The new economy is just like the old economy

Not long ago everyone was talking about the new economy and the news media had several stories about the “new economy.” It turns out the new economy is just like the old economy, and the ole economic laws still apply.

The software industry is experiencing a lot of growing pains experienced by other industries. Since the first computer language appeared in the 1950s there has been a churn, of both hardware and software. Hardware companies like Wang, Control Data, and Digital have come and gone and were replaced by Microsoft, Dell and Apple. Software languages have come and gone, too. Assembler, Fortran, and COBOL have been replaced with Java, Java Script, and C++. Long before there was Word, there was WordStar and WordPerfect; and, before Excel there was VisiCalc and Lotus. Whatever happened to Lotus 1-2-3?