Saturday, April 22, 2006

What is Web2.0

Web2.0
There is lot of noise around this concept and yet there is still lot of ambiguity in the definition. Every one seems to agree Web2.0 is not a thing but a collection of things and it is the next generation of web as a platform offerings.

People tend to compare and show the contrast between earlier generation companies and tools vs Web2.0 companies. Like the difference between Netscape and Google, Ofoto and flickr etc., This article by O'reilly gives a good overview about Web2.0

Also, another often sited difference is the thing called blogs through which we are communicating. Blogs have mushroomed in the last couple of years and continues to grow. Personal web pages have been around for a while and I myself used to have my personal page in Tripod and Geocities. So, why are blogs different, popular and most importantly Web2.0? One perspective is that. It is the chronological ordering and the feedback mechanism along with RSS that has truly changed landscape of personal pages and its usability. For that matter, push technology has been there for a while, and I used to have screen savers that constantly pushed news and stuff to my machine. But then again, it was limited to few channels the provider gave as compared to RSS feed which anyone can create for their pages.

What's your take on Web2.0? How is it going to impact the software vendors like IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP and others?
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6 comments:

  1. sathishTue Apr 25, 11:26:00 AM

    One of the main differences that I see is the AJAX-ification(if there is any word like that :) ) - for most of the sites that claim to be Web 2.0.

    For companies like IBM, One example that I could think of is as follows -- Imagine Websphere Portal Server making the various portlets as AJAX based; including the nitty-gritty of the ajax framework and the ability to make a portlet behave as if the browser is a desktop.

    Imagine if the portlet can contain any type of data within it like a window and work within a browser - for example - one portlet contains photos; another contains list of files in the local drive; one portlet or window could contain a pdf file; another window - a word file; ability to edit and modify these files within the windows or portlets inside the browser without the browser performing a refresh. --> Some thing like www.netvibes.com and Websphere Portal Server combined together.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ram ViswanathanTue Apr 25, 03:38:00 PM

    Sathish

    yes.. the verdict is still out on the web2.0 stuff.. and IMO is more than just using AJAX..

    Its how the whole solution / service evolves over a period of time through collaboration.. It has huge implication for the software vendors.. both middleware and application vendors..

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  3. expertdabblerThu Apr 27, 09:37:00 PM

    i read one interesting paul graham article.
    Just in case u need to check out :)
    http://paulgraham.com/web20.html

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  4. Ram ViswanathanFri Apr 28, 10:22:00 AM

    Prabhu

    Thanks for link.. I will check it out..

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  5. sathishSat Apr 29, 09:30:00 AM

    ram,
    Another interesting one I came across is by BBC website - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4842498.stm

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ram ViswanathanWed May 03, 09:25:00 PM

    Satish

    Thanks..

    I will check it out..

    Ram

    ReplyDelete

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