
The Search Engine (1999) - guiambros
http://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/19991010mag-new-lewis.html
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guiambros
The " _engine_ " in this case refers to Jim Clark, who spent his career
searching for the "new thing", and has intimately shaped the Silicon Valley
culture along the way.

Not only he has an interesting life story and created a series of legendary
companies - SGI, Netscape, Healtheon/WebMD, myCFO - but, more importantly,
helped demonstrate the value created by engineers in new companies, and set
out to change the way they are rewarded.

Jim Clark's life is covered in detail in Michael Lewis' "The New New Thing"
book [1]. Great read if you're interested in computer history and the early
days of the web.

One fascinating part is Pavan Nigam's realization - in the 80's! - that "
_...the difference between a great software guy and an O.K. software guy is
huge. A great software guy is worth 10 times an O.K. software guy_ ".

[1] [https://smile.amazon.com/New-Thing-Silicon-Valley-
Story/dp/0...](https://smile.amazon.com/New-Thing-Silicon-Valley-
Story/dp/0393347818)

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mdadm
> Not only he has an interesting life story and created a series of legendary
> companies - [...] WebMD, [...]

So he's the reason everyone thinks that they have cancer! :)

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jasode
Fyi... the Michael Lewis' phrase _" search engine"_ as used in this 1999
article would be what we today might call a _" serial entrepreneur searching
for the next unicorn"._

It's about Jim Clark of Netscape/Healtheon and not about
Excite/AltaVista/Google. Since the timing of the article happened after the
Netscape sale to AOL, it focuses on Healtheon which imo is not as interesting
as the wild Netscape period with Marc Andreesen.

~~~
coldtea
> _Fyi... the Michael Lewis ' phrase "search engine" as used in this 1999
> article would be what we today might call a "serial entrepreneur searching
> for the next unicorn"._

Apt, only "unicorns" those days were actually important socially and
technologically ventures, not BS like Instagram and co.

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Fred007007
Yeah, Instagram was a tragic flop that no-one noticed. Oh wait.

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yathern
The commenter isnt suggesting that. They're suggesting that the highly and
rapidly valued companies from that era were doing more social good than
current ones are.

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encoderer
Looks to be a excerpt from his book "the new new thing". Like most Lewis' work
it's good, and especially as a reminder of how really, today's tech scene is
nothing like the 1999 peak frenzy.

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jgalt212
Yes, I think 1999 was driven more by unbounded optimism and today is driven
more by unbounded hubris. Neither are good, or better than the other, but are
different versions of myopia.

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encoderer
My take is more: 1999 was driven by the promise of future profits. Today we're
driven by real revenue _and_ the promise of future profits.

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Animats
This was written before Healtheon tanked. The original plan was to computerize
medical records. That's finally happening, but Healtheon didn't do it. What's
left of Healtheon is a billing service for doctors.

@Home was a famous spectacular failure in Silicon Valley. They're remembered
for building a really spectacular headquarters complex [1] and never moving
in. The campus was vacant for most of a decade.

[1] [https://goo.gl/maps/7yyNnJoLXAS2](https://goo.gl/maps/7yyNnJoLXAS2)

~~~
revelation
Jesus this 3D stuff has gotten really good.

