At the turn of the millennium, the raw power and potential of the World Wide Web was beginning to come into focus. E-Commerce sites first bloomed in the late-90s, recognizing that there was an untapped market just sitting there with a wallet and without any pants. A small bookseller named Amazon went public in 1997, a small shoe store named Zappos began in 1999, and a small online DVD rental store named Netflix kicked off operations in 1998. These were just three of many.
Of course, no one knew that these companies would become what they became. But there was a widespread fascination with the internet, and professionals everywhere knew that there was a future there.