By Melanie Morales
does it really matter? Watching that showed me just how well we fit into the palms of the men’s (where were the women?!) hands. At this point it’s tomato, tomato. We get what we want out of the internet and we are satisfied with our choices, no matter how we got here. But who would have thought it was paved with awkward meetings, billions of dollars, and lawsuits! Drama!
One of my favorite parts in the first video was see how the lawsuit between Microsoft and the U.S. Government played out. Call me ignorant or naïve but I simply was not aware of this scandal in full detail and seeing Mr. Gates buckle under the weight that he essentially put on himself was eye-opening. Regardless of the initial verdict and then appeal, we have and will continue to see the all-consuming “e” that invades our computers. Even though we have more browsers to choose from than before, for me personally, I have to use Explorer to do daily job duties; the university-bought software is only capable with Explorer. But if I were being honest, I would say does it really matter?
Regarding innovation and all the new technologies popping up (aka “bubbles”), I learned that many times the “innovation” was just a copy of someone else’s or another company’s idea. To say something was genuinely thought up by themselves with the help of no one would be a stretch. Instead, it was a systematic building of ideas and theories; everyone contributed to the library of knowledge. The internet only enables this form of innovation as a lot of our own ideas stem from the internet first via news sites, social media, blogs, online books, etc. Hmm…this has me thinking now.
Seeing the videos conclude with what was left of record stores and the conventional journalism industry proved how big the internet door was. The Web 2.0 was just the naturally next step through that door into relationships, networking, reviews and more. The fact that, bear with me, we are digital media, is the amazing end result. This blog post is a product of digital media and now has a place in the internet’s universe forever. It’s exploded but will it implode? Can there really be too much of a good thing or will we just continue breathing in the internet like it’s air to our lungs?
To end on a random but worth mentioning note – isn’t it amazing what music can do to position you for or against something that you had no knowledge of before. Sorry for the randomness but that was another interesting thing to me and, again, it was in the first video between Microsoft and Netscape. Dun Dun Dunnnnn…
You can watch all the videos again here!