Remember When the Internet Was Fun?

Nerve gusher! Seems I hit a big vein when I talked about how the Web has ceased to be interesting and new and different. I am not the only one who feels it. People from all over the country wrote in that the companies that wanted to innovate and push the envelope have all had to stop doing so, because of the cost. As long as the public was paying the price for every cockamamie idea we were seeing tons of pushing. But now the only thing that matters is profitability, and how fast a company can get there. When you have that kind of gun to your head, you cant do much forward thinking.

I, for one, was totally distressed when I went into all of the various NFL sites that I loved so much in previous years. They were cluttered to the gills with ads and pop-ups and mazes, all designed to get you to see some advertisement. Obviously, once again, the profit monster has slowed the web and made it a much less pleasant experience. As I surfed from one site to the other in the hopes of finding one that hadnt become hard to use or navigate because it was desperate to get you to see more ads I finally decided it was just easier to put on ESPN.

What a shame that something once so great has become a real chore. But the reason it was great was that it was an uneconomical stripped-down alternative to tons of other less direct ways of getting information. Now it is less fun and less direct!

Wow, what a step backwards.

The only place left where the Web still reeks of innovation is its backdoor methods of ripping off the record and movie producers. These revolutions continue unchecked, despite the best efforts of the entrenched companies to stop the freeification of just about everything copyrighted.

Weird that the only real spirit of innovation left on the web is piracy.

Weird and sad.

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James J. Cramer is manager of a hedge fund and co-founder of TheStreet.com. At time of publication, his fund had no positions in any stocks mentioned. His fund often buys and sells securities that are the subject of his columns, both before and after the columns are published, and the positions that his fund takes may change at any time. Under no circumstances does the information in this column represent a recommendation to buy or sell stocks. Cramer's writings provide insights into the dynamics of money management and are not a solicitation for transactions. While he cannot provide investment advice or recommendations, he invites you to send comments on his column to James J. Cramer .