Page 8 - e book 256_Neat
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Learning from History
We've covered some of the major milestones in the history of Tim Berners Lee's creation.
Milestones which have changed the way we conduct global communication. There are
many lessons that we can learn from its history.
The web is constantly changing. Whatever the latest, greatest technology that currently
defines the web, it will be superseded by something even greater, faster and better. The
web doesn't stand still, nothing is set in stone and that is one of the greatest things about
the web. Like any science it is constantly evolving.
The web doesn't and won't stay in its current format. We were so used to receiving the web
through desktops that we didn't anticipate mobile, tablets and apps each of which take the
information provided from the web and display it in their own unique way and format.
The web was created as a tool for us to share information with anyone, anywhere in the
world. It started with the basics of sharing a document, but has gone on to create tools that
now allow us to improve and share our lives. Tim Berners Lee created the web as open
source and allowed the world to access it for free. He didn't patent it (from which he could
have made billions) and allowed it be extended by anyone. In a similar way Facebook and
Twitter released API's that allow anyone to extend their platforms, which is proving very
popular. The future of the web lies in it being open and extendable to enable it to become
the most valuable source of information and revolution. Berners Lee supports this:
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