Who would have set up the internet if the Americans hadn't?

Who would have set up the internet if it weren't the Americans


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I believe tha Americans were the best bet for it, as it had decent colleges by the dozen spread around the continent. The Internet was likely great for connecting them, as well as the students.
 
The French..
Pretty much what I had thought, with at least a little EEC help, but probably France. At the time France had some good funding for high-tech prestige-begetting projects due to Gaullism (think Mirage, TGV and others). It only needs to be pushed way past the Minitel, which means international opening - probably to the French-led EEC.
 
What's with the obsession of saying the military is anti-liberal? In many instances the military has been ahead of the curve on TRUE liberal beliefs. Not everything believed by groups who then throw in with the Democratic Party is by default liberal. The military, when it comes to their bases and their property, is actually FOR gun control measures; they have no stance on conceal and carry outside of their property of course, because that's not their concern. But on military bases NO ONE, except the MPs while on duty, may carry a gun, the second amendment does not apply on military bases per joint chiefs of staff orders.

A true liberal is very much against gun control.
Militaries...of course not everyone in the army is the same but generally they're rather traditionalist conservative nationalistic places.
And I really fail to see what any of this has to do with the question at all.
 
A true liberal is very much against gun control.
Militaries...of course not everyone in the army is the same but generally they're rather traditionalist conservative nationalistic places.
And I really fail to see what any of this has to do with the question at all.

I fail to see what any of your comments regarding the military being "conservative" has to do with the question at all. And I was addressing your constant comments about that. And no, a true liberal would not be against gun control....that would be a libertarian, quite a different belief system!
 
Would there BE one?

Would there be a world wide internet? or would there be a multitude of specialized networks that can't talk to each other at all, or only with great difficulty?

And why are people putting a liberal/conservative spin on this?
 
Would there be a world wide internet? or would there be a multitude of specialized networks that can't talk to each other at all, or only with great difficulty?

And why are people putting a liberal/conservative spin on this?

I have no idea to the second question, I tried to show that it's wrong, but people insist. Anyways...

First question- I had already proposed a MUCH more likely scenario where it is companies, and not national government sponsored research programs, that develop the internet. And Apple's in particular given their culture and design on EVERYTHING they've ever built, would not talk to the others by Microsoft, Samsung, Nokia, Mitsubishi, General Electric, and IBM. The others led by Microsoft, GE, and IBM would indeed set up a World Wide Web to facilitate the exchange of web pages from one internet to be seen on another; however if a company or individual wants their web page to be seen on an Apple product using Apple's internet they'd have to code in Apple's iOS and be updating two different webpages, twice the work. Imagine a Facebook, or before that MySpace, that had to be two different ones, one for Apple and one on any of the PC-based (IBM, GE, Microsoft, etc) internets, Facebook would have to constantly have an elaborate program set up to take comments, likes, and shares from one and import it to the other platform of internet and there'd be a log. Or more likely- MySpace or some other early social network picks what it believes to be a "winner" say Microsoft; another picks GE, another IBM; as these internets become under the WWW we see a winnowing effect, a MySpace or Facebook emerges. Meanwhile in Apple land you see them come up with their own social network or maybe MySpace had picked IBM, Zuckerberg later on picks Apple for whatever reason. Facebook becomes an Apple associated product and Apple internet takes off thanks to Facebook's design, or... Facebook never becomes popular and MySpace with more outlets for people to get to it learns from Facebook and adapts and survives as a social network.

This is MUCH more likely a scenario than Britain, Germany, Japan, or the Soviet Union that's been proposed. That's my two-cents. Oh, sorry, inflation- my five dollars.;)

EDIT- almost certainly no Google behemoth. At least not as large as there is no way it would be on Apple, they'd have their own search engine built in. Frankly so will Microsoft which will early on dominate the World Wide Web. The way to get on the internet will be dominated by portals like the old AOL, which probably won't exist either in this timeline, except maybe as an independent way to "surf the web without prejudice" because Internet Explorer by Microsoft will probably not have what in that TL will be called "net neutrality" and support webpages on their internet over those on IBM, GE, etc. and same with the other internets produced by companies, which will continue to proliferate as now the different internets are all connected via the WWW they become more like webpage hosting companies making money off fees to host the page, AOL will be the "neutral content deliverer" and maybe survive or change the game.
 
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