Berners-Lee says to the Times that the slash characters known from http:// could easily have been designed out, but they seemed like a good idea then and there.
He says that when they designed the network 30 years ago, they had no idea that the slash would produce as much irritation.
Otherwise there is a green page in apologies, since he admits that to add / / each link has led to waste time, printing and paper.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee is currently President of the World Wide Web Consortium
End of article.
