The Web That Never Was - Dylan Beattie
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN commenters strongly recommend it as a fun alt-history of the web and bring it up whenever people muse about how the web could have been different.
What it is
Dylan Beattie's entertaining NDC talk imagines an alternate history of the web, asking what if different decisions had been made on operating systems, browsers and standards. It blends real history with humor.
Recommended by 3 HN commenters across 4 different months, 2023 to 2026.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec AlbertoGP · 2023-12 · on “Poor Man's Web”
> I feel like more people should watch Dylan Beattle's "The Web that Never Was" presentation. Didn’t know about it, here is the video of that talk in YouTube: [this video] There is a poem-style intro titled “Flatscreens / a song about code” until the talk proper starts at 5’11”: [this video] Edit: I’m watching it and it is done in an entertaining style but is a bit loose on some details I know about, such as implying that the IBM PC development was started in the early 1970’s when it was in fact started in 1980. Still worth watching so far. Edit 2: finished, it is definitely worth watching. It goes into “The Twilight Zone” of a very interesting alternative history. And does a good job reporting on the
Strong rec x-complexity · 2024-08 · on “Blitz: A lightweight, modular, extensible web renderer”
Then you'll especially love Dylan Beattie's talk on this exact subject, regarding an alt-history take on the web. [this video]
Strong rec x-complexity · 2026-05 · on “Forking the Web”
Whenever someone talks about forking/rebuilding the web, I'll always link to my favorite Dylan Beattie talk about such a hypothetical alternative: [this video]
Recommends taejavu · 2024-01 · on “Was Javascript really made in 10 days?”
You might enjoy this talk by Dylan Beattie, it explores that kind of alternate history. “The Web That Never Was”: [this video]