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Comments from Frankston, Reed, and Friends

Thursday, March 14, 2002

DanB at 8:30 AM [url]:

Treo review

For those who haven't seen it, I've posted the first part of a review of the Handspring Treo 180 on my web site.



BobF at 12:09 AM [url]:

The Internet is Missing and We Must Find it!

Once upon a time there was the Internet. It was wonderful creative environment in which anyone could try out ideas and share them with others. In the early 1990's Tim Berners-Lee played with the idea of sharing documents with his colleagues and created the World Wide Web.

The time was just right. Many universities and research centers were connected to the Internet and, in the United States, most personal computers came with modems and in many places there were no extra charges for local phone calls.

The Web generated excitement and the use of the Internet grew very rapidly. So rapidly that the Internet itself was unable to meet the demand. Work-arounds, shims, scaffolding and whatever was necessary was put in place to keep it going.

Though the Web itself seems to be functioning, the Internet that Tim Berners-Lee and the rest of us knew is gone. Most people using the Internet are only allowed to be consumers and can't contribute. Even the Web has lost much of its vitality. It is difficult to get around all mechanisms that try to limit traffic to "classic" Web applications.

The phenomenon of the Web makes it seem as if the Internet is alive and well. But what we see is little more than a veneer.

Am I being alarmist? Is there anything we can do? For the answer to these and other questions, read my essay on finding the missing Internet.



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