This internet thing is never going to catch on.

A classic, via Norm, from Sir Simon Jenkins. Apparently, “The Internet will strut an hour upon the stage, and then take its place in the ranks of lesser media“. Also:

So great is the commercial hyperbole surrounding the Internet that common sense is obliterated by dazzle. It has proved a boon for pornographers and lawyers and for the sort of up market pen pals who used to rave about Citizens’ Band radio. For companies and interest groups, the “interment” is a more efficient version of the fax. E-mail has done wonders for the ancient art of letter-writing. I can see that being able to download the entire British Library on to one’s kitchen table, or cruise the Louvre from one’s armchair, is in theory exhilarating. But like Heath Robinson’s suggestions for winning the Great War, the concept is unlikely to have widespread application.

The Internet is one more electronic craze that market forces will sooner or later put in its proper context.