So the dotcom bubble has burst, and even Intel's profits are suffering. There's plenty of piffle talked about computers. Like they are somehow going to change your life, that your business will be transformed by having a Web site, and that you need to update your system every 12 months to the most powerful thing money can buy.
Common sense catches up with technology eventually.
And after the initial hype and excitement the come-down arrives, reality kicks in and the real usefulness of a technology becomes apparent. This is what's happened with all the dotcom shenanigans, where large-wadded investors suddenly found that the Internet could be used to make money. Everyone who'd ever been anywhere near a pin-stripe suit wanted a slice of an Internet company, and the cash flowed like the champagne at a wedding. It was only with the realisation that few Internet companies actually made any money, and that those that did, did so on the back of established traditional businesses, that the bubble finally burst and the value of Internet stocks 'readjusted' to more realistic levels. By then, of course, the damage was done.