[tgrass]

We may very well see the slow fade of the word 'startup' as we know it.

The historical tendency seems to be towards consolidation. The web has been a beautiful chaos for us, but we are already seeing the changes. To name two, SOPA seeks to more rigidly defend intellectual property rights; Google has started charging for excess use of its maps. In other words...people are looking to make money.

And that is reasonable.

The low hanging fruit of the internet will disappear shortly. Like the land rushes of the railroad era, where pamphlets proclaiming the glories of midwest farming were distributed all around the world, it is important to remember those pamphlets were printed by the railroad companies themselves.

Are you speculating? Claiming 160 acres of land in Nebraska in the hopes the town booms? Or are you selling train tickets leaving New York?