re: Reinventing the Web

March 14, 2009 · · Posted by Greg Lloyd

For an excellent first hand history of the Web - and a linked data proposal which seems to share many of the simple, scalable properties of his original invention - see Tim Berners-Lee's Feb 2009 TED Talk on the 20th anniversary of the Web:


Tim Berners-Lee The next Web of open, linked data
TED.com Feb 2009, Published Mar 2009

Some comments on this talk's comment thread suggest that it's inappropriate for TBL to take credit for inventing the Web. I replied:

I believe that TBL is typically modest and accurate in saying he invented the Web. HTTP, the SGML-based definition of HTML, and the URL protocol were quite literally his inventions - in concept and reduction to practice. Almost every concept of value on the Web: search engines, browsers, notification is built over this simple, open, highly scalable architecture.

TBL does NOT claim to have invented hypertext or the underlying and pre-existing internet protocols which he used very effectively. He quite intentionally made an inspired set of tradeoffs. I suggest paying very careful attention to his linked data proposal.

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