HTTP was created in '91 and HTML in '93. SMTP in '81. That's 9-19 years before the dotcom boom, depending on how you want to count.
In '93 people were still complaining that computers weren't bringing in productivity improvements (Solow paradox):
> You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics.
The big change is that we now (due to the internet and interconnectedness of everyone) learn about the technology much faster than before.
But diffusion through business and population still takes time. Especially if there's a hardware crunch that acts as a brake.
I lived through the dotcom boom era (went online in '93 or so). If you can't compare that change to the magical science fiction we're living through (I can press a button, speak to my computer and tell it to build me a 3d game, then play through it 15 minutes later), I beg to differ.
(edit to add: not to mention the existential crisis many artists, developers and mathematicians are going through right now...dotcom was nowhere near that in terms of psychological impact)
Future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed (also said in '93, and I believe it's applicable again).
In '93 people were still complaining that computers weren't bringing in productivity improvements (Solow paradox):
> You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics.
The big change is that we now (due to the internet and interconnectedness of everyone) learn about the technology much faster than before.
But diffusion through business and population still takes time. Especially if there's a hardware crunch that acts as a brake.
I lived through the dotcom boom era (went online in '93 or so). If you can't compare that change to the magical science fiction we're living through (I can press a button, speak to my computer and tell it to build me a 3d game, then play through it 15 minutes later), I beg to differ.
(edit to add: not to mention the existential crisis many artists, developers and mathematicians are going through right now...dotcom was nowhere near that in terms of psychological impact)
Future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed (also said in '93, and I believe it's applicable again).