Why 1999? Tech folklore isn't about rationality, or even memory, and it's as partial as all other folklore. I can't do this justice nearly as well as Audrey Watters, but I think the reason why it's not 1996 is because the mid-90s were about as much noncommercial expansion of the web as the commercial side, while the most easily-reachable parts of the web had become dominated by market interests a few years later. As an old Usenet and Fidonet user, I saw the invention of the http protocol as open to so many uses. That's incredibly generative, but it doesn't really foster folklore.
Also: I hate the idea that pets.com is the model of what any emerging type of technology should be doing, or how we should be talking about it.
Why 1999? Tech folklore isn't about rationality, or even memory, and it's as partial as all other folklore. I can't do this justice nearly as well as Audrey Watters, but I think the reason why it's not 1996 is because the mid-90s were about as much noncommercial expansion of the web as the commercial side, while the most easily-reachable parts of the web had become dominated by market interests a few years later. As an old Usenet and Fidonet user, I saw the invention of the http protocol as open to so many uses. That's incredibly generative, but it doesn't really foster folklore.
Also: I hate the idea that pets.com is the model of what any emerging type of technology should be doing, or how we should be talking about it.