“Mr. Siebel called attention to 20 sweet years, from 1980 to 2000, when, he said, worldwide I.T. spending grew at a compounded annual growth rate of 17 percent. All you had to do was show up and not goof it up, he said. All ships were rising.Since 2000, however, that rate has averaged only 3 percent, he said. His explanation for the sharp decline is that promise of the post-industrial society has been realized.

No new technological advances, he believes, would impel I.T. customers to replace the computer technology they already had: “I would suggest to you that most of what’s going on today is not very exciting”