so it came as no surprise when those same expert announced the death of business as we know it and the arrival of the New,Weightless,Wireless,Connected Economy.
"Welcome to the Age of the Network" declared Fortune magazine.
"E-business: What Every CEO needs to know" said Business Week.
There followed a frenzy of financial speculation not seen since the American Gold Rush.
For a while, it seemed like every post-adolescent with a laptop and business plan written on the back of a rock concert ticket could get access to unlimited venture capital.
Popular domain names like business.com and houses.com were snapped up for millions of dollars.
Then came a flood of more exotically named start-ups like ScreamingMedia,Egghead and AtomicTangerind.