Netscape: The First Fleck of Gold

To examine the start of the dot-com bubble, we go back to 1995, the year technology became a part of our popular culture, just as the Internet was changing. Two key events happened that year -- Windows 95 launched with huge fanfare, making it so that the average person would use a computer at home; and a browser company named Netscape went public and quickly became worth $3 billion, despite having been founded only 16 months before and having never turned a profit. For the engineers and web designers who were pursuing their vision of the Internet as a creative, experimental place, the arrival of the “dot-com guys” was a double-edged sword. On the one hand, Wall Street made them millionaires, at least on paper. But the influx of investors and businessmen seeking fast riches threatened to change Silicon Valley culture forever. 

From Epic Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. Hosted by Julia Furlan.

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