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posted by Editor on Monday September 17, @11:20PM
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This article on the Xanadu site examines some of the limitations inherent in the current design of the web, and suggests possible solutions. Xanadu is a pre-web hypertext and interactive multimedia system that was conceived by Ted Nelson and has been under continuous development since 1960. The article identifies the following limitations in the web’s current design and implementation, some of which are addressed by Xanadu (as well as emerging web technologies such as XML):
- Lack of transparent support for mirroring
- Lack of an underlying distributed file system
- Lack of "bi-visibility" and "bi-followability"
- Lack of versioning and alternates
- Limited support for metadata
- Cyberspace/"Hyperspace" as a pervasive user interface metaphor
- Limited support for “transclusions”
- Limit support for new financial instruments, i.e. “transcopyright”.
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Most of the things mentioned in that document would seem to require some centralized 'infrastructure' to implement. In particular, bidirectional links must require both parties to cooperate. What the Web did right was to allow web sites to be set up unilaterally and without needing anyone else's involvement.
--
Ed Avis
Finger for PGP key
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Well, the posting is a little inaccurate. Xanadu has not been in continuous development for all that time. Its origins were a set of *ideas* by Ted N (who is not a coder) in the 60s, but there have been several attempts at realization by disciples of TN. None have succeeded. For a history, I recommend reading the AutoDesk memos that relate to Xanadu (Autodesk funded Xanadu for a while) plus the famous interview with TN that Wired did.
Just for accuracy; I have met TN and liked him as a guy, but I think that his claims to have pre/re-invented the web don't stand up; anyone can have cool ideas, it's building a real system that counts.
The autodesk memos can be found at http://www.fourmilab.ch/autofile/www/autofile.html . Look for Xanadu.
The Wired article can be found linked from here.
Ben
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by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 22, @10:45AM EST (#3)
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The Web got it right: keep it simple enough so that ordinary folk can put pages up. All the "features" listed above would have made it harder to publish, and that would have made the Web a smaller, less diverse, less interesting place.
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