Web 2.0 is a myth invented by entrepreneurs. They want investors to forget about the dot-com bust and open their pockets anew. Let’s look at three buzzwords defining the phenomenon: Web applications, Ajax, and blogs.
A web application is a broad term, but in this context it usually refers to a website that stores information about you. MySpace, Gmail and del.icio.us are web applications. The truth about Web 2.0 applications is this: the useful ones are not revolutionary. MySpace differs little from the early days of Geocities. Webmail, in less sleek form than Gmail, has been around for many years. There are dozens of bookmarking tools out there. And some web applications differ little from desktop applications except, well, they’re on the web. Writely, a web-based word processor, is a good example. Seriously, everyone has a word processor on their computer. Everyone.
On to Ajax. Ajax is the magic that lets you label Gmail messages or filter Kayak flight search results without refreshing the page. Big friggin’ deal. Click-see versus click-pause-see is great, but it is NOT revolutionary. In fact, nothing about Ajax is. Remember Javascript? That’s the code that controls events on a web page, such as changing colors when you roll over a dropdown menu. Javascript was invented in 1995, and Ajax is Javascript plus XML, another technology from 1996, combined with a database, which has been around since the stone age. Except Ajax introduces a slew of security flaws.
Finally, blogs. The blogosphere is a massive Geocities that got its shit together and stopped flooding the web with animated GIFs. (Yes, this is a blog. Yes, I threw a stone in a glass house. Bite me.)
Ultimately, the thrill of 2.0 is that it runs smoother and looks cooler than older sites. But let’s not forget that in 1998, we thought AOL was amazing. Web 1.0 was much more revolutionary than 2.0, and yet over-eager investing in whatever .com ultimately caused an economic crisis. I cringed when I saw MySpace sell for half a billion. I appreciate the increasing user-friendliness of recent technology enhancements, but take Web 2.0 with a grain of salt. I’ll be fair—we’re at Web 1.1.
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I’ve been asked what exactly would constitute a full-fledged Web 2.0. Answer: AI up the wazoo and bots that can do my dishes.