Al Gore had absolutely nothing to do with it.

[taco_harvell]

In ancient Israel, it came to pass that a trader
called "Abraham of Com" did take unto himself a
young wife by the name of Dorothy, known as Dot.
And "Dot of Com" was a comely woman, broad of
shoulder and long of leg. Indeed, she had often
been called "Amazon Dot Com". And she said unto
Abraham, her husband, "Why dost thou travel far
from town to town with thy goods when thou canst
trade without ever leaving thy tent?"

And Abraham did look at her as though she were
several saddle bags short of a camel load, but
simply said, "How might I do that my dear?"

And Dot replied, "I will place drums in all the
towns and drums in between to send messages
saying what you have for sale and others will
reply telling you which hath the best price.
And the sale can be made on the drums and
delivery made by Uriah's Pony Stable (UPS)."

Abraham thought long and decided he would let
Dot have her way with the drums. And the drums
rang out and were an immediate success. Abraham
sold all the goods he had at top prices, without
ever moving from his tent.

But this success did arouse envy. A man named
Maccabia did hide himself inside Abraham's
drum and was accused of insider trading.

And the young man did take to Dot Com's trading
as doth the greedy horsefly take to camel dung.
They were called Nomadic Ecclesiastical Rich
Dominican Siderites, or NERDS for short.

And lo, the land was so feverish with joy at the
new riches and the deafening sound of drums that
no one noticed that the real riches were going
to the drum maker, one Brother William of Gates,
who bought up every drum company in the land. And
indeed did insist on making drums that would work
only with Brother Gates' drumheads and drumsticks.

And Dot did say, "Oh, Abraham, what we have
started is being taken over by others". And as
Abraham looked out over the Bay of Ezekiel, or as
it came to be known "eBay" he said, "We need a
name that reflects what we are".

And Dot replied, "Young Ambitious Hebrew Owner-
Operators".

"YAHOO!" exclaimed Abraham.

And that is how it all began. Al Gore had
absolutely nothing to do with it.

[Lynx]

But then did a young penguin named Tux come from the north, bearing drumheads and drumsticks that would work with any drum, and offering them for free.  And lo, there was much rejoicing. 

But William of Gates did try to claim that Tux's drumsticks and drumheads violated copyrights.  But this was proven false, as Tux freely told all how his drumsticks and drumheads were made, and there was nothing of William of Gates' methods in it.  And Tux offered to teach any how to make his own, or use the ones already made.