Rating:  - OH, WHAT A WEB WE WEAVE......
While he doesn't enjoy the fame or fortune of a mega mortal such as Bill Gates, Tim Berners-Lee is more than a major player in the world of the Web - he invented it. Dubbed one of the greatest minds of the 20th century by Time magazine, Berners-Lee is a visionary who relates how he created the World Wide Web, and what it means.
He describes the Web's true nature, some of which helps us use it to better advantage. In addition, he offers his thinking regarding censorship, privacy, and the titan-like companies that have evolved.
Now director of the World Wide Web Consortium, Berners-Lee has provided a lucid and compelling outline of today and tomorrow.
- Gail Cooke
Rating: - Past Present & Future - by the man who invented it
Tim Berners-Lee explains how the Internet got started, but how he then conceived of the World Wide Web.
Berners-Lee is a very modest man, and tells a good story that makes you feel you were there.
He then takes us through his plans for the future of the WWW; obviously there are greater commercial forces now at play that might foil his plans, but good luck to him in his endeavours.
Rating:  - Great Bit History You've Never Heard Before
This the real history behind the World Wide Web told by its creator/inventor Tim Berners-Lee. The author writes about the events leading up to the emergence of the web as a worldwide phenomenon in the mid-1990's.
It was surprising to read about how much promoting and convincing Berners-Lee had to do in order to mobilize people to use the web. Also, the web isn't exactly aligned with Berners-Lee's original vision. He imagined a web in which users created content and information, rather than mostly read and react to it. Tim writes about steps that can be taken to steer the web toward that type of experience.
The last two chapters, which summarize the author's vision for the future of the web, seemed a little unorganized and difficult to follow. It was as if the author was tired and inable to communicate a well-structured sequence of ideas. Perhaps I was just tired of reading (it was pretty late when I finished).
Rating: - Mandatory Reading For Anyone Interested In the Web
If you work on the web, use it frequently or derive your livelihood from it in some way, this is an outstanding work that presents the history and thinking that went into the development of the web. Tim details the early days of conceptualization of the web followed by the evolution to a research tool and onto the multifaceted web of today used for commerce, entertainment, research, communications and any number of other activities.
He begins with the early days of the web as a project at CERN, the difficulty getting people to conceptualize a worldwide network of hypertext, (how long did it take you to "get it" when you were first introduced to the web?) its tremendous growth and commercialization in recent years, and his vision of the future.
The book discusses the various interests that pull the web in different ways and the possibility of the development of a future "semantic web" in which a variety of standards and technologies combine to enable search engines to respond more intelligently to queries when people search for information on the web.
The case is made that research, commerce, communication, and any number of other activities has its place on the web and all serve to enrich the web as a worldwide network of communication and knowledge. In order to continue to grow and thrive, there must be basic standardized protocols. In addition, no one party should be vertically integrated and grow large enough to be able to control access, technology, and content such that it inhibits the free flow of information and global communication.
It would be tough to find a better figure to pioneer and contribute so profoundly to the development of the Internet and World Wide Web. Had it been pioneered and developed on proprietary patented protocols and technologies; access, usability, and overall usefulness of the web would be nowhere near what they are today.
To gain an understanding of where the web came from, where it's headed, and how various companies, technologies and other interests may affect the future development of the web; pick up a copy of "Weaving the Web".
Rating:  - Interesting look at history of web and future by its creator
Since Berners-Lee played such a critical role in developing the web, his view on the history of it is definitely worth reading. Some of the history is a little bit mundane, but the outcome of the transformation of the Internet to the World Wide Web as we know it is not mundane. His view of the future of is worth thinking about, but just because someone creates something does not necessarily mean that they have particularly special insight into how will evolve.
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