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The Longest-Running Vaporware Project in the History of Computing

3 hours ago
  • #Tech Journalism
  • #Project Xanadu
  • #Ted Nelson
  • Ted Nelson, born in 1937, coined the terms 'hypertext' and 'hypermedia' in 1965.
  • He authored the influential book 'Computer Lib/Dream Machines' in 1974, a foundational text in personal computing.
  • Nelson is known for his eccentric personality, including his ADHD philosophy and unique lifestyle.
  • In 1960, he founded Project Xanadu, a universal hypertext library aimed at connecting all human knowledge.
  • Xanadu featured advanced concepts like two-way links, transclusion, built-in micropayments, and version tracking.
  • The project criticized the World Wide Web for its one-way, often broken links, and remains unfinished, making it a notable vaporware in computing history.