Web 2.0

What exactly does web 2.0 mean? Or is the term meaningless?

It's certainly hip, trendy, edgy and cool to say.

Comments

softwarejanitor's picture

It doesn't mean a lot, and

It doesn't mean a lot, and the definition varies a lot from person to person... For some people it is any site that has user-developed content or a social aspect... for others it means any site that uses AJAX in its interface...

I'm not sure its even still 'hip'... Terms like that come and go so fast who can keep track of what the latest trendy thing is.

johnlogic's picture

Common usage among hipsters,

Common usage among hipsters, not necessarily among professionals...

In my mind, appending "two-point-oh" to the name of any relatively-current technology just means "the next major revision", which comes from common practice in the software development biz.

I prefer to avoid the term altogether.

- John Logic

springnet's picture

True... I tried to develop

True... I tried to develop an app called http://web2.0slides.com and the whole web 2.0 thing exploded to where I couldn't even maintain the site anymore.... one of these days I'd like to find a collaborator who could find an easy way to update the site... a mysql genius.

softwarejanitor's picture

I generally prefer

I generally prefer PostgreSQL to MySQL myself.

springnet's picture

I use it mainly because of

I use it mainly because of ease of use, ease of install. And it seems to be a de facto standard for web databases.

softwarejanitor's picture

I have used MySQL in the

I have used MySQL in the past, but I have found that PostgreSQL is worth it to learn and under Ubuntu it is just as easy to install. MySQL is popular, especially for small web sites, but in my opinion it lacks maturity for serious use. PostgreSQL has had a feature set and robustness that has rivaled expensive big name RDBMSs like Oracle and DB2 for years.

springnet's picture

For the sake of discussion,

For the sake of discussion, movers 2.0 ranks the top web 2.0 sites as follows... hope this copies and pastes decently

Rank Site Change Alexa Rank
1.
YouTube
2.
MySpace
3.
Facebook
4.
hi5
5.
Wikipedia
6.
Orkut
7.
Fotolog
8.
Friendster
9.
Dailymotion
10.
Flickr
11.
LiveJournal
12.
Multiply
13.
Bebo
14.
Xanga
15.
Digg
16.
IMEEM
17.
Tagged
18.
Metacafe
19.
LinkedIn
20.
Slide

softwarejanitor's picture

Their definition seems to be

Their definition seems to be the user content/"social" aspect one.

springnet's picture

Yeah, I'll post some other

Yeah, I'll post some other "top" lists for comparison. I've noticed that if you want to get noticed on your blog, just label your posts "top ten..." or "50 most ..." People love lists!

softwarejanitor's picture

I kinda like the one

I kinda like the one selected "Best Answer" to the first of those links.

matt's picture

Yes, that was a good

Yes, that was a good definition by means of segregating and describing the attributes of such a "web 2.0" site.

Matt
--

springnet's picture

Great definitions Matt.

Great definitions Matt.

johnerik's picture

i totally disagree with

i totally disagree with web2.0 being cool or hip to say. IMO nobody who is staying up to date with the trends is going to be caught dead saying web2.0 anymore - unless they have to, to make a point. they are going to talk about it in terms of a social applications (or, social media - another over used buzz word that we all know).

if you want to be really ahead of the curve you could start talking about the semantic web or semweb, etc. ...as of a few months ago there were only a three companies legitimately working on "semantic" applications. one is twine.com ... all three companies are within a few block of each other in SF, really techy people when I was there were calling it "Sema" - as in "oh, down in Sema" ...like it was a district like the Mission or Nob Hill or China Town.

so yeah, to me, the term web2.0 is dead. and by dead i mean it's reached it's tipping point and thus lost it's cool factor. :)

shey's picture

I don't think the term is

I don't think the term is dead, it's still alive and kicking. Every where you turn you see references to it.

johnerik's picture

doesn't mean it's cool to

doesn't mean it's cool to use!

every time I see it I want to shoot myself. haha

shey's picture

Yeah, I'm not that enamored

Yeah, I'm not that enamored of the term either... it doesn't really describe much.

magnuss's picture

Web 2.0 is an IBM term which

Web 2.0 is an IBM term which only they think is 'hip'. IBM is not hip and need to learn from Apple how to market their products ... look at Microsoft's new lame ad ... $300m for that? Come on ...

Web 2.0 ... please.

softwarejanitor's picture

I don't think it is an "IBM

I don't think it is an "IBM term". They may be the only ones who don't realize that in hipster circles the term has sort of become considered passé. Well, they are suits after all.

According to this, you can sort of blame the term on Tim O'Reilly:

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

matt's picture

Yes, that new Microsoft ad

Yes, that new Microsoft ad with Seinfeld: What is that about about?

Whoops..did I sound like Jerry just now?

softwarejanitor's picture

Yeah... those ads were

Yeah... those ads were supposed to be intended to improve Vista's image... but after seeing one I was left going WTF?

matt's picture

Agreed. Seinfeld fitting

Agreed. Seinfeld fitting shoes for Gates? Yeah, I see the Vista connection there. Are they trying to say that it stinks?

softwarejanitor's picture

Hah! That is a funny

Hah! That is a funny connection... It seemed more like the whole ad was trying to shore up Bill's image as a harmless geeky guy. I'm not sure how that is supposed to help Vista, given that Bill basically retired last year anyway.

magnuss's picture

The interesting thing is NBC

The interesting thing is NBC and Seinfeld had us fooled with being a Mac user (remember the Apple computers in his apartment?) I guess everything can be bought with enough dough ... except success for Vista ... ;)

NY2TX's picture

Anything is better than

Anything is better than those Mac versus PC commercials.

softwarejanitor's picture

I've never been very

I've never been very impressed by those either, but I think they have been fairly effective for Apple.

matt's picture

I liked the Mac vs. PC

I liked the Mac vs. PC commercials. Yeah, they're an exaggeration of reality (sometimes), but they were quite entertaining. And I only reboot my Macbook Pro about once every 3-4 weeks -- very stable.

johnlogic's picture

Bill Gates does the robot...

Bill Gates does the robot... while walking down the street with Jerry Seinfeld. I think it helps to illustrate just how cool Gates is (or isn't).

Then there's the "I'm a PC". Yes, Gates wears glasses; big deal...

Then there's "Windows Mohave" (which, as it's mumbled, sounds to me like "Windows Mohammed"), which doesn't show the product but does show a bunch of folks that seem to resemble Forrest Gump more than any computer users than I usually meet.

Then there are the xBox ad's, that don't seem to even mention Microsoft anymore.

Just what message do you suppose Microsoft is trying to promote?

- John Logic

softwarejanitor's picture

Microsoft's message "We are

Microsoft's message "We are the Borg, you will be assimilated!"...

Oh...

Those commercials... I dunno. They are some of the worst commercials I've seen in a long time.