On Sat, 26 Feb 2011, Eric Smith wrote:
He invented hypertext in 1963. (Or at least hypertext
in a recognizable
"modern" form; Vannevar Bush arguably may have invented hypertext in
1945.)
Ted explicitly gave credit to Vannevar Bush.
(Vannevar Bush did NOT give credit to those whose work HE built on
(Emmanual Godberg, etc.))
Bush never built a Memex to the full specs that he described, but
people still argue over whether "As We May Think" was a future vision or
describing his existing work. Even the flash tubes were not
yet commercially available that could do what Bush claimed.
Although Nelson built a hypertext system in the 1960s
(as did
Doug Engelbart), and various other small-scale systems were built over
the next few decades, it generally took the world until the 1990s to
catch up. Nelson would claim that we actually still haven't caught up,
because HTML has many serious deficiencies compared to what he invented.
I think that HTML was an ESSENTIAL, needed, intermediate step. Without
it, or its equivalent, we would still be enjoying gopher-space.
Some great programmers, such as Roger Gregory, worked on Xanadu. I think
that we have many decades before the world can catch up to Ted's "vision".
(or even if it SHOULD).
Nelson is also famous for writing _Computer Lib/Dream
Machines_.
I can't find the VHS tape of his pilot for a Silicon Valley soap
opera.
But, "Hyperland" IS on the web!
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at
xenosoft.com