This New Year's eve there is no fear that two-digit clocks may bring down civilisation. A lack of millennium bug preparation is just one measure of technology's advance in the noughties. Another is the spin-out of AOL from Time Warner this month, with a market capitalisation of $2.5bn. At the 2000 merger, the company's value was almost 100 times greater and AOL was America's largest internet service provider, mostly dial-up accounts attracted by free CDs. The shift from the closed garden internet of AOL to today's anarchic online world is one of the biggest stories of the decade.
這個新年前夜，人們不會再擔心以兩位數表示年份的時鐘會摧毀人類文明瞭。不用爲「千年蟲問題」做準備只是衡量本世紀頭十年科技進步的標準之一。另一個標誌性事件是美國線上(AOL)本月從時代華納(Time Warner)分拆出來。美國線上目前的市值爲25億美元。兩家公司於2000年合併之時，美國線上的市值幾乎比現在高100倍，且是美國最大的網路服務提供商——其用戶大多是被免費註冊CD招攬來的撥號上網用戶。從美國線上「封閉花園式」的網路，到今日無政府狀態在線世界的轉變，是這十年最重要的事件之一。