What operating system ran the world's first Web server? (Hint: It wasn't Windows, Mac or Linux!)

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On Aug. 6, 1991, Tim Berners-Lee first shared his ideas for the World Wide Web via the Internet. (Yes, the Internet and the World Wide Web are different things, though the distinction is more nebulous these days.) Berners-Lee actually waited several months before sharing his Web concepts with the larger online world; history's first Web server went live from CERN on Christmas Day 1990.

In the interim, Berners-Lee spent time perfecting his World Wide Web software, including the concepts of a server and a browser. He did all this on a then-outdated workstation running an operating system that was neither Windows, Macintosh, nor Linux (the last of which wasn't even invented yet).

What operating system ran the world's first Web server?

Truly Trivial: What was Microsoft's first operating system? (Hint: It wasn't DOS or Windows)

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A mere 35 years ago this week, a fledgling little software concern known as Micro-Soft was founded in the southwestern town of Albuquerque, New Mexico by a couple of college dropouts looking to make money at computer software. As you might have heard, this worked out for them, as Bill Gates and Paul Allen are now wealthier than your average supervillain -- so much so that neither of them needs to work for the now hyphenless Microsoft. Gates uses his nigh-infinite funds to try to eradicate malaria while Allen spends his fortune on the more mundane (but far more difficult) task of winning championships with the Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trailblazers.

We all know what made these guys Lex Luthor-level wealthy: Microsoft Windows, the operating system that took over the world from about 1993 until about five minutes past the iPhone launch. What most people don't know is that Microsoft didn't start as a Windows development shop, nor even primarily as a developer of DOS, the OS atop which Windows 1.0 originally ran. Micro-Soft began life as a creator of custom versions of BASIC programming language interpreters for the late, great Altair 8800 personal computer. When Microsoft built its first operating system, it was a very, very far cry from either the DOS or Windows builds that would make it the most powerful technology company on Earth.

What was the first operating system commercially released by Microsoft?

Nerd Word of the Week: Noosphere

Noosphere (n.) - Intellectual term for the sphere of human thought, and/or a medium of exchange for all human ideas and knowledge. Sometimes used as a metaphorical synonym for cyberspace, the Internet. The related terms Noocene and noocracy refer to the era when humans became self-aware and began improving themselves though idea sharing, and a system of government that directly acknowledges and harnesses this awareness, respectively.

The noosphere is a recurring plot device in science fiction, perhaps most notably in The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway, which saw noospheric weapons ravaging human civilization by permantly erasing ideas, and in the anime/manga series Neon Genesis Evangelion, in which several characters sought to make the noosphere a tangible reality.

I bring it up because: Eighteen years ago today, the first version of Linux kernel was released to the Internet. This led to a revolution in software development and the publication of two seminal essays by Eric S. Raymond: "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" and "Homesteading the Noosphere." The former deals with top-down versus grassroots software engineering and commerce. The latter discusses the possibility and preconcpetions of actually owning and profiting from ideas in an era when said ideas can be massively, instantly, and freely exchanged via the Internet. The noosphere is thus an overlap concept between science and science fiction, wherein this collective intelligence of humanity is simultaneously a philosophical construct, a sociological phenomenon, and economic force, and a buzzword-compliant synonym for the Web. Plus, if you know how to spell and pronounce noosphere, you've got instant nerd-cred.

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My 25 favorite Geekend columns of all time

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As my previous post indicated, I have recently resigned the longest-running writing gig of my career, authoring Geek Trivia and The Geekend for CBS Interactive. As part of dealing with my separation anxiety--and also to incentivize my former Geekend readers to come check out this blog--I've list my personal Top 25 Geekend columns from my four-year run with the blog. Enjoy.

1. Sci-fi rant: When did Star Wars jump the shark?
   
2. Sci-fi rant: When did Star Trek jump the shark?
   
3. Sci-fi rant: When did Trekkers jump the shark?
   
4. Spock loves Linux, Vader is a Mac Daddy
   
5. Sci-fi rant: Why giant mecha robots are stupid
6. Where Sci-Fi Channel movies *really* come from...
   
7. Idiot sci-fi question: Why did the starship Enterprise have such a stupid bridge?
   
8. Idiot sci-fi question: Why do X-Wing fighters have...um...wings?
   
9. The Top 10 Most Quotable Geek Films...Ever!
10. Sci-fi rant: What should have happened (but didn't) in Spider-Man 3
11. The top five sci-fi/fantasy chick flicks
12. The top 12 sci-fi plot devices geeks love to hate
    
13. The Top 12 Comic Book Superweapons
14. 10 sci-fi technologies that just might happen
15. Sci-fi and fantasy books that "make you dumb"
16. The geek movies you're embarrassed you like
17. No, I didn't watch the "Enterprise" finale
18. Battlestar Galactica and the "new" sci-fi
19. Top 10 April Fool's pranks we wish were real
20. Why 'Star Trek's Prime Directive is stupid'
21. 50 ubergeeks worth following on Twitter
22. How much, and how long, would it take NASA to build a Death Star?
23. 75 words every sci-fi fan should know
24. Poll: What sci-fi TV series ended in the worst way?
25. The ultimate trivia Web site

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