CERN :: 30 APRIL 1993
=====================


FACTUAL REFERENCE

On 30 April 1993, CERN released World Wide Web software into the public domain.
CERN later used an open license for subsequent releases. This decision is widely
credited with helping the Web spread because implementers did not need to pay a
royalty to use the basic technology.

The Nitetime archive treats that history as an important contrast with closed
platform culture: the basic Web standards and implementations were allowed to
spread broadly, while much modern participation occurs inside privately governed
systems layered on top of the open network.

That contrast is an argument about culture and architecture, not a claim that
all commercial services are inherently illegitimate.