Oh. I'm trying to setup a Genera server, and it requires NFSv2, so I think that counts as an "old" protocol. And honestly, Microsoft's lackluster support of mDNS in WSL has me thinking I'm going to launch an NIS/Yellow Pages + NFS/Home Directory server in my house so I can use host names instead of IP addresses for my home LAN with WSL.
I'm just sort of remembering when I worked for Convex in the early 90s. We had a bazillion x/terminals and NIS/NFS, so you could wander around the building and log in anywhere. The X/Terminals knew how to authenticate you using NIS and your home directory would follow you from supercomputer to supercomputer. I think some people had set up virtual desktops so when you logged out of one X/Terminal and logged into the next, your desktop bounced back up right where you left off.
Oh. And we had fiber to the terminal so a couple machines could do video conferencing between our buildings and the UT Dallas campus next door.
Ah. The good old days, when stuff just worked (obviously I'm not talking about video conferencing here. Dang if that wasn't nearly impossible to set up. But everything else was pretty seamless.)
I mean, really, think about it.
If you're just looking for their info against an AC'able backend, LDAP or a generic sql backend with the right tables.
The entire point of finger was to get the hardware to give you an idea of who/where the person was in the network.
Things like servers were not meant to only be used by orgs, they were meant to be used by people too.
I did have to troubleshoot a WAIS[1] protocol issue this week, however. I am the only person in my company who's heard of WAIS, let alone directly used it. Nonetheless, a WAIS server somewhere started malfunctioning and library searches broke and it became a high priority thing.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide_area_information_server
Those are the only "old" protocols I'm aware of that I use, unless you count TCP.
There are other techs now to do this, of course, but migrating the whole group would be a hassle. And we're not beholden to some big-tech group for our existence.