Between Empowerment & Patronization: 40 Years IT

… a look back by Matthias Melcher + cautionary tale as subtext

In summer semester 1973, I took my first programming course. This is now forty years ago — time for a retrospect. What were the most impressive steps forward?

....Many of the great novelties ignited hopes that were bigger than the reality emerging later. This was especially the case when the first personal homepages promised a big democratizing effect. I dreamt that these (after being registered in the various decentralized branches of a virtual library) would offer me a direct glimpse onto the book-(mark) shelves of scholars across the globe — without mediators, gatekeepers, or pay walls. Then later, RSS seemed to be another try on this any-to-any topology. I should have known that this was at odds with monopolizing interests whose patronization and stultification goes so far....No doubt, these 40 years were exciting.

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