Welcome to the After-On Podcast. I'm your host, Rob Reed.

And this is a series of conversations with thinkers, founders, and scientists.

Take a little time and stretch out because these talks are unhurry and meant to bring you

to a top percentile understanding of something important.

So whether you're ready to start up or ideas, a techie or a lip major, take your time, engage

your mind, and you'll be glad you did it.

Especially this week, when we'll be talking to Tim O'Reilly, who's been one of the most

original and innovative thinkers in the tech world for quite an impressive string of decades.

Tim is by far the best known publisher in an industry in which books matter immensely.

Software developers, IT people, and other technical folks can easily consume dozens to hundreds

of books during their careers, keeping up with the ever-changing programming languages

and skill sets that are core to their jobs.

A huge share of those books are published by O'Reilly Media, and multiple billionaires

have publicly stated that their startups got going on a couple of O'Reilly Media books.

The company has also organized innumerable conferences, has a popular online training

platform, and more.

But significant as it is to be techs preeminent publisher, that characterization doesn't even

begin to convey the influence Tim O'Reilly has on the industry.

Starting in the earliest days of the World Wide Web, he has repeatedly convened conclaves

of tech's most thoughtful, prominent and-or-powerful people to face important industry transitions,

to plot courses through them, and, quite often, to name them.

Tim's press conference was on full display in 1992, when he published a thorough guide

...