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In 1991, I wanted to write about the WWW for NeXTWORLD magazine. Tim Berners-Lee replied to my email, saying he was reluctant to widely publicize that code for
by DanielKehoe 3y ago
In 1991, I wanted to write about the WWW for NeXTWORLD magazine. Tim Berners-Lee replied to my email, saying he was reluctant to widely publicize that code for the web was available for free, as management at CERN had not yet agreed to release it publicly. The web grew slowly the first two years. At the time, I really didn't understand his hesitance, but in hindsight it was for the best. Two years ago, I wrote about the early days of the web on its 30th anniversary [0].
To me, Tim Berners-Lee is brilliant not just for his vision of a WorldWideWeb and its technical underpinnings, but also for an astute political streak in shepherding it to widespread adoption. I appreciate Jay Hoffmann (the article's author) for marking the significance of the anniversary.
[0] https://danielkehoe.com/posts/early-days-of-the-web-1991/ https://danielkehoe.com/posts/early-days-of-the-web-1991/
- WillAdams 3y agoTBL's book _Weaving the Web_: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/821987 https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/821987 seemed a really good overview/history to me and is one which I always recommend. He certainly earned his prominent rôle in the Y2K celebrations.
- cxr 3y ago> TBL's book _Weaving the Web_ Which, notably, is not made accessible via URL—at least not a "first-class" URL by the author/publisher; if you want to refer someone to the contents of a specific passage—or the entire book, even—then your best bet is with something like OpenLibrary, which has made it accessible in a fairly messy and roundabout way. Not a great endorsement for the vision of the Web as it was intended (vs how it is actually used).
- WillAdams 3y agoNot sure what link you mean. https://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/Weaving/Overview.html https://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/Weaving/Overview.html seems fine to me. The book itself isn't on the web (although it was authored in a web page editor, Navipress) --- I don't think TBL has ever said that _all_ information/text would be on the Web so not understanding your point? Arguably that it's not is another nod to/acknowledgement of what Ted Nelson wanted to do w/ Xanadu but failed.
- cxr 3y ago> Not sure what link you mean. <https://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/Weaving/Overview.html https://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/Weaving/Overview.html> seems fine to me. That's not the book. That's just a (scant) page about the book (with a few broken outbound links). > The book itself isn't on the web So you do understand what I mean. > I don't think TBL has ever said that _all_ information/text would be on the Web So you don't understand what TBL meant. The Web includes everything. Whether it's "on" the Web in the sense of being readily served up by a functioning piece of software that responds to requests with the full contents or not is another matter (but it is supposed to have a URL even if the answer is "not"—as in "not currently available").
- WillAdams 3y agoI'd thought that that aspect of the web went out the door when URL was changed from meaning: Universal Resource Locator to Uniform Resource Locator Do you have a quote where TBL indicated that _all information/text would be on the Web? I don't see why a page indicating the existence of a physical book isn't adequate, nor why a text has to be available online when there's no workable mechanism for compensating the copyright holder --- the inability to work up such a mechanism was why Ted Nelson's Xanadu never got anywhere. The problem with URL as Universal Resource Locator is that where a file is stored does not match to how it should be searched for (hence the original web directory pages, and the reason search engines are the primary interface for finding anything on the Web) --- moreover, few people are formally trained as librarians, and aren't inclined to name and organize and store things in formal hierarchies so as to facilitate that.