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30 years on from introducing the Web to the World

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Re: 30 years on from introducing the Web to the World

#21

I’m more impressed that the first smartphone is only 14 years old and it has changed so much to our lives: - First, it developed the usage of superficial socialization (lifestyle show-off, body photos, up to lewd behaviors or prostitution, depression for a lot of people, massive societal dopamine addiction), - Second, Youtube was the world wild web of all politics and militant movements, - We’re in a third phase wher…

That comparison - the smartphone being 14 and the web being 30 really illustrates what a total warp jump it has all been. 15 years from boxy home computers connected to each other, to glowing high resolution pocket computer slabs. And then 15 years from those slabs being something totally new and revolutionary, to literally 50%* of all humans having them on their person at all times. The acceleration has definitely c…

> to literally 80% of all humans having them on their person at all times.

While the number is high, it's not _that_ high (closer to 50%), at least from the sources I could find[1]. Where are you getting the 80% from?

- [1] - https://www.bankmycell.com/blog/how-many-phones-are-in-the-w... - check the references in the bottom for digging deeper

Re: 30 years on from introducing the Web to the World

#22
"What happens in an Internet Minute in 2020, for example:

- Zoom hosts 208,333 meetings

- There are 404,444 Netflix user streams

- YouTube users upload 500 hours of video

- Consumers spend $1,000,000 online

- 1,388,889 people make video/voice calls"

Mind blowing if you think about it. I really want to focus on the positives of WWW in this thread. I, like million others, am making a living out of WWW and that itself is so amazing. Thank you Tim Berners-Lee and everyone else who made this happen. A remarkable Invention for the human kind.

Re: 30 years on from introducing the Web to the World

#23

I’m more impressed that the first smartphone is only 14 years old and it has changed so much to our lives: - First, it developed the usage of superficial socialization (lifestyle show-off, body photos, up to lewd behaviors or prostitution, depression for a lot of people, massive societal dopamine addiction), - Second, Youtube was the world wild web of all politics and militant movements, - We’re in a third phase wher…

I think smartphones might be a bit older than that. I remember using some phones in 2003 that already had a basic internet connection (wap), camera, and on which you could check your emails. The first versions of a blackberry that could do emails was 1999 I think. And PalmPilots in 1997. The iphone was just a cooler and more powerful toy.

Re: 30 years on from introducing the Web to the World

#24
post #7

The WWW was pretty great at age 10, but took a wrong turn in its teen years. We now do signal amplification of the worst of humanity. The giants are walled gardens, and in another 10-15 years the "web" will be subsumed by Facebook, and Google's "Cromification/AMPlification" (content lives on their servers and there is no URL bar.) We've destroyed much of the quirkiness and novelty. Now instead of sharing content and…

I would focus on the overall positives at least in this thread. Yes there are lot of valid criticisms but that is more on the companies and not WWW in itself. WWW is Free, Open and you can do anything you want with it even today. You mention personal websites. No one is stopping you from getting a cheap server and setting up your personal website. In fact, I would argue it is has become easier to do that with so many cheap and reliable options (.e.g DigitalOcean, Vultr etc). I run my personal website using WordPress (another great invention) and I am free to host it however I want.

Re: 30 years on from introducing the Web to the World

#26
post #23

I’m more impressed that the first smartphone is only 14 years old and it has changed so much to our lives: - First, it developed the usage of superficial socialization (lifestyle show-off, body photos, up to lewd behaviors or prostitution, depression for a lot of people, massive societal dopamine addiction), - Second, Youtube was the world wild web of all politics and militant movements, - We’re in a third phase wher…

I think smartphones might be a bit older than that. I remember using some phones in 2003 that already had a basic internet connection (wap), camera, and on which you could check your emails. The first versions of a blackberry that could do emails was 1999 I think. And PalmPilots in 1997. The iphone was just a cooler and more powerful toy.

Blackberry and Treo from the early 2000s certainly gave you "easy to access" email and some limited browsing. The iPhone by the late 2000s though was a very different experience. There was definitely a gen 1 of smartphones and then a gen 2 ushered in by the iPhone.

Re: 30 years on from introducing the Web to the World

#27
Does anyone know if there is a URL for Tim Berners-Lee's book "Weaving the Web", where it is accessible over HTTP? Not even talking about gratis open access, just whether or not the Web-of-documents vision is actually in practice for TimBL's book itself. Also not talking about a link to a storefront that sells it, or a promo site, or a faithfully reproduced but non-canonical link to a warez'd copy. Specifically asking here whether the book has a URL. This seems like a pretty basic OKR for grading progress of the Web vision, and yet it seems reasonable to think the answer is "no", which is incredibly ironic (but not shocking).

It was surprising just now to find that there is not even a preview on Google Books, nor are you allowed to search inside it.

Re: 30 years on from introducing the Web to the World

#28

> Our vision is for a World Wide Web that is more inclusive, and more respectful of its users: a Web that supports truth better than falsehood, people more than profits, humanity rather than hate. I support the principles, but I can't give the real implementation a passing grade.

It's popular for liberals to say things like "truth better than falsehood" but they really mean that they want to be able to control what other people read. Only half of what they think is true at a given time actually is.

The other half of the equation is that the more well monied get their message out better than the unmonied. You can't use technology to fix that. Most of the conspiracies we deplore are advanced by idiots with money.

Re: 30 years on from introducing the Web to the World

#29
post #26
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think smartphones might be a bit older than that. I remember using some phones in 2003 that already had a basic internet connection (wap), camera, and on which you could check your emails. The first versions of a blackberry that could do emails was 1999 I think. And PalmPilots in 1997. The iphone was just a cooler and more powerful toy.

Blackberry and Treo from the early 2000s certainly gave you "easy to access" email and some limited browsing. The iPhone by the late 2000s though was a very different experience. There was definitely a gen 1 of smartphones and then a gen 2 ushered in by the iPhone.

That’s certainly true. But you can say the same of early 1990s www. My point is that the idea of having a multifunction tool in your pocket that could connect to the internet came as early as it was technically possible, long before Apple released the iphone.

Re: 30 years on from introducing the Web to the World

#30

A guy I went to college with was there for the birth of the web. I remember him coming back that Fall, and him showing me, on one of our campus NeXTs, this new "World Wide Web" thing. "Cool, I guess. It's like Hypercard," I said, "but not as capable — but it is networked...so how is this better than Gopher? What's the use case?" "Just wait," he replied, "you can't build on Gopher like you can on this." Times changed…

>our campus NeXTs, this new "World Wide Web" thing

Similar story. My lab had 2 NeXT cubes (the monochrome version) and the first time I saw a graphical browser was eye-opening. I had only experienced telnet and gopher before that...

I think this was probably '92-93 - like 3 years before Windows 95 even existed. This experience is what pushed me headlong into the nascent Linux, as the idea of going from NeXT to Windows 95 was like moving from a Ferrari to a tricycle. Linux was no Ferrari but it was at least a pickup truck....

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