[thelist] Who is this guy?

michael kimsal michael at tapinternet.com
Wed Oct 9 13:52:00 CDT 2002


On Wed, 2002-10-09 at 14:19, Hershel Robinson wrote:
> One of clients, a brand new one, told me I should really read Philip
> Greenspun's site, in particular his Guide to Web Publishing:
> http://philip.greenspun.com/panda/
>
> Anybody know about this guy and his site?  It appears he may be a professor
> and possibly actually a real expert on the web.  I'm just wondering what's
> inside his side--it's apparently actually a book turned into HTML pages.  It
> looks like a lot to read.  Am I really going to be enlightened?
>


Depends on what parts you read.

Phil Greenspun was writing fairly 'ahead of the curve' stuff in 1996,
1997.  Looking back it's obvious stuff to most people, but if you think
 back to 1997, even many of the 'big web houses' (I worked at one)
weren't seriously considering database-driven sites for general
content.  Ecommerce, maybe, but that was it.  It was just 'too
difficult'.

He founded ars digita, and the ars digita community system (ACS).  Lots
of drama in his being forced out, which is a good take on the
rise and fall of dotcoms.

You should be familiar enough with it to know how you'd react
to your client's questions about his stuff.  If they're telling you
to read it, and they're a new client, be polite a acquaint yourself
with it.  Like many people, he was spot on in some respects, and way off
base on others.


Michael Kimsal
http://www.logicreate.com
734-480-9961




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