Month: February 1998

“Fewer and fewer scientists are really in a position to see the interconnectedness of things. I don’t know what the solution is but I’m delighted somebody is worrying about it and trying to tackle it.”

Robert Park, a physics professor at the University of Maryland, on the government’s effort to help researchers cope with Internet-driven “knowledge storms,” Philadelphia Inquirer, 19 February 1998

“Silicon Valley, Route 128, Silicon Alley, Multimedia Gulch — they aren’t very exciting names. I actually thought Silicon Valley was where women went to get fixed. But because of excellence and working together, Silicon Valley is magical.”

LA Mayor Richard Riordan, showing that deep understanding of the Net that has made his city a leader in … um … Internet … uh … new media … stuff, Wired News, 18 February 1998

“The money was largely spent for software development, and the software was a complex product developed in a complex way.”

David Carlick, erstwhile president of PowerAgent — an online advertising startup most noted for contracting out its software development and burning through $20 million in venture capital and loans with no product to show for its troubles — on how hard it was to spend that wad of cash, San Jose Mercury News, 15 February 1998

“Technology really has turned out to be a wonderful thing. Americans really are tuning in in a positive way to the Internet.”

Bill Clinton, president and chief executive officer of the United States, waxing poetic on the wonders of the Internet but somehow failing to cite the Drudge Report’s URL, AllPolitics, 12 February 1998

“We wanted children to be able to go to places on the Web where they can feel safe to explore and play. We also wanted something that doesn’t require every consumer to be a Web genius — something simple, clean and easily applied.”

Tom Morgan, chief executive officer of IDG spinoff NVolve, on his “Safe Playgrounds Initiative” that would put childproof caps on selected online content areas — without having parents actually do any work, of course, New York Times CyberTimes, 16 February 1998