It really blows my mind how some reports can’t wait to spell the demise of Web 2.0. It blows my mind even more that they have no idea what Web 2.0 is and they start spelling its demise. Check out this article on cnet. The writer makes some ok points, but it is overshadowed by the fact that he has no idea what Web 2.0 is.
Why it’s time to dump the Web 2.0 sobriquet once and for all
Web 2.5? Web 3.0? What the hell are those terms? I’ll tell you what they are, they are terms people use that have no idea what is going on with the Internet right now. Web 2.0 will last for years. It is more akin to saying “The Industrial Revolution”. It is not a version of web pages.
So what is Web 2.0 anyway? It’s the Web as a platform. Right now, it is not. It is getting there for sure, but it’s not there yet. There is still so much we can do. I mean really, if all we have to show from our Web 2.0 era is a search box and some weird ways of throwing pooh and poking our friends on facebook, then we have failed miserably.
Along Comes Live Mesh
The reality is Microsoft has been trying to make the web a platform since Windows 95. Unfortunately for them, they have been sued for tying it too closely to their operating system. Good idea, bad way of implementing it. They have learned their lesson however and are trying to implement Live Mesh now, which will tie all devices together, and use the Internet as the mechanism for the communication to flow.
What really blows my mind is that Google, facebook, or any of these companies have failed to create their own platforms on the Internet. They are trying for sure, but they haven’t really done a great job of creating the Internet operating system. Microsoft is a platform company, and they have yet to have any real competition on the desktop pc. Now that Web 2.0 has come along, the Internet has been waiting for a “Web Operating System” for years, and nobody has been able to create one. This was everyone’s big chance. Microsoft was getting sued, and was left scrambling to figure out how to create a new OS for the Web. Who stepped up? Google, with all its ridiculous money, continues to focus on advertising. Facebook continues to focus on privacy and applications for its own “social platform”. Seriously? Do you think you will be going to facebook in 10 years for everything you need on the Internet?
Where is Google, facebook…
What these companies should have done, and could have done was create a web operating system. An operating system that ties together everyone’s devices, and has a platform that allows developers to create applications on it. And I am not talking about superpoke applications, or simple applications that live inside of an iframe. I’m talking about real world business applications. Microsoft has created one now, Microsoft Live Mesh, and it looks pretty freaking awesome.
What kills me is that people will go “crap I have to use Microsoft again, they are so evil”. The reality is, they are not. They are awesome executers. They might be late to the party, but they are building the platform for the party to go from carts and buggies, to supersonic flights and space travel. People might not want to use it now, but they will have no choice because it will be the only way to create an application that can reach all the consumers on every device so quickly.
The Platform Always Wins
Platform’s trump Applications every time. Why hasn’t anyone paid attention? I certainly couldn’t create the platform; I don’t have the resources to do it. Google has the resources, facebook has the resources, and Slide has the resources. Why focus on their own small piece of the web is beyond me. They are making the same mistakes Microsoft has been guilty of making. They think they are so big, that they are “it” and in fact, they are just a tiny piece of what is about to happen on the internet.
Dear cnet writer, I recommend you read What is Web 2.0 by Tim O’Reilly.