I am Tim Berners-Lee. I invented the WWW 25 years ago and I am concerned and excited about its future. AMA on 2014-03-12
Geege Schuman stashed this in TBL
Stashed in: Reddit!, @timberners_lee, History of Tech!
Later today...
People, why?!
Dude it's Tim Berners-Lee. He doesn't need a browser. He doesn't even need a computer. He just puffs the end of an ethernet cable like a hookah.
Oh and here's a link to his Reddit AMA:
http://reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2091d4/i_am_tim_bernerslee_i_invented_the_www_25_years/
Do you ever look at the stuff on the web now and feel like Robert Oppenheimer?
Tim Berners-Lee (WWW inventor):
No, not really. The web is a -- primarily neutral -- tool for humanity. When you look at humanity you see the good and the bad, the wonderful and the awful. A powerful tool can be used for good or ill. Things which are really bad are illegal on the web as they are off it. On balance, communication is good think I think: much of the badness comes from misunderstanding.
Why does no one mention Robert Cailliau anymore when it comes to the www? Didn't both of you invent it?
Tim Berners-Lee (WWW inventor):
Robert didn't invent it. I invented it by myself, and coded it up on a NeXT, but Robert was the first convert to it, and a massive supporter. He got resources together at CERN, helped find students, gave talks. He also later wrote some code for a Mac browser called "Samba". He also put a lot of energy into persuading the CERN directorate that CERN should declare that it would not charge royalties for the WWW, which it did April 1993.
Tim, What other names did you consider other than the world wide web?
Mine of Information, The Information Mine, The Mesh
None had quite the right ring. I liked WWW partly because I could start global variable names with a W and not have them clash with other peoples' (in a C world) ...in fact I used HT for them)
Top comment after that:
Be honest, you knew exactly what you were doing when you considered The Information Mine, didn't you TIM?
He would have ruined a first name for generations, though:
Mine of Information makes a great French acronym.
5:08 AM Mar 12 2014