The real Web 2.0

[cheeni]

I swear, I'll wring the neck of the next person who mentions the words "Web 2.0" anywhere near me.


Wikipedia defines it thusly,

Web 2.0 is a term often applied to a perceived ongoing 
transition of the World Wide Web from a collection of 
websites to a full-fledged computing platform serving 
web applications to end users. Ultimately Web 2.0 
services are expected to replace desktop computing 
applications for many purposes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0

Yes, this is all true, but only an idiot wouldn't have seen it coming umm... about 8 or 9 years ago! Wasn't that what Hotmail was all about?

So, what then makes Web 2.0 so special? My personal, not-so-tin-foil-hat theory is that it's merely a marketroid buzzword designed to inject enthusiasm into the sagging (as of two years ago) internet industry. More recently, the internet business has found its footing again, and we are seeing a rash of new ideas, mostly aimed at beating or joining Google. Let's celebrate it, yes, let's call it Web 2.0!

But, really, it also leaves a lot unsaid about the real Web 2.0, here's why:

1. The world gets orders of magnitude more spam today than it ever did in 1997. Yeah, that's web 2.0 too.
   
2. We didn't have non-existant DNS entries hijacked by domain registrars back in the day,
   
3. why, what we really have is DRM 2.0. Take that Napster...
   
4. I've nearly bid adieu to Usenet, and IRC. It's really the network effect kicking in, there are a few old timers hanging around, but really, there isn't enough action happening to justify a faithful presence.
   
5. What we have are ISPs wanting to charge toll on traffic passing through their networks. We knew this was coming, we thought it'd be Microsoft, and so we battled their attempted hijack of TCP/IP, but we lost sight of the grand telco mergers. *sigh*
   
6. Where have our civil liberties gone? The Web 2.0 way is to use Carnivore 2.0
   
7. The web 2.0 will be so much fun with multiple root servers. It'll be great to be back in our walled gardens...
   
8. The web 2.0 is about blocked ports and office firewalls...of course it's also about ubiquitous internet access, and drive by hackers and worms.
   

I was hoping to list an even 10 points, but I've already overstretched my time. So there you go...love it, pan it, whatever you will, I think the mushy love for Web 2.0 stinks of naive sheeple being preyed upon by marketroids.

Comments

[thaths.livejournal.com]

I cringe from the term "Web 2.0" as well. However, I see its use as inevitable than such unweildy constructs like "Web-based services which use JS and XML to dynamically manipulate all or part of the DOM with lots of cacheing to make the user perceive faster performance. Also a bit of web-based services through APIs."

Wasn't that what Hotmail was all about?

Hotmail was hardly a computing platform. While, the Google (search|maps), Yahoo (search|maps), eBay and Amazon with their APIs are proto computing platforms. You can build other applications on top of these. One could claim that this was possible even 8-9 years back with hackers writing perl scripts to trawl and scrape the web. And indeed it was possible back then. But it was often done surreptiously and tended to break often because the upstream web site changed their HTML design. What is new about things with these platforms is that these upstream companies are exposing their services by intent. They are playing the Microsoft game of controlling the APIs.

Regarding your 8-point list of things, they are hardly web related. They refer to the much broader issue of control of the Internet and Intellectual Property.

[sriniram.livejournal.com]

Regarding your 8-point list of things, they are hardly web related. They refer to the much broader issue of control of the Internet and Intellectual Property.

Yes, you are right, but I don't think they are out of context. First off, the typical lay user of the term 'Web 2.0' will probably for all purposes bunch the WWW with email and the rest of the Internet.

The Web 2.0 is about a perceived sense of freedom; webservices from Amazon allow you to find the best price; RSS feeds get you the latest news etc.

OTOH, if anything, we are entering a repressive era - where the Internet and the WWW isn't equal anymore. 10 years ago there was no IP based content blocking on the Internet, these days, almost every large site (Google, BBC, Microsoft, Oracle, IBM...) customizes its content based on where you are from. If you don't happen to be in the right country, you may be denied or restricted access to otherwise public information.

I think it's convenient for the purposes of this discussion to bunch all of the Internet's services together.

[thaths.livejournal.com]

First off, the typical lay user of the term 'Web 2.0' will probably for all purposes bunch the WWW with email and the rest of the Internet.

I thought the term 'Web 2.0' was targetted at the VCs and geeks and not at the users. As far as the user is concerned, many cannot diffrentiate between the chrome (of a browser) and the content (rendered inside the browser).

...you may be denied or restricted access to otherwise public information.

Thank god for the Free / Open Culture people. I would hardly call the data Amazon or Google or MS or any huge corporation spits out as public. That is why I believe open content of all kinds have to be created by geeks.

As for the Beeb, that is a special case. It is public domain for the users that subsidize it - i.e. UK tax payers. Making it public domain for the entire world takes away precious licensing rights and revenue that comes from sales of DVDs and videos.

[sriniram.livejournal.com]

Hotmail was hardly a computing platform.

It's a useful beginning. It was the first widely used desktop application replacement, (WAIS and other search engines don't count, there were really no desktop equivalents they were ousting) it also allowed for creative access methods (including screen scraping).

DHTML was already there, the forerunner of today's other *cringe* term, "AJAX"! In fact, DHTML with DataBinding (circa 1997) is present day AJAX. XML webservices were already present as *cringe* "push technology". We really aren't inventing anything new here...

You're missing the point.

[udhay.livejournal.com]

Web 2.0 is a business marketing phrase, not a technology marketing one. That it has got appropriated for many other uses is secondary. The "2.0" refers to the next bull run.

All IMO, of course.

Re: You're missing the point.

[sriniram.livejournal.com]

I think we make the same points - heralding the next bull run is correct. Which is why I said, "Let's celebrate it, yes, let's call it Web 2.0!"

Web 2.0 as defined by the Devil's Dictionary 2.0 ;-)

[karbak.livejournal.com]

Web 2.0, proper noun

The name given to the social and technical sophistication and maturity that mark the— Oh, screw it. Money! Money money money! Money! The money’s back! Ha ha! Money!

[mannu.livejournal.com]

You might be interested in the opinions on Tim O'Reilly (http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html) and Paul Graham (http://www.paulgraham.com/web20.html). It started as a conference.