Surely you knew it couldn't last for long? It was all bait - now it's time for "switch". Just as you can't defy the laws of physics for long, you can't defy the laws of economics either (even though they are less clear). Eventually, everything has to be paid for by those receiving the benefit - the users.

Everybody was going to sell stuff at cost or provide services for free and make it up in ad revenue, but most of the ad revenue was coming from other "new economy" enterprises doing the exact same thing. Bleeding money at a frightening rate, this scheme went the same way as all perpetual motion machines - just a lot faster.

The fact is, selling stuff on the Internet (in any substantial way) is more expensive than selling from stores. You still have to have the same back-end infrastructure for sales support, purchasing, customer service and distribution, plus the Internet infrastructure and integration costs, plus your cost for advertising is higher and returned merchandise and credit card fraud are way, way higher.

Quite frankly, if you aren't already running a successful store based or mail-order business, you're pretty much doomed. Even Amazon can't do it (a on-time accounting fluke does not a profitable business make).

This leaves service providers to find some way to pay their electric bill, and charging users, one way or another, is just about the only revenue source they'll be coming up with. Unfortunately, the users, accustomed to "everything Internet is free", are resistant. This will result in the demise of probably the majority of services until the user mindset adapts.