two kids in a garage
The story of the computer industry is, at its heart, a story about a couple of kids in a garage. All of the big stories seem to have humble beginnings. Gates and Allen got their start writing BASIC for an unlikely hobbiest home computer. Wozniak and Jobs built a PC in a wooden case. The vast empires built by Apple and Microsoft didn't start with grandiose corporate visions and vast multinational leanings. They started as a good idea to fill a niche that most people didn't know existed.
The computer industry is, indeed, a market for individuals, an industry for underdogs. The availability of information and the neutrality of the medium with which to distribute it provide a nearly level playing field for all contestants.
Blogging represents this power of the individual. Any individual with an internet connection can amass a following, until they have nearly the same influence on society as a whole as that of CNN or NBC.
Comments
that's one of the greatest aspects of the info-revolution (infolution?). opportunity is the great equalizer and the internet provides more than amply for anyone who is willing to put some effort into it. the scary thing is the way that some people take what they read, from ANY source, and proclaim it as gospel, granting anyone with a following social and political power, sometimes without even realizing they are doing it.