Ted Nelson a számítástechnika Don Quijote-ja. Lassan már ötven éve dolgozik folyamatosan a világ megváltásán a Xanadu létrehozásán, ami egy olyan hipertextuális rendszer, melyben minden információ pontosan egyszer, egyszer viszont minden információ az összes korábbi változatával és a kifele és befele mutató hivatkozásokkal együtt jelen van. Nem hajlandó belátni, hogy zsákutca a projekt, szerinte a közben kifejlődött Web a töredékét se valósítja meg, és nupagagyi, majd meglátjuk, mihelyst elkészül… 1995-ben írt Gary Wolf egy cikket a témáról, meginterjúztatva a projekt agyait, ami szépen összefoglalja a projektet:
Xanadu, a global hypertext publishing system, is the longest-running vaporware story in the history of the computer industry. It has been in development for more than 30 years. This long gestation period may not put it in the same category as the Great Wall of China, which was under construction for most of the 16th century and still failed to foil invaders, but, given the relative youth of commercial computing, Xanadu has set a record of futility that will be difficult for other companies to surpass. The fact that Nelson has had only since about 1960 to build his reputation as the king of unsuccessful software development makes Xanadu interesting for another reason: the project’s failure (or, viewed more optimistically, its long-delayed success) coincides almost exactly with the birth of hacker culture. Xanadu’s manic and highly publicized swerves from triumph to bankruptcy show a side of hackerdom that is as important, perhaps, as tales of billion-dollar companies born in garages.
Among people who consider themselves insiders, Nelson’s Xanadu is sometimes treated as a joke, but this is superficial. Nelson’s writing and presentations inspired some of the most visionary computer programmers, managers, and executives - including Autodesk Inc. founder John Walker - to pour millions of dollars and years of effort into the project. Xanadu was meant to be a universal library, a worldwide hypertext publishing tool, a system to resolve copyright disputes, and a meritocratic forum for discussion and debate. By putting all information within reach of all people, Xanadu was meant to eliminate scientific ignorance and cure political misunderstandings. And, on the very hackerish assumption that global catastrophes are caused by ignorance, stupidity, and communication failures, Xanadu was supposed to save the world.
…aminek természetesen minden szavába belekötött Nelson. A cikk mindenesetre tanulságos.
