Is it me or the great days of internet are over?

[ROcHE]

Some years ago we could download 3 gigs of mp3 a day on a supposely legal :Q napster system, leech all the demos we wanted (Free) on 3dfiles.com, we could even download internet explorer as a full install version file, no banners on icq, creative labs drivers were free , etc etc

Now the forums here cause a major lost to Anand, 3dfiles.com is no more, everything is so full of banners, we have to register on fileplanet.com to download something without waiting, etc.


I understand that the dot com business is not what it was and all. The profitability is harder to acheive. But I mean by a user stand point, everything is getting worse. I'm wondering what all this "internet" will look like in 3-4 years.

I'm I the only one who think that what made the internet special is slowly dissapearing?

 

[isasir]

Well, what made the Internet special was getting, for all intents and purposes, something for nothing. But as everyone is slowly remembering, there is ultimately no free lunch. At least a lot of us were able to get in while there was one tho'.



Mr. Cliche-man

 

[greenfirs]

<< everything is so full of banners >>



Obviously, you've never heard of Junkbuster.

 

[JackOfHearts]

[unintelligible rant on] All things wonderful must die.... The freedom of the net is being lost to the business world... We see the net as a place to share information and dialogue with friends and co-workers? Business sees it as a place to make money and also a frontier to protect from copyright infringement.
But I ask this question don?t most artist make a ton of money on tour? why can?t they share music for free, and tour? Maybe provide CD?s to people that want CD maybe put extras on the CD like pictures and movies?. What is wrong with sharing movies?
I see this all the time one person buy?s a movie and passes it around at work? they don?t make money from that and everyone sees it? so they will make a law about loaning out movies.
The net is going to be owned by AOL. No one will be able to view anything they don?t pay for and it will suck?. [/unintelligible rant off]


In answer to your question yeah the net is dying and being commercialized into a controlled space with out people and innovators but into a place for GAP and Nike to peddle there wares....

 

[bunker]

As long as there's pr0n, the internet will always be in its great days.

 

[pulse8]

<< In answer to your question yeah the net is dying and being commercialized into a controlled space with out people and innovators but into a place for GAP and Nike to peddle there wares.... >>


Your ideals of a free Internet are wonderful, but who on Earth do you expect to pay for all that?? Advertising has been the only thing to keep the Internet alive.

 

[sciencetoy]

Warning: Rant.
You guys are so lame. The internet in nothing more than a method of communication. It's what you do with it that makes it cool.

All of the fun things that happened in the "great" days of the internet were becuase somebody had a fun idea and was able to run with it. And you dummies sat here and read off of some bulletin board that you could get free Tivo's and Tshirts and magnets, and you thought THAT was cool. And now you're bitching that it's all over. Well, it ain't what it's all about.

There is still a lot of potential here. Think about all of those AOL losers - er, users. They're gullible enough to shell out that kind of dough for what they get? You can't think of ANYTHING fun you could do with that many people? Shame on you.

There are still folks in countries I couldn't spell a few years ago, right here on ATOT. Neat, interesting people who are certainlly worth getting to be friends with, and the opportunities for business and cool things happening are WIDE OPEN. And you're pissed because the great days of internet are over? Idiots. You can't see what's right in front of you.

When the majority of people are focusing their energy elsewhere, it's a GREAT time to get into something.

The internet is great not because of what it USED to be, but because of what it IS. There's a lot of cool things just waiting to be discovered.