I used BeOS for most of the 2nd half of the '90s and I guess in my mind at least the regrettable, messy, and unethical end of BeOS in 2001-2002 is emblematic of the Dot Com collapse.

Crushed by Microsoft's anti-competitive business practices and sold for scrap to a failing company who was unable to actually do anything with parts they wound up with but who never the less made damn sure that no one else could either.