Besides, I remember Ray Kurzweill [sic] writing that the Bubble wasn't really a bubble. The companies that really created value created so much value that they compensated for the ones that went bankrupt.
Sure, overall the whole Internet thing has created a lot of actual value, and this is evidenced by the fact that the recession that followed was pretty mild. But it's still true that it was a bubble in the sense that companies were being invested in with little to no actual value, with unworkable business schemes, and a "hemorrhage money now, make billions later!" mentality. The perception was that the Internet was a money-generating panacea, all you had to do was open a site with a .com suffix, like RoofShingles2U.com, and you'd automatically put all roofing salesmen out of business and corner the roof shingle market.
Sure, overall the whole Internet thing has created a lot of actual value, and this is evidenced by the fact that the recession that followed was pretty mild. But it's still true that it was a bubble in the sense that companies were being invested in with little to no actual value, with unworkable business schemes, and a "hemorrhage money now, make billions later!" mentality. The perception was that the Internet was a money-generating panacea, all you had to do was open a site with a .com suffix, like RoofShingles2U.com, and you'd automatically put all roofing salesmen out of business and corner the roof shingle market.