LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Quake: Id
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To improve the quality of online play, id Software released QuakeWorld on December 17, 1996, a build of Quake that featured significantly revamped network code including the addition of client-side prediction. The original Quake's network code would not show the player the results of his actions until the server sent back a reply acknowledging them. For example, if the player attempted to move forward, his client would send the request to move forward to the server, and the server would determine whether the client was actually able to move forward or if he ran into an obstacle, such as a wall or another player. The server would then respond to the client, and only then would the client display movement to the player. This was fine for play on a LAN — a high bandwidth, very low latency connection. But the latency over a dial-up Internet connection is much larger than on a LAN, and this caused a noticeable delay between when a player tried to act and when that action was visible on the screen.
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In Quake, you can attack (or be attacked) from almost any angle or altitude. But gone are the days of merely pointing your gun in the general direction of your enemies and blazing away; if you want to hit something, you're going to have to aim your weapon carefully. That's not as easy as it sounds, because the Quake interface breaks rank with the standard control set of previous id software titles. The new system takes some getting used to, but once learned, provides an unmatched level of control.
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On June 22, 1996, id Software released the shareware version of Quake. This consisted of the first episode of the game, roughly one-quarter of the single-player content. It became the downloadable demo version of the game. At that time, despite Assembly language optimizations, there were few computers that could run the game at acceptable performance levels without having to disable some of the more advanced graphical features in the game (such as lighting effects).[2]
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On February 24, 1996, id released a program called "qtest1." Qtest was called a "pre-alpha" release of Quake. This release contained many of the weapons that were to appear in the registered version of Quake, but there were no monsters visable. As it turns out, qtest did have monsters but they were hidden. Enterprising quakers hacked out many useable monsters, including a dragon. Here is the description of qtest from the readme file:
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On July 22, 1996, id Software released the full version of Quake. Upon registration, players who already had the shareware version could unlock three additional episodes and a series of deathmatch-only maps. id supported the release of Quake with multiple patches, the mod source code (QuakeC), the tools source code, and frequent plan updates. The shrinkwrapped retail version was distributed by GT Interactive.
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This controversy ultimately disappeared when the full, registered version of Quake was released to the public in August 1996. Version 1.01 was available through phone and mail orders, and then on a shareware CD-Rom. Players needed to purchase the CD-Rom and then call id to receive an alphanumeric code that would "unlock" the shareware CD-Rom and install the full version of Quake. Purchasers could ... then order a full version of the Quake on an "unlocked" CD-Rom for an additional amount.
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