The Wide Area Information Server (WAIS) is a system on the Internet that searches and retrieves text and multimedia documents on databases. Thinking Machines Corporation, Apple Computers, and Dow Jones originally developed WAIS in the mid-1980s. In order to fully use WAIS the user must have access to a TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) network on the Internet. Even without access to the Internet, users can still use WAIS on a limited basis. There are many free WAIS programs for several operating systems (such as UNIX, MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System), and Mac OS (Macintosh Operating System), and for specific environments (such as X-Windows, NeXT, and MS-Windows). WAIS uses the Z39.50 standard (a specification for a query language based on SQL (structured query language)) to process natural language queries.

There are over 400 WAIS libraries throughout the world. A server computer that contains files...