In 1996, this could very well be real. In fact it was quite a common opinion, held by many intelligent people. And many aspects of the Internet were just that,

In 1996, this could very well be real. In fact it was quite a common opinion, held by many intelligent people. And many aspects of the Internet were just that, fads. With hyped up "cyber"-everything, it was hard to see the forest for the trees. Hence the bubble and collapse. Also, it took a long time for the Internet to actually be better at many things. Yellow Pages mentioned are a good example. It took a decade from hype to reality before the Internet made the local Yellow Pages superfluous. (Personally, I had been waiting for something like the internet to happen since the 80's, but that makes me a hacker and a nerd, not a visionary...)