Appletalk... (Score 1)

was originally designed as a no brainer peer to peer solution for connecting multiple users to, at that time, expensive laser printers. It was also useful for file sharing. The fact that it stayed on the market so long demonstrated how sucessful and useful it was for its original intended purpose. It was at least a couple of years ahead of MS Windows built in peer to peer networking (probably longer but I am too lazy to do any research). Appletalk just worked. I used it for my home network until ethernet support and devices were cheap enough to justify purchasing for home use. The fact that the protocol was not routable was not an issue for its original intended purpose.