<s>
tin	B-Protocol
is	O
an	O
open-source	B-Application
text-based	O
and	O
threaded	O
news	B-Protocol
client	I-Protocol
,	O
used	O
to	O
read	O
and	O
post	O
messages	O
on	O
the	O
Usenet	B-Application
global	O
communications	O
network	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Tin	B-Protocol
was	O
initially	O
used	O
on	O
text-only	O
display	B-Device
terminals	I-Device
connected	O
via	O
a	O
slow	O
serial	B-Protocol
interface	I-Protocol
to	O
a	O
multi-user	O
time	B-General_Concept
sharing	I-General_Concept
central	O
server	O
,	O
where	O
graphics	O
were	O
generally	O
not	O
supported	O
and	O
when	O
the	O
computer	B-Device
mouse	I-Device
did	O
not	O
yet	O
exist	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
the	O
time	O
,	O
tin	B-Protocol
was	O
considered	O
to	O
be	O
somewhat	O
of	O
a	O
high-resource	O
program	O
in	O
this	O
environment	O
(	O
similar	O
to	O
the	O
Pine	B-Operating_System
email	I-Operating_System
client	I-Operating_System
)	O
due	O
to	O
its	O
use	O
of	O
terminal	O
cursor	O
control	O
and	O
page-oriented	O
text	O
scrolling	O
to	O
make	O
navigating	O
Usenet	B-Application
easier	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Tin	B-Protocol
is	O
available	O
for	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
Unix-like	B-Operating_System
operating	I-Operating_System
systems	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
TASS	O
newsreader	B-Protocol
,	O
whose	O
source	O
code	O
had	O
been	O
posted	O
in	O
1991	O
on	O
Usenet	B-Application
by	O
Rich	O
Skrenta	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
work	O
on	O
tin	B-Protocol
was	O
begun	O
shortly	O
afterwards	O
by	O
Iain	O
Lea	O
,	O
who	O
provided	O
information	O
for	O
the	O
IETF	O
RFC	O
2980	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
1996	O
,	O
tin	B-Protocol
has	O
been	O
maintained	O
by	O
Urs	O
Janßen	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
program	O
is	O
generally	O
compared	O
with	O
trn	B-Protocol
or	O
nn	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
note	O
that	O
tin	B-Protocol
has	O
the	O
most	O
flexible	O
threading	O
support	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Tin	B-Protocol
runs	O
on	O
any	O
UNIX	B-Application
or	O
POSIX	O
platform	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
is	O
because	O
tin	B-Protocol
was	O
an	O
early	O
adopter	O
of	O
autoconf	B-Application
,	O
in	O
1996	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Older	O
versions	O
of	O
tin	B-Protocol
also	O
ran	O
on	O
OpenVMS	B-Operating_System
;	O
the	O
newer	O
versions	O
which	O
have	O
UTF-8	O
support	O
do	O
not	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
original	O
tin	B-Protocol
used	O
termcap	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Along	O
with	O
the	O
portability	O
improvements	O
gained	O
by	O
using	O
autoconf	B-Application
,	O
its	O
developers	O
improved	O
the	O
adaptability	O
by	O
making	O
it	O
work	O
with	O
terminfo	B-Device
or	O
curses	B-Device
—	O
again	O
improving	O
portability	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Other	O
changes	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
localization	O
using	O
gettext	B-Application
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
IPv6	B-Protocol
support	O
have	O
kept	O
the	O
application	O
current	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unlike	O
trn	B-Protocol
or	O
nn	O
,	O
it	O
is	O
easy	O
to	O
follow	O
the	O
progress	O
of	O
changes	O
since	O
1995	O
in	O
tin	B-Protocol
because	O
its	O
changelog	O
is	O
detailed	O
and	O
dated	O
.	O
</s>
