For a feeling of the scene at the time, this blog post by the extremely mild mannered Tim Bray may be instructive: http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/

For a feeling of the scene at the time, this blog post by the extremely mild mannered Tim Bray may be instructive: http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/06/23/SamsPie http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/06/23/SamsPie