3 ms·

> Hm also from the same thread, L, M, and P from the LAMP stack all originated in Scandinavia! Didn't realize that https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10835311

> Hm also from the same thread, L, M, and P from the LAMP stack all originated in Scandinavia! Didn't realize that https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10835311 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10835311 Was going to mention that the Netherlands is not in Scandinavia until I remembered that the P is not Python :P It is interesting that so much foundational tech comes from Europe when I think there is a common perception of that generation of tech as being largely driven by the US (MIT, Bell, etc).

gratunk 3y ago
Also: ssh, mysql, qt. A bit more niche: varnish, opera webbrowser...
- gostsamo 3y ago
  curl
- anon2362 3y ago
  In that case it could be worth mentioning CSS, by the Norwegian Håkon Wium Lie. I often feel like the beginning of the 90s was a missed opportunity by Scandinavian companies. There were many great companies and individuals that were innovative, but could not compete due to the lack of VCs from Silicon Valley and a smaller domestic market
  - laxd 3y ago
    Norsk Data was one of the big guys producing minicomputers in the 70s and 80s. Apparently they held on to minicomputers for too long and quickly lost business to Sun and workstation manufacturers in the early 90s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norsk_Data https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norsk_Data There's a cool documentary as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CswjD3plsF8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CswjD3plsF8
chriswarbo 3y ago
> It is interesting that so much foundational tech comes from Europe when I think there is a common perception of that generation of tech as being largely driven by the US (MIT, Bell, etc). The UK chronically undervalues its computing sector. Lots of the pioneering hardware/fundamentals work was done at Bletchley Park in the 1940s, but was destroyed or remained classified for decades. We had a disproportionately large slice of the software industry in the 80s, but that seemed to be dismissed as just gaming; and of course games themselves aren't taken as seriously as e.g. cinema, despite being a much larger market.

gratunk 3y ago

Also: ssh, mysql, qt. A bit more niche: varnish, opera webbrowser...

gostsamo 3y ago
curl
anon2362 3y ago
In that case it could be worth mentioning CSS, by the Norwegian Håkon Wium Lie. I often feel like the beginning of the 90s was a missed opportunity by Scandinavian companies. There were many great companies and individuals that were innovative, but could not compete due to the lack of VCs from Silicon Valley and a smaller domestic market
- laxd 3y ago
  Norsk Data was one of the big guys producing minicomputers in the 70s and 80s. Apparently they held on to minicomputers for too long and quickly lost business to Sun and workstation manufacturers in the early 90s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norsk_Data https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norsk_Data There's a cool documentary as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CswjD3plsF8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CswjD3plsF8

chriswarbo 3y ago

> It is interesting that so much foundational tech comes from Europe when I think there is a common perception of that generation of tech as being largely driven by the US (MIT, Bell, etc). The UK chronically undervalues its computing sector. Lots of the pioneering hardware/fundamentals work was done at Bletchley Park in the 1940s, but was destroyed or remained classified for decades. We had a disproportionately large slice of the software industry in the 80s, but that seemed to be dismissed as just gaming; and of course games themselves aren't taken as seriously as e.g. cinema, despite being a much larger market.