[LINK] "Facebook is the new AOL"

[rfmcdonald]

The Verge's Nilay Patel argues that what is old is new again. (More precisely, he seems to be suggesting that ideas implemented imperfectly at the time might be done rather better now.)

The 90s are back.

They’re back in fashion, they’re back in music, and they are most certainly back in technology.

In a way this makes sense; the top end of the Millennial generation was just entering high school in the 90s, and now they’re into the workplace and armed with spending power, so it’s easy to appeal directly to their nostalgia. Look, here’s Salt-n-Pepa shilling for Geico!

But um, hey everybody: the 90s were a decade of excess and mistakes and excessive mistakes. The rollicking good times of the 90s ended with the dot-com collapse of the early 2000s, the memories of which continue to shape the industry today.

So it's worth noting that the broad outlines of tech in 2015 look surprisingly like the late 90s. The major players are set up the same, the fights are the same, and the mistakes will almost certainly be the same. It's going to be pretty fun until it all blows up, actually — some of these ancient dreams might finally come true.

2015 will be defined by the Revenge of 90s Internet: media and tech giants flirting with each other, dominant players throwing their weight around, and portals, portals everywhere. And CES, starting this week, will offer a big glimpse into what all that 90s dark lipstick looks like on a modern face.