Saint Internet.

UnseenMenace

UnseenModerator

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Joined

Apr 23, 2001

• Apr 10, 2003

• #1

Consider this question.

If you had to name ONE 'significant' contributor to the development of the Internet or computers worthy or being made a Saint of the Internet.. Who would it be and why.

 

RoadWarrior

Senior Member

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Joined

Nov 25, 2001

Location

Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

• Apr 10, 2003

• #2

Woz:- he created the home computer.

Everything else was more or less incremental development, it was happening anyway, Steve Wozniak and Jobs together put computers on everybody's desk, possibly this would have happened anyway, but I say they took 10 years out of the process.

 

DaveSauce

Member

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Joined

Oct 11, 2002

Location

Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI

• Apr 10, 2003

• #3

Al Gore.

 

OP

UnseenMenace

UnseenModerator

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Joined

Apr 23, 2001

• Apr 10, 2003

• Thread Starter
• #4

For me it has to be president of the Free Software Foundation. Richard Stallman who once muttered "The word 'Free' doesn't refer to price; it refers to freedom"

Stallman's vision of freedom is software that has no secrets. It comes complete with source-code so that anyone who gets it can take it apart, see how it works, and make changes. But most important, people can share free software with their friends - just by making a copy - without having to pay royalties, shareware fees, or anything at all.

In the shrink-wrapped world, that's called piracy. In Stallman's world, it's called being a good neighbor. "I don't think that people should ever make promises not to share with their neighbor," he said.

Fantastic words

 

RedDeathDrinker

Senior Aircraftsman IRL

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Joined

Jul 16, 2001

Location

Scotland - And don't you forget it!

• Apr 10, 2003

• #5

Well, who is responsible for getting more people online than any other?

Bill bloomin' Gates, that's who.

If it wasnt for Windows, and being able to automatically set up internet connections (from a CD or via a small download from your ISP), there a a lot of technically illiterate people who would never got online.

Althouth now I'm more inclined to say Linus Torvald

 

D

Diggrr

Underwater Senior Member

Joined

Nov 29, 2001

• Apr 10, 2003

• #6

Bill Gates.

Stop hissing, and let me explain.
To be made saint, your dead body needs to be unexplainably well preserved. We can start the test tomorrow. He'll fail anyway being he's a minion of hell, but the fun is in the testing!

 

RoadWarrior

Senior Member

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Joined

Nov 25, 2001

Location

Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

• Apr 10, 2003

• #7

I think I can say that I first got online DESPITE windows trumpet winsock, mosaic/netscape, etc, IE wasn't even around then.

 

Ridenow

Sneaky Moderator

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Joined

Apr 17, 2001

Location

Springfield, IL

• Apr 10, 2003

• #8

UnseenMenace said:

If you had to name ONE 'significant' contributor to the development of the Internet or computers

Click to expand...

RedDeathDrinker said:

Bill bloomin' Gates

Click to expand...

worthy of being made a Saint of the Internet..

Click to expand...

Not Bill Gates.

Give the man credit where it is due, he has done more to shape the computer industry than any other person, but is not worthy of "sainthood"


I think that is part of the computer industry, it is not one person. Almost all of it was a team effort or one person building on the work of another.



Edit: before anyone else does it, I nominate Skip!

 

moorcito

Member

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Joined

Sep 19, 2002

Location

Chicago, IL

• Apr 10, 2003

• #9

Tim Berners-Lee. Without him the would be no World Wide Web. I'd reason to say that a 99% of the time the WWW is the part of the internet that most people traverse.

 

Cjwinnit

B&

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Joined

Feb 1, 2003

Location

UK

• Apr 10, 2003

• #10

Seconded on Tim Berners-Lee.

 

Penguin4x4

Are you my Daddy?

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Joined

May 28, 2002

Location

Sector 7G

• Apr 10, 2003

• #11

Cjwinnit said:

Seconded on Tim Berners-Lee.

Click to expand...

Thirded

RoadWarrior said:

Woz:- he created the home computer.

Click to expand...

Along with other hacker buddies, of course,

 

XWRed1

Senior Member

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Joined

Oct 31, 2001

• Apr 11, 2003

• #12

Yes. Tim Burners-Lee.

Without the web, the internet wouldn't be nearly the rage it has been the last few years.

 

Christoph

JAPH Senior

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Joined

Oct 8, 2001

Location

Redmond, WA

• Apr 11, 2003

• #13

John Conway. I can't think of anything more representative of the Internet than the Game of Life: it's fascinating and engrossing, its complex behaviors are based on simple rules, it constantly changes, one little thing can change it completely, and it's a complete waste of time responsible for millions of lost man-hours.

 

eab

Member

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Joined

Dec 17, 2001

Location

Houghton MI, MTU, up in the UP eh!

• Apr 11, 2003

• #14

Woz and Jobs, they had the first user frinedly pc. Then second for geting a user friendly pc to the masses. Cause to get on the internet first you need a pc. Once some ones got a pc then they want to try out this internet thing and there on and hooked!