Amazing, huh? OK, it didn't really happen. Barbie won't get a SPARC brain and McNealy would probably rather play hockey against G.I. Joe. But I bet you wondered for a second if it were true. From my perspective, our industry has taken it on the chin in the past few years. Companies such as Cray Computer, Digital and Netscape went a long way toward making the pocket-protector crowd cool. But we've been hit with a good dose of reality lately.

Cray was the maker of the world's fastest computers. Its machines cost millions, and scientists would spend weeks writing papers applying for federal grants just to get some time on one. The computers looked so sharp they even popped up on posters. No doubt about it, Cray was geek-cool. So what happened? Cray was bought by the company that makes computers to display weather maps on TV. OK, Silicon Graphics is in truth a scientific powerhouse in its own right, with lots of good engineering in its products. But it isn't, or at least it wasn't, Cray.

Then there was Digital, which practically invented scientific computing. The Internet was founded on its computers. When it came to hard-core science, numerous industries relied solely on Digital's computers. But after years of fighting a losing battle, Digital succumbed. Bought by a PC clone maker, the once grand company is now a niche in a commodity computer maker's product line. I'm not sure that Digital was ever really cool. Its logo was outdated. Its marketing was pathetic. But in its heyday, Digital's technology was second to none.

The ultimate disgrace to the technical elite, though, came when America Online bought Netscape. For a very long time, AOL was ignored by the Internet community, which saw it as a toy for those who lacked the technical muscle to negotiate the Internet. Fatefully, AOL got an Internet gateway, and the Inter-elite had a new whipping boy. Any posting to a newsgroup or even private e-mails that carried an aol.com address were immediately suspect. These were chat-room junkies who had taken a wrong turn and stumbled onto the Internet.

Netscape, on the other hand, was our industry's vindication. The educational and scientific roots of the Internet had borne fruit to enlighten the common man in the form of the Web browser. No one really understood what the information superhighway was until the browser showed us. Now, even the techno-commoners could enjoy the benefits of the Internet.

Cool Is as Cool Does So geeks were cool, 22-year-olds were billionaires and a brave new world of information for and by the masses was born. Everything was right with the world. Then reality set in. Companies that had long been ignored by the research community suddenly ruled the roost--clone makers, software houses and online service providers figured prominently in the Fortune 500.

It's typical to make some predictions in the first issue of a new year. Bearing all this in mind, here are mine: AOL's purchase of Netscape marks the beginning of the end. Mattel will buy Sun. McDonald's will snatch up HP (would you like an optical coupler with that heart monitor?). And Wal-Mart will take over IBM (yessiree, that mainframe was made right here in the good ol' U.S. of A.).

For me, it isn't easy to watch and, in some cases, participate as our industry moves from its R&D roots to a marketing and commodity focus. It's logical. But most of the technology companies that grew this industry don't understand consumers; some don't even understand their own customers. These giants are doomed to go the way of Cray, Digital and Netscape--bought by companies that are better at, and care more about, business than technology.

Send your comments on this column to Art Wittmann at awittmann@nwc.com.