In the first edition, he did mention something very much like the Internet, except he called it the "Information Superhighway"

Exactly. Initially, they viewed it as a faster way to download content - rather than an application platform.

I don't quite follow? I'd say "s/download content/access information/g", but also by "late 1995" there still wasn't "oh, the internet is an application platform", it was still "connect to the whole world, whoaaaaaa".

In the original edition it was a centralized, walled garden, and was a library rather than any sort of application platform much less anything composable or with room for individuals to contribute. Min his view people were just “consumers”.

Myhrvold, Frankston and a few others must have given him a rap on the skull because the second edition was a major rewrite in an attempt to run out in front of the parade and pretend it had always been thus. He kind of got away with it: in those days he was treated in the public mind as if he was the only person on the planet who knew anything about computers.