Destinyland writes, "Slashdot turns 20 years old today [Ed: here's my post from Slashdot's 10th birthday!], and to celebrate they've gone back to look at how some of the highlights — like the time they refused Microsoft's demand that they delete a comment. ("I'm sure you agree that freedom of speech is at least as important a principle under American law as the freedom to innovate, so I'm sure that you personally, and Microsoft corporately, will understand our hesitation to engage in censorship. Indeed, after reflecting on the nature of freedom for a little while, you may wish to withdraw your request that we remove readers' comments from Slashdot.")"
They also fondly remember interviews with not only geek celebrities like Vint Cerf and Richard Stallman, but also with Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich (and, memorably, a Marketing exec for Microsoft Windows.)
"It's also interesting to go back and look at stories that flew under the radar at the time, but later developed into huge, ongoing news items. For example, the launch of WikiLeaks in 2007 met mainly indifference and doubts that such a repository could do anything useful. Similarly, Google's unveiling of Android in 2007 brought a lot of speculation as to how open it would be and whether another phone OS could succeed. Facebook didn't get a mention on the site until late 2005, and its opening to the public the next year brought skepticism that it could trump MySpace or operate without compromising user privacy. The announcement of SpaceX by Elon Musk was blandly titled "Another Private Space Startup."
20 Years of Stuff That Matters [Whipslash/Slashdot]
