It's December 2000 and the Dot-Com bubble is bursting. VC money is starting to dry up, new Dot-Com companies are doing layoffs, and the meltdown is just getting started. Here's some of what the Industry Standard magazine had to say about it. Little did they suspect, like many new tech-biz magazines, the Industry Standard would become a victim of the downturn. The Industry Standard started in 1999 and despite selling more ad pages than any other print magazine in the United States in 2000, went bankruptcy in August of 2001. Often referred to as "the Bible of the Internet economy", their readers apparently lost faith. Source: The Industry Standard, , December 25, 2000 (with some snarky comments added)
  • Winners in 2000 included wireless devices and H1-B visas for code writers from other countries.
  • Shawn Fanning made it big including posing for Time and Newsweek. (If you don't know who Fanning is, you're just too young.) His bit of code shook the record labels and forced the recording industry to rethink their digital distribution models.
  • PETS.COM went under in November 2000, the reason given by the CEO, "Because pets can't drive." - Apparently they can't shop either.
  • Dot-Com employees lost out big time as their stock options became worthless, layoffs without severance became common, and (imagine the horror) they were forced to look for jobs with a realistic market salary.
  • e-Books were losers in 2000
  • Lots of hype about the growth of e-Commerce on a billion mobile devices in the next for years. Reality: screens are too small, networks are too slow, security is questionable - just call the 800 number already!
  • General Motors announced that Oldsmobile will be discontinued after a failed Internet campaign intended to appeal to younger buyers.
  • 3Com hoped for big holiday sales of Audrey, a must-have kitchen internet appliance selling for $499.
  • The US Congress passes a law establishing the legal validity of electronic contracts and signatures.

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