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 | Internet enthusiasts
like myself have been inspired and dismayed in almost equal measure by the
development of the World Wide Web since the mid-90's. The
dot-com boom spawned a new breed of internet entrepeneurs who for a
time were financed by a buoyant and uncritical stock market. But the
bubble inevitably burst in 2000/1 with widespread repercussions for
financial institutions, but also at an everyday level, for homeowners and
individuals with savings and pensions linked to stocks and shares. |
| The dot-com crash also had the effect of undermining thousands of small
computing enterprises who now found they were dealing with increasingly
sceptical clients. The market for business administration software which
had sold freely in the 1990's now all but dried-up. |
| Mercifully, the WWW has largely recovered from this massive setback,
and there is a more mature understanding of its potential for providing
information, education, commerce and entertainment. The steep falls in the
cost of computing equipment; the widespread availability of broadband; the
convergence of telecommunications/broadcasting technologies and the
increasing sophistication of end-users have all played their part in its
recovery. |
| Nonetheless there are serious structural concerns regarding the
internet and WWW. Under the bonnet it still relies on the skill and
dedication of enthusiasts who retain the collaborative, open and generous
approach on which the internet was founded. And how that contrasts with
the murky activities of the underclass of scammers, squatters, spammers and hackers
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To be continued
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