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CHAPTER 8

Consortium

When I arrived at MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science, I camped out in a corridor with two doors and no windows close to the offices of Michael Dertouzos and Al Vezza. Though an office of my own would have been nice, this arrangement actually worked out beautifully because it allowed us to work together very readily—and them to keep an eye on me.

I hadn't had time to get a car yet, so I was commuting by bus from our temporary home. Trudging to work in citified Cambridge was a far cry from rural France, but it was autumn, and the bus ride gave me time to revel in New England's fall colors. It also gave me time to think about my new role.

Although I knew I would be forced to introduce some structure, I wanted the consortium to operate in a way that reflected a weblike existence. The Web would not be an isolated tool used by people in their lives, or even a mirror of real life; it would be part of the very fabric of the web of life we all help weave.