IT was always going to happen, and everyone knew it was coming. It was simply a matter of when. Sooner or later, in the rush to profit, the Internet economy had to face reality, and last spring it came crashing to the ground, shattering the pipe dreams, big talk and prospect of another boozy lunch on Friday.
Global players such as Intel, Yahoo and Cisco Systems axed thousands of jobs. Dotcoms around the world fizzled out as the money ran out and the industry plunged into recession.
In the grand scheme of things, the Republic's influence on how the Internet economy takes shape is negligible. We've done well from being reasonably talented, English speaking and, let's face it, cute hoors, but what hurts the US ultimately damages us.
The slowdown in the US - despite what you may have heard, it and not Ennis is still the epicentre for most things Internet - was immediately felt worldwide. And the long-overdue Internet crash has finally forced online companies to confront reality. We've seen the collapse of high-profile firms such as Ebeon, Nua, Rondomondo and Oniva, all of which found themselves overhyped or overextended as the market decided to shut up shop on gee-whiz Web companies.
The absurd overvaluations and limitless hype of the Internet gold rush stemmed from August 1995, when Netscape went public with the third-largest initial public offering in the history of NASDAQ, the high-tech-stock market. The size of the offering turned a lot of influential heads and started a headlong rush.
Infrastructure was rolled out around the world - with the obvious and disgraceful exception of the Republic - to make the most of the digital revolution, meaning a lot of people got a big increase in bandwidth quicker than they should have.
Billions of dollars were poured into tech stocks, start-ups, content and advertising: anything to grab attention and "hits", that most valuable of buzzwords.
Thousands of Web companies sprang up overnight, promising untold riches to companies using the Internet and eternal damnation to anyone foolish enough to ignore it. Big companies got caught up in the hype and scrambled to get in on the action, buying up the fledgling companies that squawked the loudest.
Happily, the bandwagon had plenty of room for everyone. Magazine covers, lots of money and lots of spotlight. Our freshly minted Internet visionaries got very excited. Worldwide, they said, people would stop doing things offline and exist instead in a perfect world of usernames, chat rooms and connectedness. The Web economy would strip away all that archaic nonsense about how to do business profitably, they added, and we'd all be running our lives via our laptops, sipping margaritas on the beach while the power, glory and outright fabulousness of the Internet did our work for us.
Oops. Didn't quite work out that way. As the helium-powered dotcoms fail by the thousand, business is wising up to what's achievable online. Rather than seeing flashy websites as a profitable end in themselves, companies from Walt Disney and NBC to Eircom have pulled the plug on pretty-but-useless Web ventures. The focus is now squarely on how the Web can be used to conduct real business in the real world.
It's about delivering a bottom line. After years of backslapping and self-congratulation, Web developers need to focus on providing solutions that help companies do business profitably and effectively. The honeymoon is over.
Handled right, the Web has the potential to transform companies internally and externally. It can build value, let companies get closer to their customers and each other and still have the potential to scare the hell out of established industries, as we've seen with Napster.
All of which is good. What the Web emphatically isn't is the answer to everything. It's been said before: if your company doesn't have a website and you can't think of a good reason why it should, then that's fine. Don't waste your money. Ignore glossy supplements, scaremongering, talk of page impressions and relentless self-promotion. On the other hand, if you've a compelling Web strategy - to sell online, extend a brand or to help you interact with clients or customers - make sure that any Web developer understands your business as well as you doe rather than technical gobbledegook. Otherwise, by all means run screaming out of the door.
For individuals, the Web doesn't change the laws of supply and demand. People go shopping because they like the physicality of shopping. Pretending to know about wine, taking all afternoon to try on 30 pairs of shoes, poring over racks of second-hand vinyl. People like to do these things. Build a better mousetrap and the world will still beat a path to your door, but you've got to come up with something pretty compelling to produce an online success story.
Unprofitable for years, Amazon.com will ultimately succeed because phenomenal financial backing has made the site synonymous with books. Of course, the site lets you find great obscure material, but it's still a comparatively remote and joyless experience. People will still take the time to sit down and write a letter by hand, because it's a far more generous, human and intimate gesture than an e-mail or, heaven 4bid, a txt msg. Once the Web becomes more human, we'll see more successes. But don't hold your breath.
Was the Internet oversold? Probably not. It's as important an innovation as the telephone or the television and will profoundly alter how we do business, but let's not go overboard. It does some things well and some things poorly, and the past six years or so have been an exercise in understanding which is which.
Out of Rondomondo came one of the few worthy projects: Muse magazine. A strong brand, backed up with talent, design skill and superb content. But it couldn't pay its way, so the dispassionate Eircom grown-ups pulled the plug.
You're right to think there should be witty, insightful journalism online. Just don't expect anyone to pay for it. And that's the lesson. What will emerge at the end of this bumpy ride will be the true Internet economy, built on business, necessity and hard-and-fast rules: a more sober, more realistic industry. If you can't pay your way, you're gone. That's the bottom line.