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# Anil Dash: How Markdown Took Over the World
- URL: https://notnixon.com/anil-dash-on-how-markdown-took-over-the-world/
- Published: 2026-01-16T00:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-22T09:46:57.000Z
- Description: smart people think of good things that are crazy enough that they just might work, and then they give them away.
- Author: Chris Sansbury
- Tags: Links

> smart people think of good things that are crazy enough that they just might work, and then they give them away, over and over, until they slowly take over the world and make things better for everyone.

Markdown began as a format John Gruber made for his Apple blog, and for his friends. Now every frontier AI model is being wrangled through it.

Anil Dash tells how it got there, including Aaron Swartz as a teenage beta tester. The whole piece is worth your time.

The internet was built by generous people who made good things and gave them away.

[How Markdown took over the world - Anil DashA blog about making culture. Since 1999.![](https://notnixon.com/content/images/icon/favicon-e603ec61-13e8-44c9-9cd1-5a740d678981.png)Anil DashAnil Dash![](https://notnixon.com/content/images/thumbnail/imac-g4-markdown-98b680a6-1000-496f-abf4-33875abea959.jpg)](https://www.anildash.com/2026/01/09/how-markdown-took-over-the-world/?ref=notnixon.com)