Kottke: Blogging’s Netscape IPO. Kottke has the same feeling about the pyra acquisition by Google as when Netscape ipo’ed i 1995. It’s an event that somehow makes every blogger proud, an validation of what they’ve believed – and an example that sometimes the good guys can win in the end.
In 1995 Netscape almost had a cult following at the level of Apple’s and was the posterboy for a new generation of software and thoughts.
That they managed to f*** it up amazingly with old school tactics and also became the kickstart for wall street to starts it bonanza is another story.
I believe this could be the defining moment for a new era of small startups, social software, decentralization, online media innovation in general, the semantic web vision and web services. All the innovation that has been done by independent developers is now getting acceptance and exposure to the wider world with this validation by Google.
And all this innovation is happening on shoestring budgets by people with vision and values of balance and sustainability in business.
Interesting times, interesting times…