TIME to dust off the dotcom party hats again? Investors drove up
shares in VMware, a Silicon Valley software maker, by 76% on its
first day of trading on August 14th. That pushed its valuation
to $19 billion, and stirred memories of the much-hyped
technology initial public offerings (IPOs) of the internet boom.
But the chances of Bubble 2.0, let alone Bust 2.0, are
mercifully slim.  Technology start-ups are certainly back in
vogue. Some have been bought by bigger firms. The acquisition of
YouTube, a video-sharing service, by Google for $1.65 billion in
shares in 2006 is the best-known example. Venture capitalists
are opening their wallets again. In the second quarter of 2007,
American VC firms invested nearly $1 billion in information-
services companies—an increase of more than 50% compared with
the same period last year.  Yet VMware's flotation is a good
example of how much has changed. It was able to list on the
stockmarket in the teeth of a financial gale only because it
actually has a business. The compan