
Tim Berners-Lee Confirms The Exact Location Where the Web Was Invented: France - steren
http://davidgalbraith.org/uncategorized/the-exact-location-where-the-web-was-invented/2343/
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aschobel
CERN's phone # has a Swiss prefix,

    
    
      +41 22 76 761 11
    

their physical address and entrance are in Switzerland,

    
    
      CERN CH-1211
      Genève 23
      Switzerland
    
    

and their website is a .ch

    
    
      http://cern.ch/
    

but the web was invented in France since one building was in France?

As a Swiss citizen I'm not buying it!

~~~
Create
Restaurant 2 is also in France, but they still ask for CHF. And yes, most
"coders" are polish and alike (ie. Eastern labourers), not Swiss citizens. The
latter would not put up with the work conditions, despite the PR.

"The cost [...] has been evaluated, taking into account realistic labor prices
in different countries. The total cost is X (with a western equivalent value
of Y)" [where Y>X] src: LHCb calorimeters : Technical Design Report

ISBN: 9290831693 <http://cdsweb.cern.ch/record/494264>

~~~
atomicdog
>The latter would not put up with the work conditions

CERN has poor working conditions?

~~~
Create
not for westerners.

------
lloeki
> I'll bet if you asked every French politician where the web was invented not
> a single one would know this.

Not only that, but they're willfully destroying it with laws like HADOPI 2,
LOPSI 1 and LOPPSI 2 which are entirely like SOPA and PIPA. With DNS
filtering, packet inspection, they're essentially building a Great FireWall of
France, or rather a digital _Ligne Maginot_ (with basically the same
efficiency, consuming resources and missing the target).

We went throught the entire process of trying hard to raise awareness and
educate people and politics but lacked the oomph that was shown against
SOPA/PIPA, so the laws passed. But more laws are to come so it looks like we
French will again need the help of you, citizens of the world.

France really does not hold up to the values of humanism, rights, and freedom
we're so proud of.

~~~
pefavre
'France really does not hold up to the values of humanism, rights, and freedom
we're so proud of.' Digitally speaking, you're right. But better days will
come, as french politicals and execs tend to be more of followers than of
trend setters. Very few older people (above GenY) understand the concepts and
issues of the open web and the importance to provide it to each citizen on the
same level. Meanwhile, France is still making of fool of itself.

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CWIZO
This bit from the article is the thing you guys should be focusing on:

"So although, strictly speaking, France is the birthplace of the web it would
be fair to say that it happened in building 31 at CERN but not in any
particular country! How delightfully appropriate for an invention which breaks
down physical borders."

... not argue which country can take the credit (which is absurd as TBL is a
person not a country).

~~~
Mizza
Yes!

A British person.

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heyrhett
Pretty cool to see the room. I always liked this photo: "This machine is a
server. DO NOT POWER IT DOWN!!" (or you will take down the web)
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:First_Web_Server.jpg>

~~~
devindotcom
The book in that picture is the famous "Inquire Within Upon Everything" that
essentially inspired TBL with the idea of the internet system. I have a copy
right here, in fact the same edition from what I can tell!

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AceJohnny2
(disc: I'm from that country) Why did you have to highlight the country in the
HN title? Even the original article only added that as an afterthought. It's
just going to bring those arrogant, chauvinistic assholes out of the woodwork
(and I even realize the irony of having taken the bait!).

The Web was invented as part of an international scientific effort, there's no
need and usefulness to link it to one flowerpot over another.

------
baby
> The CERN sites, as an international facility, are officially under neither
> Swiss nor French jurisdiction. [1]

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CERN>

Q.E.D

PS: My understanding of the thing is that CERN was created to be a project
between France and Swiss (although they say european on wikipedia) => the
sites were build between the two country and that it doesn't make any sense to
say internet was invented by french/swiss in France/Swiss. It's a cooperative
project.

~~~
joe24pack
I know this is a bit nit picky, but WWW != internet.

~~~
suneilp
And therein is the problem. The lines have blurred and many people think WWW
when they hear the word 'Internet'.

Let's face it, the Web is the most visible aspect of the internet. Even email
is used by many people through their web browsers.

This whole debate is worthless.

~~~
juiceandjuice
The lines have blurred because the WWW was by far the most important and most
visible system/protocol driving development of the internet.

I think it's a bit like internal combustion engines: They existed before cars,
but people associate motors with cars, and even companies named themselves
after them "Ford Motor Company", GM, etc... They became synonymous.

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richardburton
I wonder what it feels like to change the world.

I wonder how it feels to wake up every day and know that you have, in your
lifetime, completely changed the way the world functions and, long after your
gone, those changes will be traced back to you.

What an amazing human being.

~~~
Create
There are a lot of myths, and myth building. The world already had RPC
(control software, in which TBL participated), even hypertext with links. What
he got, was a (very expensive) toy capable of graphics, while everybody else
had falcos to gaze text (still a mystery how _that_ found its way through CERN
management). NextStep had an unused memory slot while handling font
properties, so that's where the link got hacked in, almost à la hypercard,
dead-simple "programming". It was arguably not very multiplatform.

The web as we know it today owes its success to being an open, multiplatform
graphical standard. There were all sorts of similar standards, even graphical,
but maybe less open and therefore less multiplatform. Students created with
sweat the multiplatform stuff that was then openly given away and improved
upon around the "rest" of the world. It was the work of many, built on the
ideas of many. It was very much of an organic development, not somebody waking
up in the morning changing the world.

But then it wouldn't make such a nice success story, which is essential to
branding, for PR.

btw: I am almost convinced, that Robert C. was aware of the beautiful, but
forgotten story about a Belgian from '30s, who was swept away in WWII. He
really had the ideas nailed about what the internet is today, for which others
(in the U.S.A.) took the credit for after WWII (ARPA, V.Bush, memex, IEEE
etc.). Actually, the Universal Decimal Classification found in almost every
library, or documentation system.

Short story: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwRN5m64I7Y>

Long story: <http://www.archive.org/details/paulotlet>

~~~
richardburton
Thank you for this extra information.

It goes without saying that the internet was not a one-man creation. You said
it.

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accountoftheday
having been to this room, it is legally not possible to get to the building
without crossing into Switzerland over the border, iirc.

~~~
icot
You can enter Meyrin site through gate C - the one in the North, close to
St.Genis - during one hour in the morning to facilitate transit.

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ColdAsIce
Oh great nationalism.

Who the hell cares what country, especially when european borders are quite
fluid?

~~~
Gmo
Hum ... the guy that wrote this post does not seem to be French or Swiss for
that matter. So why talk about nationalism ?

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kaha242
What? The web is from France? Wouldn't that be a good 'argument' for
politicians to re-introduce SOPA/PIPA? I mean ... something that came from
France can only be bad, right? [like the other stuff considered harmful, like
health insurance and stuff]

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tnuc
I thought Al Gore invented the Internet?

:)

