Re: "hypertext"

On Wednesday, August 21, 2002, at 12:08  PM, Mark Baker wrote:

>
> Just a quick note to try to shake up some of the preconceived notions
> of what "hypertext" is or isn't.
>
> "Hypertext" is roughly what you get when all of your distributed 
> objects
> have a single method which means "give me your state" (i.e. pickling,
> serialization).

This seems like a strange definition of hypertext. A quick Google search
produced a variety of definitions which are broadly consistent,
which recognize the primary definition due to Ted Nelson,
and which have nothing to do with distributed objects, pickling,
or serialization. See, e.g., the alt.hypertext FAQ, the Webopedia
definition, Ted Nelson's "Literary Machines".

If you really want to redefine the term, I'm afraid Ted has a thirty
year head start on you....

Geoff