[Chapter-delegates] press release: World Wide Web's 20th BirthdayHighlights Value Of Open Internet

[Gerard Ross]

Hi Olivier

You're right on the money with the note about the proposal to create  
the Web. We may debate whether that is conception rather than birth,  
but in fact at CERN, they and Tim Berners-Lee have agreed on that  
particular event as the appropriate landmark to celebrate!

   http://info.cern.ch/www20/
   http://info.cern.ch/

And so tomorrow, Sir Tim will be back at CERN for the special  
celebrations. It will be webcast, by the way, at 14:00 CET (details at  
the link above).

Also, Rudi Vansnick has just reminded me that his fellow Beligian,  
Robert Caillau, was a key collaborator in the development of the Web.  
Apologies, Rudi, for failing to mention that in the press release, but  
for those wanting to learn more about the "world's first web surfer",  
there's a good profile on the CERN site:

   http://public.web.cern.ch/PUBLIC/en/People/Cailliau-en.html

Cheers everyone
- Gerard

--
Gerard Ross
Senior Communications Manager
Internet Society
Email: ross at isoc.org



On 12/03/2009, at 6:28 PM, Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond wrote:

> Gerard:
>
> 20th birthday? Already?
> I thought the first Web browser was designed in late 1990?
> Ref:  http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/WorldWideWeb.html
>
> Or is the date taken as the date the first paper about the World  
> Wide Web was published?
>
> Or is it the date of the first publicly widely available Web browser  
> sometime in 1993 - after Mark Andreessen sent out the notice for the  
> first release of NCSA Mosaic from University of Illinois at Urbana- 
> Champaign on Usenet mailing lists? (note that NCSA Mosaic wasn't the  
> first browser but it was easier to install on Sun & SGI machines at  
> the time than other browsers which would need much more hacking on  
> compiling...)
>
> How time flies...
>
>
>
> (this is a screen shot that I made of IBM's first Web page running  
> on a very early version of NCSA Mosaic, back in the days... :-)
> Note the link to view the documents "without images" - because most  
> computers did not display the images correctly. At the time, I was  
> using a Silicon Graphics SGI IRIS Indigo box - which was the top  
> stuff for graphics in its era... Sorry for being nostalgic... :-)
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Olivier
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gerard Ross" <ross at isoc.org>
> To: "Chapter Delegates" <chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org>
> Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2009 4:48 PM
> Subject: [Chapter-delegates] press release: World Wide Web's 20th  
> BirthdayHighlights Value Of Open Internet
>
>
>> Hello everyone
>>
>> For your reference, here is a press release that we will be issuing  
>> shortly.
>>
>> Regards
>> - Gerard
>>
>> -------------------------------------------
>> Press release - for immediate distribution
>> -------------------------------------------
>>
>> WORLD WIDE WEB'S 20TH BIRTHDAY HIGHLIGHTS VALUE OF OPEN INTERNET
>>
>> Geneva, Switzerland - 12 March 2009 - As the inventor of the World  
>> Wide Web returns to Geneva for the twentieth birthday of his  
>> creation,  the Internet Society celebrates both his achievement and  
>> the open,  standardised Internet platform that made it possible.
>>
>> Tim Berners-Lee, helped change the course of history by inventing  
>> the  World Wide Web, while working at the CERN physics laboratory  
>> in Geneva, 20 years ago. What some may not realise is that the  
>> Internet itself had at that time already been running for more than  
>> 15 years.
>>
>> "People often confuse the Internet and the Web," explains Lynn  
>> St.Amour, President and CEO of the Internet Society. "The Internet  
>> is  a vast network of networks, interconnected in many different  
>> physical  ways, yet all speaking a common language, specified by  
>> standardised  protocols. The Web is one - albeit, the most  
>> influential and well  known - of many different applications which  
>> run over the Internet."
>>
>> Part of the genius of the Internet is that it allows anyone to  
>> create  new applications and to deploy them without needing the  
>> permission of  any central authority. It achieves this through a  
>> unique model of  development, relying on inclusive processes and  
>> open, freely  accessible standards. This has become known as the  
>> Internet Model, and  it has always been crucial in bringing to  
>> fruition the vision of the  Internet's founders for globally  
>> interconnected and accessible  information.
>>
>> "The great achievement of Tim Berners-Lee was to recognise the  
>> power and potential in the Internet," said Ms St.Amour. "In many  
>> ways, the extraordinary success of the Web illustrates the value of  
>> the Internet's robust, open model of development and use."
>>
>> "The 'killer applications' like the Web, email, and instant  
>> messaging  have certainly played a huge part in bringing the  
>> Internet into the  popular consciousness and establishing it as  
>> vital to so many aspects  of modern life and business. The Internet  
>> Model makes that possible,  by allowing innovators like Berners-Lee  
>> to create, develop, and turn  their visions into reality. The  
>> success of the Web and the many other  Internet applications in  
>> turn enriches the Internet and increases its  value for people  
>> everywhere," she said.
>>
>>
>> About the Internet Society
>> ---------------------------
>> The Internet Society is an international, non-profit organisation  
>> founded in 1992 to provide leadership in Internet related  
>> standards, education, and policy. With offices in Washington, DC,  
>> and Geneva, Switzerland, it is dedicated to ensuring the open  
>> development, evolution, and use of the Internet for the benefit of  
>> people throughout the world.
>>
>>
>> Further details
>> ----------------
>>
>> Gerard Ross
>> Senior Communications Manager, Internet Society
>> E-mail: ross at isoc.org
>> Telephone: +41-228-071-444 x2261
>> 4, rue des Falaises
>> CH-1205-Geneva
>> Switzerland
>>
>>
>> Greg Wood
>> Senior Communications Manager, Internet Society
>> E-mail: wood at isoc.org
>> Telephone: +1-703-439-2120 x2145
>> 1775 Wiehle Avenue
>> Suite 201
>> Reston, VA
>> 20190-5108 U.S.A.
>>
>>
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