Web history and economics

In retrospect, the Web appears a very natural development, a byproduct of the growth of the information and communication technologies (ICI) sector. Still, the success of the Web was actually attained through a series of fundamental misunderstandings about the direction that various technologies would take, and how society would use them. It was a tool that happened to be "good enough" to meet some urgent needs, but not ideal. A brief survey of the history and pre-history of the Web is presented, with an emphasis on its economics and the many misleading notions that played key roles in its development. This survey leads to some speculative thoughts about the future of the Web. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.