Xanadu Software Released After 54 Years In the Making 90
redletterdave writes: "'Project Xanadu,' designed by hypertext inventor Ted Nelson to let users build documents that automatically embed the sources they're linking back to and show the visible connections between parallel webpages, was released in late April at a Chapman University event. Thing is, development on Xanadu began in 1960 — that's 54 years ago — making it the most delayed software in history. 'At its simplest, Xanadu lets users build documents that seamlessly embed the sources which they are linking back to, creating, in Nelson's words, "an entire form of literature where links do not break as versions change; where documents may be closely compared side by side and closely annotated; where it is possible to see the origins of every quotation; and in which there is a valid copyright system - a literary, legal and business arrangement - for frictionless, non-negotiated quotation at any time and in any amount." The version released on the internet, named OpenXanadu, is a simple document created using quoted sections from eight other works, including the King James Bible and the Wikipedia page on Steady State Theory.'"
Re:Yay, at last! Or? (Score:4, Interesting)
You missed something. This was the fundamental, original idea that TBL made happen as the Web. Hypertext documents linking to one another across servers and authors, across the world. 10 years ago, I would have said that this was naive academic work, and TBL got it right with the very flexible WWW we have today.
While the "all links are backlinks too" idea was neat, and most blogs want to work that way and have to do extra work to make it so, it's the core principle of "not censorable" really shines through.
I guess "Wikipedia in the wild early days before deletionism" is the closest to this idea, if Wikipedia had no central servers for offended governments to target. But missing from this still-academic project is the strong anonymity needed for free speech in the modern world, plus real hardening against malicious governments.
Problem Solved (Score:5, Interesting)
There is a problem that Xanadu really solves which is when you want to cite someone else's text verbatim... its a direct and visual link back to the source.. so it's clear whose words are being used, where they come from and there is an easy Color coded and visual LINK to see them in full context.. HMTL named hyperlinks can accomplish much of the same however... the interface for Xanadu is much more fluid...
i would enjoy writing with Xanadu...