There's a lovely snippet in the latest issue of Wired from Andrew Smith (author of Totally Wired), talking about how we almost lost the world wide web (as we know it) before it had even began, when it was still ARPANET:
"A little-known fact is that ARPA had always intended to hand its new network over to the private sector in short order, which is why the internet – yes, the internet – was offered to established US telecoms companies to run and effectively 'own' from the early 70s onwards. The monolith AT & T reportedly formed a committee which debated the issue for six months, before rejecting the new technology as 'incompatible' with its existing business."
Says it all.
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