The New Economy took a classic formula for profit — give away the razors and sell the razor blades — and turned it into something that could only make sense in happy times: Give away the razors and the razor blades and some shaving cream and maybe those nice embroidered hand towels, too, as long as you become the market leader in the process. But being the market leader doesn't matter much if all the greater fools are running competing startups. With everything from software to entire computers being offered free of charge in exchange for your idle attention, the crash brought the realization that the eyeball isn't where most people keep their wallets.