It's been just over a year now since I started to write for this topic. I've greatly enjoyed sharing my thoughts and ideas with you. As we are able to ring in the new year (and for some, the "real" new millennium), I thought it might be nice to recap 2000.
This year started out with a "BANG" as folks rushed around to fix all the Y2K bugs lurking out there. Many people lost sleep and their holidays to stay up and assure that mission critical systems remained online. And when it was over, the world breathed a sigh of relief.
LOVE was in the air this year, but not the type of love that most people wanted to catch. The year was filled with deadly email virus attacks that brought several major companies to a screeching halt. ILOVEYOU became a thing to fear as the Microsoft Outlook world learned just how unsecured it could be.
Who Wants to be a Millionaire? spawned a whole new generation of TV game shows. Several even boldly attempted to hook contestants up via the Internet. The merging of two technology entertainment fields provided the viewers with something new... the ability to interact in real time with shows and other fans around the world.
Dotcom-ville goes belly up as the stock market goes on a crazy roller coaster ride. What started out to indicate a strong year for dotcom companies, turned out to sing the death knell for many. As we close this year, so too do we close the chapters on several major dotcom companies. For some, it's a cold holiday with only a pink slip in their hand.
Election time rang in a new set of challenges and opportunities for Internet savvy companies in the US. The Internet helped spread information about the candidates and kept everyone "up-to-the-minute" on the back and forth exit poll results. For those who like to watch television, this will also be a memorable year as the Snicker's commercial, depicting a characture of the two candidates, had one claim he "invented the Internet."
Shopping. Shopping. Shopping. A good number of consumers this year clicked their way through the holiday season. Yet, despite the ease of use and increased reliability, the actual number of sales online was far lower than hoped.
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