What s being rewarded now is companies that are practical and that are humble, he said. Brash dot-com upstarts may no longer fit that bill, but technologists say they served an important role in the new economy. Many proved such fast movers that they essentially served as the de facto research units of many major companies. AOL Time Warner Inc., for example, has bought up several small companies because of their inventions. Microsoft Corp., too, snapped up many smaller companies.
Some experts say today s calmer period in information technology is inevitable.
As one popular theory goes, every few decades or so someone comes up with a revolutionary invention electricity, the railroad, automobiles that changes everything. This causes a period of furious activity followed by a quieter period of assimilation. Change will still happen, said Doug Henton, president of Collaborative Economics, a Silicon Valley think tank, but it s not going to be as splashy and the growth isn t going to be as fast. Caught in the middle in these uneasy economic times is the inventor, the hero of the new economy. Some technologists complain that they have had trouble raising money for ideas that a year ago would have been shoo-ins for funding.