A Web Pioneer Moves On

MSNBC reports on Nando Times shutting down. In some ways a minor story, but a meaningful one to me personally. Back in 1994 when the first commercial websites (including HotWired) were being built, Nando was among the small group of pioneers.

Nando (the name is derived from its parent local newspaper News And Observer) created one of, if not the first national news sources on the web. A "revolutionary" meme of the early web was that it was the great equalizer: anyone from a single person with a $20 ISP account to a major media company could publish a website on the same terms. It was this level playing field that allowed a small newspaper in North Carolina to become a leading national news provider, and subsequently let grad students build multi-billion dollar businesses in a few short years.

The death of Nando is really about the validity of the other revolutionary meme of the early web: that it was the future of how people would consume news and information. Nando is no longer needed as a separate entity because the content space it filled is now well served by everyone from international brands (like CNN and BBC) to local brands with syndicated national feeds (like the News And Observer itself).

The web's constant evolution and ability to reinvent itself (most recently observed in the rise of blogs) is why it has ultimately fulfilled much of the promise of pioneers like Nando. Still, we should mourn its passing.