The Internet Revolution is Only Beginning

Rich Karlgaard on the birth of the Internet revolution in 1995 with the Netscape IPO:

The Internet has had a positive effect in the U.S., too. The speed with which the U.S. economy recovered after the quadruple blast of Fed tightening, a stock market collapse, a recession and terrorist attacks, could not have happened without an Internet immune system. Key to recovery from financial cock-ups is rapid repricing between sellers and buyers. That is how inventories get soaked up. That is how new markets are made. During the grim year of 2002, Sun Microsystems discovered its chief competitor was its own used Sun servers selling on eBay for a dime on the dollar by cash-starved dot-coms and telecoms. But "clearing" is how an economy heals. After the 2001 recession, the American economy had cleared within a year. It has been growing at a 3.5% clip since.

Ten years after Netscape's IPO, the Internet is where the PC was in 1990. What a short, strange trip it's been! Google, only seven years old, is wildly profitable -- and menacing. Bill Gates, the PC era's winner, pulls his hair in frustration. Large local newspapers, their classified ad sales going to Google, Monster.com, and Craig's List, are in steep decline.

Netscape's Big Meteor of 1995 dooms any nation or business that can't adapt. For the nimble and quick, thrilling days lie ahead.

Read the whole article here.