Slashdot Mirror
Another Dot-com Boom?
Ryan Hemelaar writes "CNN Money is reporting that the internet might be at a stage of another dot-com boom, with the top tech stocks now gaining ground again after the dot-com crash. From the article: "Now, 10 years after two key events in the history of the Internet -- the successful IPO of Netscape, which many cite as the beginning of Wall Street's love affair with 'Net stocks, and the founding of Yahoo! -- we're in the midst of a new, let's say mini dot-com boom.""
Not to mention Google's IPO today, which has been valued quite highly.
Google is a great company with some really good services, but where does their core revenue come from, other than ads and maybe sales of their few SE boxes?
Makes you wonder, once again. Remember - it does not matter if you have the greatest idea on Earth, if your revenue is not from tangible assets (for relative measures of tangible ofcourse), the market will put you down eventually.
This is what I'm scared of - if things like that do happen, we'll once again go into an IT industry crash.
Booms are good. Insane run-ups like the dot-com boom in 1998-2000 are not. I graduated right into it, and ended up working in IT for decidedly non-dotcom companies the entire time. My reasoning: I was learning, so I might as well start with an established company. Turns out that was the right decision, even though it really bothered me watching people I knew changing jobs every 6 months for 30-40% pay increases!
If you want another example of a bad boom, just look at the housing market lately. I read a statistic the other day that said interest-only mortgages have reached 40% of all loans made in some housing markets. Just wait until interest rates go back up and the interest-only period ends. People will be paying way too much on houses that aren't worth nearly what they bought them for. I see this going on in my area, and I just wonder when the market is going to tank.
The four most expensive words in the English Language: "This Time It's Different"
If I was that drunk, I would have remembered it -- H. Simpson