Transplant some news.

diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 2ce69de7bbf7f3c8c242d43622ec55d6ab10acc0..9613c54b812aca97324185be0ef74252c2e69c82 100644 (file)
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -24,3 +24,26 @@ Repository head:
 Versions up to 1.5 wwere pre-version-control and cannot be precisely dated, 
 but I believe I ported the program to Unix in mid-1991.
 
+Why this matters:
+
+ Back when I was first working on the Jargon File, I distributed
+ it for a while in a flat-text form in which all the references to
+ entries were surrounded by curly brtaces, a la "{foo}".  A guy
+ named Ray Gardner thought "Hey, why don't I..." and write what we'd
+ now call a browser for the File - it was screen-oriented, could 
+ page up and down, and could chase links.  The right and left arrow keys
+ hopped from link to link on the page; press enter on a link and go
+ to the entry.  The  idea for the browser was Ray's, but some of
+ the interface polish was mine.
+ 
+ What makes this interesting is that we weren't imitating the text-mode 
+ lynx browser and the World Wide Web - we were <em>anticipating</em> it.
+ Shortly after vh's first release in 1991 I got email from a then-obscure
+ programmer named Tim Berners-Lee hinting that he was doing some
+ hypertext-related stuff and asking if I might be interested in
+ collaborating on some standards.  I replied "yes", but never
+ heard back from him.
+ 
+ Of course Tim Berners-Lee didn't stay obscure for very long after
+ 1991.  I've wondered ever since if Ray Gardner and I actually
+ influenced the design of HTML. If I ever meet Sir Tim, I'll ask him.