CONFER (software)

CONFER
Original author(s)Robert Parnes
Developer(s)Advertel Communication Systems, Inc.
Initial release1975
Written inFORTRAN
Operating systemMTS, Unix
Available inEnglish
TypeComputer conferencing

CONFER is one of the first computer conferencing systems. Highly sophisticated for its time, it was developed in 1975 at the University of Michigan by then graduate student Robert Parnes.[1] The CONFER system continued to be a widely used communication tool until 1999.[2] CONFER is the progenitor of the computer conferencing systems Caucus, PicoSpan, and YAPP.[3]

  1. ^ Empowering networks: computer conferencing in education, Waggoner, Michael, Editor, Educational Technology Publications, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, USA, 1992, p 232.
  2. ^ "Students Met Students on Confer U", Susan E. Topol, Information Technology Digest, University of Michigan, September 8, 1997.
  3. ^ Choosing Web Conferencing Software / Centralized Forums / Examples of WELL-style Web conferencing software by David R. Wolley in the International University Consortium Conference on WWW Course Development & Delivery, 1996, and published in the book World Wide Web Unleashed, John December (Ed.), 1997