I think the 1990s were an interesting time for the Internet. Lots of crazy thinking about what it could become - large ideas, less fixation on profit and commerce. Lots of theory.
If you look at the success of Windows 95 in that era (and what failed) it was very much about the money as much as the theory in that era. What's interesting is that when the article was being written Jobs was working on NeXT which is still alive today on your Mac and iPhone.
I agree - commercialism was around .. but not many companies really understood how to monetise the web in the early / mid nineties. For example, Bill Gates famously didn't think the Internet would catch on, and assumed that MSN would be most people's choice of walled-garden alternative.
The WWW was just another application for the Internet (along with Gopher / FTP / Usenet / IRC) - and therefore wasn't seen as the Internet.
Because the technology was relatively new, I think people were interested in taking risks - user expectations hadn't been set in stone, and innovation could be less about iteration and more about being bold / daring.
Comments
I think the 1990s were an interesting time for the Internet. Lots of crazy thinking about what it could become - large ideas, less fixation on profit and commerce. Lots of theory.
If you look at the success of Windows 95 in that era (and what failed) it was very much about the money as much as the theory in that era. What's interesting is that when the article was being written Jobs was working on NeXT which is still alive today on your Mac and iPhone.
I agree - commercialism was around .. but not many companies really understood how to monetise the web in the early / mid nineties. For example, Bill Gates famously didn't think the Internet would catch on, and assumed that MSN would be most people's choice of walled-garden alternative.
The WWW was just another application for the Internet (along with Gopher / FTP / Usenet / IRC) - and therefore wasn't seen as the Internet.
Because the technology was relatively new, I think people were interested in taking risks - user expectations hadn't been set in stone, and innovation could be less about iteration and more about being bold / daring.
Every few months I enjoy rewatching the Cringely PBS documentary Triumph of the Nerds, which lives forever right in that time.