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One of my university friends, lucky lad, had his third year work placement at CERN.
In the final year at university he showed me what he had been working on at CERN, which was basically the precursor to the world wide web.
Guess what he had to show me?
Yes, pictures of prawn.
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
modified 1-Oct-14 8:52am.
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GuyThiebaut wrote: Yes, pictures of prawn.
That was very shellfish of him. 
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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Didn't he use a NeXT workstation[^] for much of his early work on the web?
That's gotta annoy the Microsoft zealots around here... 
Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. ~ George Washington
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I was reading an article in the paper last night through gritted teeth that once again credited Tim Berners-Lee which pretty much inventing the whole internet, almost as though a deity brought it together in a instant of creation for the good of all mankind.
When I did my degree 20+ years ago, there were no web-browsers but the internet was there. We generally used FTP to access remote resources. SGML also existed, and so did Gopher. So really I see the web as nothing more than a slight evolution bringing together these things into an admittedly very accessible format.
Apple didn't invent the smartphone, it was the people who invented low power processors and brilliant batteries. Tim Berners-Lee didn't invent the internet we have today, I attribute it more to the *really* clever engineers who did the seemingly impossible by inventing ADSL and by connecting everyone to it.
And the 'this is for everyone' quote has two clear different meanings. The first conjures up Tim with his hands wide open atop a mountain declaring his gift to the world. The other as an answer to the question who might use it, perhaps in the CERN canteen. "This if for everyone [to use], including the filthy public."
And that's where it all went wrong.
Regards,
Rob Philpott.
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Rob Philpott wrote: And the 'this is for everyone' quote has two clear different meanings. The first conjures up Tim with his hands wide open atop a mountain declaring his gift to the world.
I envisage the multitudes surrounding the mountain with hands wide open and a central finger raised.
The further away you get in time the more myopic the view so don't expect it to get better!
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity
RAH
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Look on the bright side: He's not French or American.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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I'm curious, Rob, if you have any direct personal experience that has led you to conclude Berners-Lee had/has some kind of elitist attitude, or that he ever has attempted to take sole credit for the invention of the internet as it is now.
Do you have any evidence that when Berners-Lee "took his small step for man" he grasped the potential of the internet as it has evolved into today: a "giant step for mankind" ?
And, what suggests to you that CERN has some kind of "let them eat cake" culture ?
I'm genuinely curious, and I have not done any in-depth reading about the origins of the web.
« I had therefore to remove knowledge, in order to make room for belief » Immanuel Kant
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BillWoodruff wrote: I'm curious, Rob, if you have any direct personal experience that has led you to
conclude Berners-Lee had/has some kind of elitist attitude
Absolutely not. I've not met him, but from what little I know I understand he is a very modest man, and in no way a self-publicising egotist. And I don't seek to discredit his work.
My issue arises from the popular perception that he is somehow the father of the internet. People tend to listen when he offers an opinion on where the web is heading and quite right too, but get it in perspective. Hyperlinking globally distributed documents is a very powerful paradigm, but that's all it is. Why he should know any better than anyone else where it will all end up is beyond me.
The internet (of which WWW is just a part) as it stands today comes from the efforts of many, many people and I just dislike the way all the credit goes to one link in the chain.
Regards,
Rob Philpott.
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Rob Philpott wrote: from the popular perception that he is somehow the father of the internet.
I've never even heard of the guy. Perhaps this perception is only in the country wherever this guy is from?
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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Could well be. He's British. And with our national decline from a glorious past of inventing just about everything to the mediocre present of not inventing much we need to cling on to whatever we've got.
James Dyson is another one. He invented purple vacuum cleaners.
Regards,
Rob Philpott.
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Rob Philpott wrote: My issue arises from the popular perception that he is somehow the father of the internet.
Well, he's certainly one of the fathers, and I'd rather see someone like him get the attention than some egoistic prig like a certain deceased apple salesman, because he better represents the people who do all the work but don't seek any glory -- i.e. us.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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TBL is the one that made it possible for the internet to get out of the closet and make it what it is now (unlike Vince Cerf who did all the work on the internet infrastructure and is mostly unknown outside of academics and engineering)
Apple is the company that made the existing mp3 players, intelligent phones and tablets what they are now.
All great things are build on top of other great things.
I'm certain the "inventor" of the penicillin also build his work on top of other great scientists before him; and that the Alexander Graham Bell used the works of other great person before him to "invent" the telephone.
I don't thing the internet that we see today as a 'slight evolution" of what gopher was at that time.
I'd rather be phishing!
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Just like Benz of Ford - useless without Hooley 
PooperPig - Coming Soon
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...and OG still without internet - or he got to used the good life without QA?
What is your bet - when he will be back (if he will back)?
I'm not questioning your powers of observation; I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is. (V)
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its good for him 
In code we trust !
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I'm imagining OG sitting on the doorstep, hugging a sheep fur while having severe drawback symptoms.
Will he manage to get rid of the addiction?
"Hi, I'm Griff, I'm a CP addict."
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Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter wrote: or he got to used the good life without QA?
He leaves and we have a huge outbreak of SPAM in QA. Hm, seems suspicious to me. 
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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Movie Quote Of The Day
Okay, this patient has an inoperable frontal lobe tumor extending across the midline, started as colon cancer. The patient had come in for a standard check-up, which we were able to monitor the rate at which his condition is declining.
Which movie?
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I see what you did here-
~RaGE();
I think words like 'destiny' are a way of trying to find order where none exists. - Christian Graus
Entropy isn't what it used to.
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"I Saw What You Did[^]" Or "Blood All the Way"
Whether I think I can, or think I can't, I am always bloody right!
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Dead man dying
if(this.signature != "")
{
MessageBox.Show("This is my signature: " + Environment.NewLine + signature);
}
else
{
MessageBox.Show("404-Signature not found");
}
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"Indisputable that post is full of bright ideas!"(6,6)
Not too hard, but may catch you out.
---------------------------------
Obscurum per obscurius.
Ad astra per alas porci.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur .
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