Web 2.0

It seems only yesterday that I learn about the usage of computers. I remember when I was a child that I used to play computer games on a computer that are low on peripheral specifications, processors that are in Megahertz compared to processors today that are in Gigahertz or even Terrahertz. The use of internet was unfamiliar to me, though at that time the dotcom era was booming, only to find out later that it has busted, time passed while many countries in South East Asia and Northern Asia scatters to try to regain profits from what can be called the Asian Stock Market crash that was caused by the bust of the dotcom era.

It is all because the business of the applying internet and speculations of how to make profit and “pushing or forcing” the customers to use the service on a fee based service contract. Some of these companies had withstand the test of time and the dotcom bust and came out as a better service and leading the world into the era of networking and personal connection to the internet and web.

Tim O’Reilly take the initiative to take on the issue regarding the web as the tool of our future in his debate from what was the origin of the web in web 1.0 and compares it to what most people would and he himself considers as web 2.0. Many of the services that was in web 1.0 help the spur and spread what it is now web 2.0.

What had started the era of the internet and websites in the 90’s known as the dotcom era, now has evolved to a more sophisticated services that has served millions or even perhaps billions of people to use the internet in a way that revolutionized the whole prospect of the internet becoming what it is now known. Back then many internet companies uses many ways to get customers to use their service, such as getting them to sign a contract, pop ups, software installations that includes other softwares that are to some people a hassle to have on their computers. The evolution of the search engine from a fee based service for providers with advertisements that targets the user with pop ups or subscription to their website, to a free service based on the what we now called ad banner, suggestions to where businesses make money from what the customer is more likely to buy.

Of course the article was opinions of Tim O’Reilly and those who agrees with him on what web 2.0 is; however, the best thing is that opinions can be countered by other opinions who think that O’Reilly is simply getting the whole issue to late to where that we are simply more further ahead than web 2.0 or simply that the evolution of the internet is stagnant and that we are still on web 1.0 with a better user interface.

If you see or experience what the internet was back then in the dotcom era and now in what is called web 2.0, the difference are quite amazing. People use to connect to eachother with e-mails and that they use search engine that was more of a broadside search and file sharing was more of a p2p network and a community, compared to today where people share ideas on p2p network as a global community, search engines that shows what others are enjoying instead of forcing advertisement on the user and that “tagging” a file in a host server for others to enjoy. Simply these ideas has revolutionize the way user interface of the internet and the web has grown, from a small minded community that being forced fed with information to a global community where they are free to share informations e.g blogs, pictures, videos and many more.

I learn from this article that technology is ever evolving and changing as humans are to evolution and globalizations. One thing is for sure that the future is going to be filled with many variations of inventions and the changing of time will take us to anoter step of global connectivity. However, will this became the start of us losing our identity as individual and the beginning of us becoming a world citizen?

Please be advise that this blog is opinion based. If anyone think that I am wrong or some one had been offended with my blog, I deeply apoligize for the inconvenience.

 Daniel W A.K.A Jansen.