The big anitrust case is apparently over. Both the guv'mnt and McSoft claim victory. How can that be? Didn't somebody lose? Well, yeah. You and me. Now little Netscape can go ahead with its suit for damages. 'Xept it's now big AOL-Time-Warner. Fat chance, but then I start wondering who will get the money if they win. Certainly not me. Not any of the other geeks who proudly wore the big 'N' and busted their butts to try and change the world and bring down the dark empire. Not that any of us deserve anything. We knew what we were up against.

Then look back and see what Netscape accomplished. SSL. They created e-commerce. It didn't exist prior because the internet was almost completely insecure. You're still not protected from rogue hackers but at least your transactions are. When the browser landed, everybody had to have it. And with it, internet access and email. Prior to that people and companies had no data access to the internet, which had evolved sufficiently to greet them with cool stuff. Not a bad legacy...

But today we're in a different world. The cool stuff is buried in the din of the mega-portals. There are new software opportunities. Why? Because a lot of little niche vendors vanished completely in the tech slump. There are a few niches out there to be mined. Competition? Only McSoft is left. As long as you don't make too much money they'll stay out of your way. That's the key. If you make more than a million or two they're gonna' take the big piece of the pie from you. Stay under the radar and offer a unique service and you could probably feed a few employees for a few years. Make money on the web? Sure, I should probably do that too. Long as you have something to sell and can get it to people. But it's a cut-throat game in most any of the commercial markets. The only way to keep business flowing is to make less profit than the other guys - and they're working out of their bedroom and drinking Coors.