Why the new generation of web companies aren't advertising – and why I don't blame them
Brian Millar
A quick quiz: can you remember the names of the biggest failures from the dotcom bubble? Struggling? Here's the top four: Webvan.com, Pets.com, Kozmo.com and boo.com. Who were the biggest successes? That's easier: Google. Amazon. eBay. Hotmail. Now here's a thought. All of the former spent massively on advertising. Google and Hotmail have never advertised. Ever. Amazon dabbles once in a while, and eBay has only recently started. And if that's not bad enough, Tim O'Reilly has declared that if you...