Boyle is talking about the 15th anniversary of the "web". _Not_ about the 35th or so anniversary of the internet.
I had my first computer around 84~85 (zx81), there were already modems and network communications and it was all advertised in the specialized press. But there were no private internet access providers, no private email services (not in France at this time, as far as I remember). All the stuff was _university/corporation_ based.
And had not it for the _web_ which is a nice blend of pics and text, i.e. something that displays info in a sexy way, the internet would have stayed where it was: in the universities.
That's what the gvts were able to do. That's it. From there the web took off and gave the whole thing a totally different spin, which _is_ the reason why the corps did not get it in the first place.
I remember when MS was advertising the first "MSN" as yet another proprietary network that would deliver more than the "internet", and AOL, Compuserve ? They had it all wrong.
And this is the reason why the corps won't see the next thing coming either. Because they _can't_ imagine (and neither can the scientist) how people connect new technologies with old needs.
JCHelary
ps: Jules Vernes too wrote stuff amounting to this:
> Engelbart could already envision the evolution of the networked
> community
> where, "there will emerge a new 'marketplace,' representing
> fantastic wealth
> in commodities of knowledge, service , information, processing,
> storage,
> etc."