New look at the .com bust
I'm at the Burton Catalyst Conference this week, once again conveniently held along downtown San Diego's waterfront. Burton is an analyst and consultancy group that usually puts on a good show, and this year's seems to be living up to that reputation. Among the numerous sessions I covered was one on identity management and privacy led by an executive from Sun Microsystems. During it he asked: "What if the .com era was not a bust but a proof of concept?"
For those unfamiliar with IT terms, in the security world, a proof of concept is usually associated with malicious code that isn't expected to go anywhere but serves as proof that it can be done. For instance, computer viruses and network worms frequently pop up on antivirus labs' radar, noteworthy not because of their destruction potential but because they represent a new form of exploitation. In this instance, the exec was suggesting that the 1990s dot-com boom and subsequent bust in 2000 was just a precursor of what was to come. And he used examples to show we've since acclimated to a virtual world, much like all those now defunct Web-based businesses had hoped.
eBay, for instance, has more than 150 million people in its "community," and a half million of them make their living selling through the auction site. (eBay hates the word auction, but it is what it is.) Google is now a verb ("I think I'll Google him and see what I can find.") More than half of all taxpayers now file their taxes online. The examples go on and on, but you get the point. I took a huge gamble in 2000 when I left the newspaper world to try my hand at online journalism. It now appears the 'new economy' s going to keep me employed afterall...
...which is a good thing, given today is Gilbert's last day as an active duty member of the U.S. Coast Guard. Tomorrow is his big retirement ceremony. My work has conveniently served as a distraction, but the gravity of this occasion has hit hard the last couple of days.
For those unfamiliar with IT terms, in the security world, a proof of concept is usually associated with malicious code that isn't expected to go anywhere but serves as proof that it can be done. For instance, computer viruses and network worms frequently pop up on antivirus labs' radar, noteworthy not because of their destruction potential but because they represent a new form of exploitation. In this instance, the exec was suggesting that the 1990s dot-com boom and subsequent bust in 2000 was just a precursor of what was to come. And he used examples to show we've since acclimated to a virtual world, much like all those now defunct Web-based businesses had hoped.
eBay, for instance, has more than 150 million people in its "community," and a half million of them make their living selling through the auction site. (eBay hates the word auction, but it is what it is.) Google is now a verb ("I think I'll Google him and see what I can find.") More than half of all taxpayers now file their taxes online. The examples go on and on, but you get the point. I took a huge gamble in 2000 when I left the newspaper world to try my hand at online journalism. It now appears the 'new economy' s going to keep me employed afterall...
...which is a good thing, given today is Gilbert's last day as an active duty member of the U.S. Coast Guard. Tomorrow is his big retirement ceremony. My work has conveniently served as a distraction, but the gravity of this occasion has hit hard the last couple of days.
