During the dot.com phat days, up until The Boom, the geek was revered. A new breed of worker that brought crazy work schedules and innovation to the corporate world. After The Boom, the geek was persona non grata.

What people fail to realize, is that The Boom was caused not by the geeks, but by the managers and administrators who failed to properly understand the new wave. There was a rash flood of investors pumping get-rich-quick funds into systems that weren't prepared to deal with the new paradigm.

The new technology brought with it so much information, that "classic", already over-filled categorical systems not only drown but broke. And I'm not just referring here in the abstract to things like Dewey Decimal but in practicality to thinks like creating subfolders in Outlook. If you don't know by now, then let me be the first to tell you: sorting ideas and/or emails into folders is pointless. The content already has the information in it needed to classify itself. So, as Google says: "Search don't Sort".

Anyway. Any historian will gladly tell you that real change happens not when good ideas come about but when the old , entrenched, in-control generation retires.

And who are now retiring in droves? You guessed it, those very same Baby Boomers who as managers and investors in 1998 had sparks and dollar signs in their eyes. Many of their retirement accounts have rebounded by now, or else they exaggerated the "damage" to garner sympathy, and they're leaving the workforce. In their wake they leave room for some of you young geeks to finally fully implement your visions.

(The above contains themes I've been blathering about for a while, and was recently inspired by this article: Take off your suit pants and jacket -- It's Web 2.0)