The Internet – “Trendy and Oversold”

Here’s a good post from NettSolutions blog that links to an old Newsweek article from 1995.  Newsweek’s description of the new Internet is the title of the post.  A funny comparison from the post:

- In 1995 acid washed jeans were in. In 2010, MEN are wearing super low rise, skinny jeans.

- In 1995 a best picture nominee was Babe. 2010 has Avatar in 3D/IMAX special effects.

- In 1995 Juno was a major email service provider. In 2010 Gmail is the new Juno & Juno is now a movie about teen pregnancy.

- In 1995 Saint’s fans wore paper bags over their heads. In 2010 the Saints are no longer the Aints.

- In 1995 Prince’s lyrics, “Tonight I’m gonna party like it’s 1999,” had relevancy. In 2010 Prince no longer has a name, but rather a symbol.

- In 1995 Jay Leno hosted the Tonight show. In 2010, the host is Conan O’br… um, nevermind.

And to you have to follow the link to the Newsweek article which is a riot to read in hindsight.  The pull quote for me:

Then there’s cyberbusiness. We’re promised instant catalog shopping—just point and click for great deals. We’ll order airline tickets over the network, make restaurant reservations and negotiate sales contracts. Stores will become obselete (sic.). So how come my local mall does more business in an afternoon than the entire Internet handles in a month? Even if there were a trustworthy way to send money over the Internet—which there isn’t—the network is missing a most essential ingredient of capitalism: salespeople.

Read it all.