Putting the magic in the machine since 1980.

Monday, November 19, 2007

The Internet, Growth, and Students

Today I gave a 1-hour talk to our freshmen on the history an future of the Internet. Obviously an impossible task but I did my best. I hope I conveyed to them the endless possibiblities that the Internet has opened up.

In preparation for this talk I have been asking our students: how much do you think the .com bubble affected the growth of the Internet? The general belief is overwhelmingly clear. Students believe the bubble had a large impact on the Internet growth. Of course, this is completely wrong. Check out my chart:

Nasdaq vs. Number of Internet Hosts vs. Number of Websites

The bubble had absolutely no impact on the growth of the Internet which continues to grow exponentially, doubling every three years. The number of websites is doubling at least every two years. The implications of these facts are mindboggling! But, the general public, even our students, still seems to feel that software is done. Oh well, it just means more money for those of us who can program!