Matchstick and the Internet

What can possibly connect the two.

Well, both these inventions are not patented. Apparently, the inventor of matchstick decided that the invention was for the wider good of mankind and patenting it would restrict its use and prevent people from expanding on its use. Internet or WWW inventor Tim Berners Lee also had a similar theory around patenting the internet.

Imagine how the world would have been had these guys patented their inventions. I would be sitting here and writing this blog or if I was I would be doing it not today but possibly 10 years later and paying for it. The water heater at my home wouldn't have started up without that elusive matchstick and anything hot really would have been too hot to handle.