility	O
,	O
which	O
allowed	O
the	O
system	O
operator	O
to	O
cause	O
messages	O
to	O
be	O
displayed	O
to	O
the	O
user	O
at	O
login	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	B-Application
News	I-Application
(	O
so	O
called	O
because	O
each	O
message	O
began	O
with	O
"	O
A	O
"	O
as	O
a	O
marker	O
character	O
)	O
was	O
an	O
expansion	O
of	O
this	O
facility	O
that	O
allowed	O
news	O
messages	O
to	O
be	O
distributed	O
across	O
an	O
arbitrary	O
number	O
of	O
systems	O
using	O
the	O
new	O
uucp	B-Protocol
service	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
user	O
could	O
also	O
post	O
new	O
messages	O
to	O
the	O
local	O
machine	O
(	O
by	O
posting	O
to	O
a	O
special	O
default	O
newsgroup	B-Application
called	O
"	O
general	O
"	O
)	O
or	O
queue	O
it	O
for	O
network-wide	O
transmission	O
by	O
placing	O
it	O
in	O
a	O
public	O
group	O
such	O
as	O
"	O
NET.general	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
the	O
system	O
was	O
designed	O
only	O
with	O
uucp	B-Protocol
in	O
mind	O
,	O
posters	O
were	O
identified	O
by	O
their	O
uucp	B-Protocol
"	O
bang	O
path	O
"	O
addresses	O
,	O
a	O
feature	O
that	O
persists	O
(	O
albeit	O
more	O
for	O
identifying	O
servers	O
than	O
users	O
)	O
in	O
modern	O
Usenet	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
message	O
format	O
was	O
designed	O
for	O
compactness	O
rather	O
than	O
flexibility	O
,	O
consistent	O
with	O
the	O
slow	O
dialup	O
modems	B-Application
used	O
in	O
1980	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
scheme	O
was	O
abandoned	O
after	O
A	B-Application
news	I-Application
for	O
the	O
more	O
verbose	O
but	O
expandable	O
format	O
seen	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
Usenet	B-Application
grew	O
rapidly	O
,	O
the	O
limited	O
capabilities	O
and	O
simplistic	O
article	O
storage	O
scheme	O
(	O
all	O
articles	O
were	O
placed	O
in	O
a	O
single	O
disk	O
directory	O
and	O
there	O
was	O
no	O
facility	O
for	O
expiring	O
old	O
articles	O
)	O
quickly	O
made	O
A	B-Application
News	I-Application
impractical	O
to	O
use	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
largely	O
superseded	O
by	O
B	B-Application
News	I-Application
,	O
although	O
some	O
organizations	O
continued	O
to	O
use	O
it	O
for	O
internal	O
communications	O
for	O
many	O
years	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Later	O
modifications	O
did	O
add	O
the	O
ability	O
to	O
process	O
the	O
early	O
B	B-Application
News	I-Application
article	O
format	O
and	O
act	O
on	O
B	B-Application
News	I-Application
control	O
articles	O
.	O
</s>
