World Wide Web: Free and Open vs Proprietary (1993)
by Anonymous
Tim Berners-Lee convinced CERN to release the World Wide Web protocols for free with no royalties. Had CERN charged licensing fees, the web might have remained an academic tool or fragmented into competing proprietary networks.
Free and Open (No Royalties)
1993
year
Anyone can build on it
access model
None — public good
revenue model
Chosen — explosive growth, transformed civilization
outcome
Licensed/Proprietary
1993
year
Pay per implementation
access model
Licensing fees
revenue model
Not chosen — would have fragmented the web
outcome
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