It is quite likely that both Larry and Jimmy's employee, Jeremy, both had the idea of using a wiki for an encyclopedia, isn't it? Both of them are intelligent people, working in the same environment at the same point in (IT) history. And after all, once you understand what a wiki is, it's not really THAT great a leap to make, is it? I clearly remember sitting on the train one day in early 2002, even before I knew about wiki-technology. Knowing what was possible with server-side scripting I "invented" the concept of wiki-technology, and thought of a use for it - an online database of the cities of the world, where people from the particular cities could contribute with photos and text. I still have the longhand notes somewhere, I think. Only a few months later I discovered wiki-technology and Wikipedia, realising that I had invented the wheel. Luckily I hadn't spent too much time trying to figure out how to do it :). I'm sure I'm not the only one. Most good ideas have already been thought of :).
Cheers, Bjarte Sørensen [[:meta:User:BjarteSorensen]]
Probably, Bjarte, hundreds of people had the idea about a wiki encyclopedia before Wikipedia got started, and even told each other about it.
But it was the idea I had, while tasked with solving Nupedia's problem, that actually and directly led to the development of Wikipedia. That is a matter of historical fact, in living memory of several people--including Jimmy, whether he admits it or not.
--Larry
lmsanger@sbcglobal.net wrote:
But it was the idea I had, while tasked with solving Nupedia's problem, that actually and directly led to the development of Wikipedia. That is a matter of historical fact, in living memory of several people--including Jimmy, whether he admits it or not.
Of course I "admit" it. :-)
--Jimbo
wikipedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org