When we wrote about "The Reagan Years" in the 1988 EE Times "Annual Salary & Opinion Survey," a similar revolutionary tool had transformed engineering from the beginning to the end of a presidency. In that case it was the personal computer. We can't credit either Reagan or Clinton for these developments, of course (though Vice President Al Gore tried to claim the Net for himself). But their presidencies do provide nice timeline references. It puts into perspective how new these developments are. And it reminds us that the practice of modern-day engineering has been reinventing itself about once a decade.

The Internet has provided "access to everything," says a senior test engineer. "A productivity superstar. How did we survive before?"

Not only that, but it's spawned a whole new industry, the dot-com phenomenon, about which our readers have plenty of opinions. Not all are positive. For example, one reader still maintains that "it's a fad."

The biggest bonus of the Internet has to be increased productivity. Remember the fat distributor books that couldn't keep you up to date on changing prices and availability? The Net offers the "ability to get data sheets that are current and available, in a timely manner," a designer says. "I can also get an idea of price without having to call a distributor."

The Net also streamlines research. "I use the Internet sites to research current government regulations that affect our products/systems," an Arizona section head writes, illustrating the Net's non-technical uses.

One of the Internet's newer uses is enabling engineers to use EDA tools on a pay-per-use basis. However, only 3 percent of you have tapped that so far, while another 4 percent plan to do so in the next 12 months.

We also asked you about various other uses of the Internet. Respondents were asked to grade their responses from "agree strongly" to "disagree strongly." Some of the answers are surprising.

• Only a fourth think the Internet will be one of their "most important design tools within three years."
• Two-thirds strongly agree that the Internet is "an effective way to research new products." But they have milder reactions to using the Internet to "research new technologies" (48 percent) and as "an effective way to get design assistance" (24 percent).

Some respondents don't quite buy the productivity benefits claimed for the Internet. "E-mail has had a bigger impact than the rest of the Internet," declares a Texas design engineer.

Another says it takes "too long to search for products. Books are handy and quicker. Search engines are too cumbersome.

Keyword searches not useful."

More specific uses of the Internet brings mixed reactions.

• About 22 percent would be comfortable with using it "to send chip designs directly to a foundry."
• 18 percent see it as a "key component in embedded systems within three years," and to "evaluate cores for a new design."
• Only 13 percent said that their company "buys many electronic components over the Internet."
• And a mere 10 percent "feel comfortable using design automation tools hosted by a third party."

So the purveyors of Internet-based design tools have some missionary work ahead of them. It's not surprising that EEs hold back in embracing the Net for technology use. Generally engineers are a conservative group; some opposed using PCs in their work back in the '70s and '80s. Those EEs under 35 proved more flexible: About 30 percent hailed the idea that the Internet will be an important design tool for them in three years, while in Japan, about 20 percent "strongly" believe that.

One phenomenon that spun out of the Internet was the dot-com companies, ranging from business-to-business sites to consumer-oriented "e-tail" stores. Through much of 1999 and the first three months of 2000, the dot-coms were the darlings of Wall Street. That is, until their lack of profits and shaky financing built on inflated stock prices spelled doom for many. Now, you can only shake your head in amazement at how many investors were sucked into believing this bubble would never burst. Even more amazing is how many believed the hype of the "new economy."

Here's what our respondents had to say:

"Uncontrolled. Unregulated. Booming business. No taxes, information window to the world, good and bad," sums up the feelings of a senior engineer from Texas.

"I have a hard time understanding the willingness of investors to pour lots of money into companies that don't make money," questions a systems engineer.

"They make me nervous," a software engineer writes. "They hire engineers for practically any salary, which makes me wonder how much software/hardware engineers are really worth."

When Nasdaq headed south, so did many of these engineers' stock options-and some jobs. Some of you are philosophical about the dot-com boom/bust.

"It will shake out into a business area like any other. Probably the most impact will be its use by companies not thought of as dot-com at all." Traditional brick-and-mortar retailers for instance, have proven to be the winners so far as the 'e-tailers' discovered that customer service, inventory and delivery are quagmires for novices.

"It's not a new business," an Arizona engineer points out. "Just a reorganization of old business to use more ef-ficient communications." The standard retailers simply adapted to Inter-net buyers by offering searches, electronic purchasing and 24-hour availability.

"The irrational excitement is about over," declares a California EDA executive. "Now they need to start delivering results. There should be lots of consolidation over the next one to two years."

"There is some good, but there's a lot of 'Dutch tulip panic' behavior as well," a principal engineer writes. "A fool and his money are soon parted . . . a greedy fool and his money are immediately parted."

Most of you answering this year's survey are not looking for work at a dot-com company. More than 43 percent are "not interested" at all. Another 20 percent display little interest. However, 43 percent scanned the Internet for a job in all types of industries in the past 12 months.