Ditherati: See the Digerati Dither, Daily

“This strategy is not just another company trying to add a ‘dot com’ to its name.”

Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz, on his company’s plans to invest millions in an Internet venture unrelated to coffee, News.com, 23 April 1999

“What I want to see in a few years is that when people go into a computer store, they at least have to think about what kind of operating system they want to have on their computer.”

Linus Torvalds, inventor of the freeware Linux operating system, envisioning a future where buying a computer is even more confusing than it is today, Time Digital Daily, 22 April 1999

“The Internet is this huge hurricane sweeping through everything. There are billion-dollar companies that are going to go to zero.”

Crosspoint Venture Capital associate Adam Dell, explaining how his firm hopes to get while the getting’s good, Fortune.com, 19 April 1999

“We have to grow. That’s probably the only thing that matters at the end of the day.”

Chief Yahoo Jerry Yang, explaining his industry’s biological imperative at the National Association of Broadcasters converence in Las Vegas, News.com, 20 April 1999

“As a company engaged in transforming its industry for the Internet era, we must have the organizational flexibility necessary to move at Internet speed.”

Compaq chairman Ben Rosen, explaining his need for speed in sacking former-CEO-as-of-Sunday Eckhard Pfeiffer, The New York Times, 19 April 1999