General DSarathy | 16 Apr 2007 09:41 am
What is Web 2.0 ?
In an attempt to clarify what is Web 2.0, Tim O’Reilly has written this article - What is Web 2.0. Tim starts explaining how the term ‘Web 2.0′ came into existence. Later he lists down some of the Web 1.0 applications along with its equivalent Web 2.0 applications. He then explains the various ingredients / characteristics of Web 2.0 applications. I’ve tried here to provide the gist of the full article along with some interesting quotes from the article.
Tim visualizes Web as a Platform. Here he explains how this transformation happened from the Netscape’s style of positioning Vs Google’s style of positioning.
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| Netscape promoted a “webtop” to replace the desktop, and planned to populate that webtop with information updates and applets pushed to the webtop by information providers who would purchase Netscape servers. |
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| Google, by contrast, began its life as a native web application, never sold or packaged, but delivered as a service, with customers paying, directly or indirectly, for the use of that service. None of the trappings of the old software industry are present. No scheduled software releases, just continuous improvement. No licensing or sale, just usage. No porting to different platforms so that customers can run the software on their own equipment, just a massively scalable collection of commodity PCs running open source operating systems plus homegrown applications and utilities that no one outside the company ever gets to see. |
He also claims that the value of the software is proportional to the scale and dynamism of the data it helps to manage. The lesson from the Web 2.0 is to leverage customer-self service and algorithmic data management to reach out to the entire web. The key principle of the Web 2.0 is that the service automatically gets better the more people use it, which is based on ‘architecture of participation’ concept.
The Web 2.0 embraces the power of the web to harness collective intelligence, where hyperlinking facilitates this. The success of Yahoo, Google, eBay, Amazon are based on this principle - Harnessing collective intelligence through user engagement. Open Source Software, Collaborative Softwares, Aggregation of the individual’s decisions, Viral Marketing are the keywords of the Web 2.0 generation.
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| Network effects from user contributions are the key to market dominance in the Web 2.0 era. |
Blogging would play a major role in Web 2.0. Because of Blogging more and more dynamic websites are generated every day. The collective intelligence and wisdom of the crowd make web as ‘live web’ and also ‘incremental web’. The effects of Blogs are :
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| search engines use link structure to help predict useful pages, bloggers, as the most prolific and timely linkers, have a disproportionate role in shaping search engine results |
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| blogging community is so highly self-referential, bloggers paying attention to other bloggers magnifies their visibility and power |
Database management is a core competency of Web 2.0 companies and hence the Web 2.0 applications are referred as ‘infoware’. Here SQL is the new HTML. Here the market control and the financial returns are based on the control over the database.
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| While the jury’s still out on the success of any particular startup or approach, it’s clear that standards and solutions in these areas, effectively turning certain classes of data into reliable subsystems of the “internet operating system”, will enable the next generation of applications. |
Web 2.0 would put an end to the Software Release Cycles.
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| Operations must become a core competency - It’s no accident that Google’s system administration, networking, and load balancing techniques are perhaps even more closely guarded secrets than their search algorithms. Google’s success at automating these processes is a key part of their cost advantage over competitors. |
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| Users must be treated as co-developers - (1) release early and release often and (2) A web developer at a major online service remarked: “We put up two or three new features on some part of the site every day, and if users don’t adopt them, we take them down. If they like them, we roll them out to the entire site” |
The Web 2.0 has paved way to the lightweight programming models using RSS, SOAP, REST etc., The significant lessons to be noted are:
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| * Support lightweight programming models that allow for loosely coupled systems * Think syndication, not coordination - end-to-end principle * Design for “hackability” and remixability |
Softwares written above the level of the single device will command high margins for a longer period. Rich user experience is another key ingredient of the Web 2.0 applications. However to summarize, the core competencies of Web 2.0 companies are :
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| o Services, not packaged software, with cost-effective scalability o Control over unique, hard-to-recreate data sources that get richer as more people use them o Trusting users as co-developers o Harnessing collective intelligence o Leveraging the long tail through customer self-service o Software above the level of a single device o Lightweight user interfaces, development models, AND business models |
Overall Tim has done an excellent job of explaining all about Web 2.0 in a comprehensive way. One of the best articles regarding Web 2.0. Worth a full read.
DSarathy.
SEO Tags : Web 2.0, Online Market, Collaboration Software, Software As Service, Servicewares
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