The excessive economic slump is nearly two years old now. Since the hi-tech heyday in 1999 and 2000 we have seen a lot of companies come and go. Even some of the veteran players stepped down awaiting a more prolific market environment. Nevertheless, it is impossible for one to ignore the relatively muted acquisitions of smaller, yet key firms.

You see IBM's stock down at a multi-year low, but you also see it spending roughly $3.5 billion on PricewaterhouseCoopers' consulting arm. A similar picture with the much smaller, though not less important security software maker Symantec. Just this summer the company paid nearly $400 million on companies like Riptech, Recourse Technologies, and, of course, the beloved Security Focus.

For the naive laics, such moves may seem illogical in the adverse milieu we see today. For the skilled managers - just the opposite - a perfectly reasonable, cost-cutting response. But that really doesn't matter!

The incorporation of similar, even rival companies is damaging both the online and the offline market. We see employee layoffs, units merging, but the consequences are devastating -- degrading products, less competitiveness, and a sharp lack of distinct content.

In 1998, America Online (AOL) bought Mirabilis, owner of ICQ - the largest online chat community and the biggest rival of AOL's own instant messenger. Four years later, the clean, easy-to-use interface of ICQ is an obsolete memory of the past. Still, AOL continues to keep ICQ users away by including only AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) in the Netscape browser package (another AOL acquisition). On the other hand, AOL serves vexing banner advertisements in ICQ's chat windows.

Speaking of advertising - the latest version of Netscape's browser lacks the pop-up ads killer - a vital part of the Mozilla browser upon which Netscape is based. Why, rhetorically asked an editor of CNET when reviewing Netscape 7.0. Who knows, but probably there's no coincidence in the fact that Netscape.com has been popping up ad windows for quite a long time.

The mention of CNET reminded me that this company is another example worth including in this editorial column. In 2000, CNET Networks acquired ZDNET further consolidating the IT content market. And the user suffered again as the two web sites (CNET.com and ZDNET.com) began posting identical, or even the same content.

The disputable file sharing territory is no exception of this trend, too. Just as Sharman Networks got a grip on KaZaA's Media Desktop, the company began releasing new versions filled with more advertising than usable features. Rival software products like BearShare and Limewire turned into key partners of stealth advertising networks like Gator bundling resident third-party advertising programs. Gator, for example, even develops the lackluster, worthless eWallet, which supposedly facilitates users' online experience, but actually acts as a powerful force for gaining people to see their ads.

I'm not a proponent of the past, romantic perspective of the Internet. However, the ever-growing anarchic online community seems to be turning to the wrong direction at times, since people discovered the most sweeping medium for their avid degradation.