One of the most interesting speakers that took the stage at The Next Web conference held in Amsterdam this week was Robert Cailliau, a Belgian computer scientist who, together with Sir Tim Berners-Lee, developed the World Wide Web now almost 20 years ago.
After his talk, I had an interesting conversation with the man, which I captured on video.
I was admittedly a bit unprepared, but we talked about everything from his dislike of modern mobile phones, the way social networks suck you in and never let you out, the iPad’s browser and Javascript to Web browsers that don’t adhere to standards. For instance, around the 5:38 mark in the video he explains why he isn’t on Facebook: “I can get in, but I can’t get out. I don’t know what happens to my data.” He also has issues with Skype.
Needless to say, it’s something you want to watch.
Check out his completely standards-compliant website, too.
True story: when we were done with the interview, Cailliau insisted that I check out the digital clock he programmed some time last week because he was dissatisfied with the clock on the hotel room TV.
Let me just say that it was utterly surreal to hear the co-creator of the World Wide Web boast about how quickly he programmed that clock and how beautiful the code looked.
And that I love my job.