Robert Cailliau quotes

Robert Cailliau is a Belgian computer scientist renowned for his pioneering work on the development of the World Wide Web. Alongside Tim Berners-Lee, he contributed significantly to the creation of the foundational protocols and concepts that underpin the modern internet. He has been a strong advocate for open access and continued innovation in information technology. Here are 14 of his quotes:

When we have all data online it will be great for humanity. It is a prerequisite to solving many problems that humankind faces. (Robert Cailliau)
At one point, CERN was toying with patenting the World Wide Web. View quote
Robert Cailliau
What is hypertext? It is a method of giving a text more depth, structuring it, and letting the computer help you explore it. Links, like we know today - you see some blue underlined word and you click on it and it takes you somewhere else. That's the simplest definition of hypertext. View quote
Robert Cailliau
I'd like the reader to decide if he is willing to pay minute sums for content. I'd like the economics of web to be controlled between authors and readers, not advertiser. View quote
Robert Cailliau
Since the web is totally worldwide, we need a set of behavioural rules, laws they are commonly called, that are accepted worldwide. There is a big difference as to how things are treated in the U.S. and Europe and Asia. View quote
Robert Cailliau
If you operate a TV or radio station, you have to have a license. It has nothing to do with fundamental freedom. It has to do with protection of the average citizen against abuses. View quote
Robert Cailliau
There was a time when the community that was on the Net was homogenous and civilized. Now it's not. We're in the middle of chaos. It may calm down. But the alternative is that there's a total meltdown of the system and that it becomes unusable. That would be a catastrophe. View quote
Robert Cailliau
If I sign up for Facebook and want my account destroyed, it is impossible. They keep tabs on you; there will always be a trace. View quote
Robert Cailliau
Because I'm a synesthete I see characters in colors and I perceive a W as green. View quote
Robert Cailliau
I'm not on Twitter, nor Facebook, or LinkedIn, or any of these systems, because they suck in your soul and they will not let you go. Try to get out of any of them, and you will see. They are just like some religions where apostasy is punished by death. View quote
Robert Cailliau
To me, the biggest surprise is that Google still functions despite the explosion in the number of sites. (Robert Cailliau)
The Web is actually a coming together of three technologies, if you like: the hypertext, the personal computer, and the network. So, the network we had, and the personal computers were there, but people didn't use them, because they didn't know what to use them for, except maybe for a few games. View quote
Robert Cailliau
We mustn't forget we chose the name 'WWW' before there was even one line of code written. We could do that because the Internet as an infrastructure was already there. View quote
Robert Cailliau
The forced influence of advertising has given us completely useless TV. You don't want that on the Net. But most on-line information providers need to attract advertising - which slows download times and clutters the screen with windows. View quote
Robert Cailliau

Robert Cailliau

Robert Cailliau - Image
Photo: Julia de Boer / The Next Web, CC BY-SA 2.0
Occupation: Belgian Scientist
Born: January 26, 1947
Quotes count: 14