In the year 2000… before iTunes… before time itself, Sir Tim wrote these wise words in Weaving the Web:
“Keeping the medium and the content separate is a good rule in most media. When I turn on the television, I don’t expect it to deliberately jump to a particular channel… I expect my television to be an impartial box. I also expect the same neutrality of software…
The web’s universality leads to a thriving richness and diversity. If a company claims to give access to the world of information, then presents a filtered view, the Web loses its credibility. That is why hardware, software, and transmission companies must remain unbiased toward content. I would like to keep the conduit separate from the content…
Some might argue that bias between the layers is just the free market in action. But if I bought a radio and found that it accessed only certain stations and not others, I’d be upset. I suppose I could have a half dozen radios, one for each set of stations. It makes no more sense to have a half dozen computers or different operating systems or browsers for Web access. This is not just impractical; it fragments the Web, making it cease to be universal. I should be able to buy whichever computer, software, and transmission service I want and still have access to the entire content of the Web.”
If it were up to Tim, iTunes would let you get music and video from any web site in the world. And iTunes would let you play that media on any hardware in the world. That’s a really good idea Tim. (Do you mind if I call you Tim?)
