"The net is only halfway"

Sir Tim Berners-Lee was yesterday granted the recently founded Millennium Technology Prize in Finland. This means that the founder of the web is a one million euro richer man today.

According to the Swedish newspaper in Finland Hufvudstadsbladet, he says that the net is only halfway.

"The net is nowadays seen, or should be seen, as a helper when one wants to do other things. It should be working without us noticing it. The time has past, I hope, when people surfed the net just for the sake of surfing."

According to the article, Berners-Lee condemns the hardware centered attitude that shines through certain programs, and he also dislikes proprietary software. "The most important is the information that people share. The rules regarding how you share this information must be general enough, in order to prevent that you're tied to a certain program or hardware. Hardware must not become an obstacle."

For those of you who are not familiar with the Millennium Technology Prize: it is the largest technology prize in the world. The prize money is donated by the state and private sponsors. The prize will from now on be awarded every other year to a prominent person within technology.