A story of disintermediation

The word Disintermediation became part of my vocabulary during the dotcom era, when everyone was talking about how the Internet will cut out the middle man. Dr. Madhukar Shukla ran a yahoo group called the "dotcomworld" which seem to have fizzled out. Its a shame when a good idea becomes a fad. The annual rings of a sawed-off tree trunk can tell not just the age of a tree, but also about the seasons- the drought of 15 years ago, for example. Like wise if you ever cut me down you can learn about the cultural seasons by the thoughts and ideas that have entered my head. Disintermediation is one of those things.

In the first Talk Shop Case, I discuss a case of how the term Disintermediation takes on a new meaning, though not entirely disconnected with the old one. Read the case here.