You do realize that is newsgroup and all the rest of USENET is accesible
via Google Groups? Also virtually every computer ships with perfectly
usable USENET software, Outlook Express.

Linc wrote:
The problem is that the newsgroup format requires a dedicated news
reader and a usenet server to pull the messages from. Back in the AOL
days (read: 1995-97), AOL provided this through the service and you
didn't need a reader and the setup for the usenet server was taken
care of. Later, webforums began to take off and the usenet server
became a more archaic method of interaction. Besides, webforums
protected you by giving you a more anonymous interface (not counting
the administrators).