The Real Inventor of Wireless Email?

theodp writes "The NY Times reports on Geoff Goodfellow, possibly the real inventor of wireless e-mail, who says NTP was concerned that his earlier work might undermine its patent claims and went to some lengths to ensure that it did not, including gagging Goodfellow during the RIM lawsuit. Not only did high-school dropout Goodfellow - who hung out as a teen in the lab of Doug Englebart - describe wireless e-Mail in 1982, he implemented it in the early 1990's."

Comments

Re:OMG, a comms channel. We could, like, communica

[kfg]

WTF do I care what some guy who's been dead for a few centuries *may* have thought?

Because he *may* have got it right? And because even if he got it wrong there may be instruction in examining the error?

But speculating on what he may have thought. . .

I am not speculating, because he communicated using exactly the same communications technology we use today, hence his thoughts are still available.

Having examined his thoughts and relating them to the two and half centuries of history I have on him I know that:

Think for yourself about what's changed.

Absolutely nothing that has any relevance to his thoughts has changed, because his thoughts were not based on protecting your job; and, oddly enough, he appears to have had thousands of years of history on you, because he knew his history, and you do not appear to.

You cannot "think about it yourself" until you have supplied yourself with the relevant ideas to think about.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go formulate laws of motion. I understand there was some guy about 350 years ago who formulated some, and a guy 100 years ago who refined them somewhat, but those guys are long dead. What do I care about what they *may* have thought about motion?

It would just be a waste of my time to even read them and try to understand them, because so much has changed since then.

KFG