This web site is dedicated to our friend Gary Brickman, who passed away on June 26, 2000. The Man who Made the Web SMIL Steve Rubel, 14 July 2000 “SMIL -- it’s going to be big my friend.” That’s what Gary kept telling me (over and over and over!) back in 1998 when he was developing the pioneering multimedia program TechWeb Today -- one of the first programs to use a then brand new technology platform developed by Real Networks called SMIL (pronounced “smile”). Unfortuantely, little did I realize then how big SMIL was going to be (and for that matter how big Gary’s impact was going to be) until my friend’s untimely death last month at age 38. I was working in CMP Media’s Coprorate Communication department at the time, which always operated as a lean, mean PR machine. And Gary was one of many editors that tried to eek the maximum amount of resources, time and exposure from a PR department with too few employees. Gary convinced me that TechWeb Today and SMIL were going to be huge and together we worked with Real to get CMP the credit it deserved in the press. Oh how Gary loved the press — he wanted to be the star of the show. Gary was constantly feeding me ideas on who we could pitch and coming up with angles that we might use to promote TechWeb Today. But it wasn’t until this afternoon when I watched a multimedia program on ABCNews.com hosted by Sam Donaldson that it made me realize just how influential SMIL — and therefore Gary — had become. My great uncle helped build the Twin Towers here in New York and everyday I think of him when I walk down Fifth Avenue to my office and I see them loom above the skyline. Much the same, I don’t think I will ever watch another multimedia program on the Internet and not think of Gary. Gary, your SMIL was infectuous and and the entire Internet industry will miss you. I wish you could be with us to see what you built become the predecessor to the true multimedia Web that you always had envisioned was just around the corner. — Steve Rubel Gary Brickman, 1997 »home