Nano-Blog : June 29, 2025

Previous Week

Nano-Blog for the week of June 29, 2025.

§ June 29, 2025

• Alan Kay's Quote About the Web

  Alan Kay requires no introduction among computing professionals. Along with Doug Engelbart and Ivan Sutherland, to a large degree he defined what modern computing looks like. But he had a few critiques for "The Web".

  The Internet was done so well that most people think of it as a natural resource like the Pacific Ocean, rather than something that was man-made.

  When was the last time a technology with a scale like that was so error-free?

  The Web, in comparison, is a joke.

  The Web was done by amateurs.

  This quote later inspired the title of Marco Aiello's 2018 book The Web Was Done by Amateurs: A Reflection on One of the Largest Collective Systems Ever Engineered. It's worth checking out if you're hip to critical evaluations of how large groups make things.

  #Alan-Kay #aphorisms

This page was last updated on June 29th, 2025. See the About This Site page for contact and copyright info. It is part of the Nano-Blog, which is part of the content section of the BI6.US web site. The Nano-Blog includes a Date Index, a Subject Index and an RSS feed.