The last five years have brought multiple changes for the Internet world.

This week’s Student Union Board film, “Startup.com”, which is being shown at 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the Pioneer Room of the Memorial Union, depicts a good portion of those changes.

“The movie is about an Internet company called Govworks.com,” says Victor Roman, head of the SUB film committee.

“It documents a couple of guys, the success of the business and the slow bankruptcy.”

Although the film may come across to those who haven’t seen it as a purely business adventure, a good portion deals with the friendship of the two men, Roman says.

In the beginning they were the best of friends, and as the business they created together deteriorates, so does their relationship.

“You can watch the relationship of [the two characters] as friends and co-workers evolve along with the imminent failure of the business and the end result of it all,” he says.

The documentary is full of emotions, Roman says, including men crying because everything they had worked so hard for went down the tube.

“Startup.com” was offered as a suggestion by Phil Ross, senior in construction engineering, Roman says, and was chosen as the documentary for the semester because it was a fresh topic, depicting a major conflict of the ’90s.

Mark Imerman, economics program specialist, confirms the influential role the Internet played in the ’90s.

“When it is all said and done, though,” he says, “the economy lives on goods and services, and having that being done on the Web doesn’t really change the economy’s creation of wealth.”

Imerman adds the Internet did not create anything in the business world, and Dell Corporation is an example of how a successful Internet business works.

“Dell does a tremendous job using the Internet,” he says. “They figured out what their business was and then fit the Internet into, making the business more efficient.”

The companies that were purely Internet based were the ones that plummeted as quickly as they rose up because they used the Internet rather than creating a business to fit into it.

Economics professor Dermot Hayes agrees with Imerman.

“It is relatively easy to copy a successful Web site, and there is no stopping other companies from doing what you do,” he says. “As long as someone can copy you, the market goes to the customer.”

Internet business adventures did not have the revolutionary effect that everyone thought they would, says Georgeanne Artz, adjunct assistant professor of economics.

“A lot of the Internet sites are stores where you can order online,” she says. “It is a lot more convenient.”

“Startup.com” has received awards, and is a very successful movie, Roman says. He believes this is because it has a human aspect people can relate to.

“It is like the `Real World’ being shown in a business aspect,” he says. “It is a misconception that it will be boring, that e-companies have no emotions.”