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The difference is that projects like the internet were incremental. At no single point did it require "Billions in infrastructure"; to start it basically requir
by polshaw 14y ago
The difference is that projects like the internet were incremental. At no single point did it require "Billions in infrastructure"; to start it basically required just a couple of modems (which aren't fundamentally complex) and it ran off the existing POTS lines. It could grow organically, unlike major construction works.
- lutusp 14y ago> The difference is that projects like the internet were incremental. That's the funny part -- one could argue that, because it was incremental, someone ought to have seen what was coming. But instead it was much like the early days of television -- the experts thought it was a gimmick, a fad that people would get tired of, then return to radio and printed matter.
- petercooper 14y agoThis also seems true of most successful "startups" which rarely blow up overnight but build incrementally over years (e.g. Skype, Pinterest, Google, Facebook, GitHub, FeedBurner.. vs Cuil, Color, and other "next big thing" flash in a pans)