Web Myth #132: broadcast-only

Dan Connolly (connolly@w3.org)
Sun, 28 Nov 1999 20:06:07 -0600


Hi Sally... sigh... there's a real stinker of a quote in that NYT
article you cited. This guy is confused:

"The Web was
meant to be a
place to broadcast
public
information," said
Herrboldt, of
Cyrus InterSoft. "It
was never meant
to provide a
secure location
for storing
information."
-- Kevin Herrboldt, director of engineering for Cyrus InterSoft
Storing Your Life in a Virtual Desktop on the Web
By LISA GUERNSEY
November 25, 1999
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/11/circuits/articles/25desk.html

Yes it was:

"Protection against unauthorized reading and writing is provided by
servers."
-- TimBL, 1990
Multiuser considerations
http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/Multiuser

[I found the PR director at Intersoft, but I couln't find any feedback
channel at the NYT.]

See also the discussion of "Fractal design" in
Hypertext and Our Collective Destiny
Tim Berners-Lee, 12 October 1995
http://www.w3.org/Talks/9510_Bush/Talk.html

"... We appreciate that a person
needs a balance between interest in self, family, town, state and
planet. A person needs connections at each scale. People who
lack connections at any given scale feel frustrated. The
international jet-setter and the person who always stays at home
share that frustration. ..."

-- 
Dan Connolly, W3C
http://www.w3.org/People/Connolly/