Gopher was a menu-driven interface via ftp to search, find and download files for academics who weren't particularly computer savey. It also gave them a platform to publish their own research for others and have it indexed and searchable. It was never meant to be a popular format...
Well, I think popular in the context of Internet meant something different then as it does now. But yes, gopher seemed then just like 'nother service, while WWW was a revolution in the mid-nineties.
