Microsoft Hatred FAQ

[joe at invalid.address]

"John W. Kennedy" <jwkenne at attglobal.net> writes:

> joe at invalid.address wrote:
> > "John W. Kennedy" <jwkenne at attglobal.net> writes:
> >
> >>Michael Heiming wrote:
> >>
> >>>Let's not forget about the Internet, they invented together with
> >>>Al Gore and of course the wheel!
> >>
> >>No fair picking on Al Gore. All he ever claimed was that he was the
> >>Congressional point man for the "Information Superhighway", which he
> >>was.
> > Well, what he said was
> >   "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the
> >    initiative in creating the Internet."
> > What you say he did is what he actually did, but what he said gives a
> > different impression. I don't think he's careless or stupid, so I
> > think he said that in order to create the impression in the minds of
> > the people listening to the interview that he's responsible for the
> > internet.
> 
> For "the Internet" as 99% of the American people comprehend it, he
> /was/ largely responsible, on the political end. The fact that the
> "Information Superhighway" turned out to be implemented as a massive
> explosion of the former ARPANet was an unforeseeable accident of
> history, resulting from the coincidental timing of the "Information
> Superhighway" initiative, the introduction of the Web, and (to some
> degree) the ARPANet worm.

This was said during an interview with Wolf Blitzer in 1999. By that
time the Internet was quite a bit more than ARPANet, and my guess is
that 99% of the American people thought of it as it was in 1999. His
comment created the impression that he was responsible for what
existed then.

Yes, he deserves credit for what he did. He nevertheless created a
false impression in what he said. If he hadn't created that false
impression, there would not have been any jokes about him. If all he
said was what he actually did, this would never have been an issue.

Joe
-- 
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